Violence a wake-up call for Church in India, says prelate

(February 25, 2010) Anti-Christian violence during the past two years has been a wake-up call for the Church in India, says a top official from the country’s Catholic bishops’ conference. What shocked Church leaders and others was that areas they thought were safe from the “antagonism of fundamentalist groups” also experienced violence, said Jesuit Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes of Gandhinagar, secretary-general of the CBCI. Attacks against Christians in several states, especially Orissa in eastern India, have prompted Indian bishops to establish a special committee to review “our evangelization methods,” the prelate noted in his biennial report to the CBCI’s 29th plenary. Archbishop Fernandes presented the report at the opening session of the February 24-March 3 assembly in Guwahati, Assam. As many as 163 bishops from India’s 164 dioceses are attending the plenary that has chosen Youth for Peace and Harmony as its main theme. Some 40 Catholic youths are also attending the event along with secretaries of CBCI commissions and centres. The report asserted that attacks on Christians and their institutions were premeditated. Added to this were the “apathy” to and “certain complicity” of local governments, the prelate noted. Archbishop Fernandes, however, also highlighted some positive outcomes from the violence. He said Christians in India rallied behind their persecuted brethren offering material and psychological help. The archbishop saluted the victims who opted to die rather than give up their faith. Soon after the attacks, Church agencies came forward to rescue and rehabilitate victims, the prelate said. In recent times, CBCI also undertook an exercise to reorganize its structure to accommodate India’s three ritual Churches that have separate Episcopal conferences.