Cardinal Gracias re-elected CBCI president for another two years

(February 06, 2012) Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias was re-elected on Monday as president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body of the Catholic Church in India. The cardinal, who is the Archbishop of Bombay, was re-elected for another two-year term during the current 30th Plenary Assembly of the CBCI in Bangalore, Feb. 1-8. In a press release, CBCI spokesman Father Babu Joseph observed that the cardinal’s re-election for a further two-year term was an affirmation of “his sterling leadership qualities”. Dwelling on the plenary assembly theme of the Church’s role for a better India, Cardinal Gracias underscored that the Church, in as much as it is an inalienable part of the nation, will commit itself to the integral development of all sections of society – never in the spirit of competition but always and everywhere in collaboration and coordination. Stressing on the Church’s mission to bring life in abundance to people, he argued why the Church needs to be involved in social development and human transformation. Life in fullness, he said, would mean that every human person is liberated from all forms of oppression and de-humanising situations and be accorded with dignity and honour. The CBCI Plenary Assembly also re-elected Major Archbishop Mar Cleemis Baselios of Trivandrum, the head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, as the first Vice-President, and Archbishop Mar George Valiamattom of Thalassery of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church had been elected as the second Vice-President. Archbishop Albert D’ Souza of Agra continues as CBCI Secretary General. India’s Catholic Church comprises three different rites, namely, the Latin, the Syro-Malabar and the Syro-Malankara rite Churches