Catholic Bishops release Gender Policy

(February 26, 2010) The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body of the Catholic Church in the country, has released a gender policy for the Catholic Church in India. Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi and former CBCI President, released the gender policy on February 24 as the CBCI biennial general body meeting got under way in Guwahati,. The 50-page document is the result of two years of deliberations and study following CBCI’s 2008 general body meeting on the “Empowerment of Women in the Church and Society,” held in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand state. The project was headed by Bishop John Baptist Takhur of Muzaffapur, chairman of the CBCI Commission for Women, and its Executive Secretary, Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate Sister Lilly Francis. Cardinal Toppo described the publication as a great milestone in the life and mission of the Church in India. CBCI president Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, who is not attending the general body meeting because of illness, sent a message saying the Gender Policy “took shape through the earnest desire of women and men of the country to bring equality and harmony among all, according to the divine plan.” “Through it we share the vision of Jesus Christ, the champion of… the oppressed, the exploited and the marginalised of society.” The president of the Indian bishops urged the entire Church of India to “graciously wish and will” the execution of the policy in every sphere of life.