Indian Church marks Day of the Girl Child on feast of Mary’s Nativity

(September 09, 2011) The Catholic Church of India marked the Day of the Girl Child on Thursday condemning the evils of female infanticide and sex-selective abortion. The Indian Church marks the Day of the Girl Child on Sept. 8, the feast of the Nativity or birth of the Virgin Mary. The Church in Goa urged that the day "inspire us, individually and collectively, to devise ways and means to appreciate and affirm every girl-child in the home, the community, the different institutions and the larger society". The Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) urged that the Church in India dedicate this joyful day to every girl child. The CSJP executive secretary Fr Maverick Fernandes said that "every human life is a precious gift of God, and hence wellspring of human dignity". “Every girl child-born and unborn-has an equal share in these rights, beginning with the right to life," he added. The priest lamented the abortion of female embryos, the discrimination of the girl child in the family and ill-treatment and abuse at the workplace. Meanwhile Fr Anthony Charangat, spokesman of the Bombay Archdiocese and editor of The Examiner reflected on Mary’s birth saying, “She was born a girl-child and had a family.” Mary is special to us, because she was so ordinary, a young woman, growing up in a country town in a backwater of history. Yet God chose her to be the Mother of his Son. And she willingly participated in God’s plan of salvation. Her Nativity underlines what it means for human beings to be a Christian.”