THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE OF INDIA Vol. XXVII India January- December 2018 GUEST EDITORIAL never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work”. These words “I of the great Greek Philosopher Plato in brief summarises this first edition of the refurbished “Catholic India” information magazine of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference as the apex body of the Catholic Church in India through its Office Bearers and its various offices continuously conducts programmes and activities in favour of society and for the animation of the Church in India. Many of these activities which our Bishops, Fathers and Sisters do, not by accident, but through hard work and much effort are regularly reported on ourwebsite https://www.cbci.in . Over the last 15 months, the website has been visited by over three million surfers. The newsletter Catholic India which now comes out both as an electronic edition as well as a printed one provides just the gist of a few of the activities/happenings/events with a link to the detailed report on the website. This is a novel experiment to make the website news easily accessible to our friends, benefactors and well-wishers interested in our activities. We take this opportunity to thank all those who have made it possible to bring forth this publication. In particular my sincere thanks to Fr. Anthony Fernandes SFX who has compiled and set up the news magazine and to the Manager of Federal Bank, Connaught Place branch, New Delhi, for sponsoring the costs of its publication. Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas. SFX Secretary General Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India Number of Dioceses: 174; Latin Rite Dioceses: 132; Syro Malabar Dioceses: 31; Syro Malankara Dioceses: 11; Regional Bishops’ Councils: 14; Ecclesiastical Provinces: 30; Cardinals: 4; Archbishops: 27; Diocesan Bishops: 132; Coadjutor Bishops: 5; Auxiliary Bishops: 17; Apostolic Administrators: 9; Diocesan Administrators: 6; Emeritus Bishops: 66 Vol. XXVII January - December 2018 PB 1 Vol. XXVII January - December 2018 33rd General Body Meeting of CBCI: “United in Diversity for a Mission of Mercy and Witness” 184 Catholic Bishops of India came together at St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Koramangala, Bengaluru from 2nd to 9th February, 2018 for the biennial meeting of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI). The CBCI is the apex body of the Catholic Church, which has more than 20 million members. The theme chosen by the Bishops for deliberations was “I am with you always, even to the end of the ages” (Mat.28:20) UNITED IN DIVERSITY FOR A MISSION OF MERCY AND WITNESS. For details: 1. Press Statement of the 33rd General Body Meeting of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=wqW4S0GMP0Q= 2. Office Bearers of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=3M5hrPm5a6I= 3. Final Statement of 33rd General Body Meeting of CBCI in Bangalore. http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=fdSVMSHMIrQ= 4. Inaugural Holy Mass by Most Rev. Giambattista Diquattro, Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal. (video link) http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=vttqYdq01Lk= 5. Presidential Address by Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, President CBCI (video link) http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=cG2JDo4P6qU= 6. Inaugural Address by Most Rev. Giambattista Diquattro, Apostolic Nuncio (video link) http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=j0skY3r~~LYY= 7. Address by Chief Guest, Cardinal Charles Bo SDB, Archbishop of Yangoon (video link) http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=~~8U3F/A5KOA= 8. Messages read out by Most Rev. Filipe Neri Ferrao, Vice President - II, CBCI (video link) http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=HVIEpOa/Y8k= 9. CBCI Biennial Report: Most Rev. Theodore Mascarenhas, Secretary General, CBCI (video link) http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=AtySfEchvxk= Vol. XXVII January - December 2018 2 3 Vol. XXVII January - December 2018 New Office Bearers of the with participation of over 700 people from Africa, the North East, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India the Adivasi community from Jharkhand, Assam, Bengal, Bihar, The 33rd General Body Meeting Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, along with Hindi speaking of the CBCI elected the following communities from different states and other ethnic groups and Office bearers: Fathers and Sisters who serve these various communities. His Eminence Cardinal Oswald For details: Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=14BCg7nYiBI= as the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. CBCI interacts with Chairman of National Commission Most Rev. Joshua Mar Ignathios, for Minorities Bishop of the Eparchy of Mavelikara, as the First Vice- President Most Rev. George Njaralakatt, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tellicherry, as the Second Vice-President. Most Rev. Theodore Mascarenhas SFX continues his three year term as the Secretary General of CBCI. For details: http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=3M5hrPm5a6I= Fundamentalists attack St. Mary’s PG College Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh Fr. Joseph Manipadam SDB, Secretary, CBCI Office for Education and Culture and Fr. David Xalxo, Office Secretary, CBCI Secretariat interacted with Shri. Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi, Chairman of National Commission for Minorities at the YWCA, New Delhi for almost three hours. Among others who were present at the interactive session and spoke were Mahesh Kumar Singla IPS, Advisor (N.E.) Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Bishop Collin C. Theodore (CNI), Bishop Phillip S. Masih of the Methodist Church in India and several others. For details: http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=WF9v0MTzO78= A group of fundamentalists first threatened the management of St. ICYM elects a new team of Officers, vows to promote Mary’s PG College with dire consequences if worship of Bharat youth leadership Mata Devi was not conducted in the College Premises. Then a The Indian Catholic Youth mob of hooligans organized by the ABVP attempted to forcibly Movement (ICYM), the enter the campus and impose their will. A grave threat to life and largest premier Catholic youth property was avoided due to the efficient handling by the Union movement of India, which and State Governments as well as the local Police force. is the chief youth movement of the CBCI Youth Council For details: held elections to appoint new http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=AMB/vJvmU64= National Executive Committee (NExCo) 2018-2020. International Migrants Day For details: http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=Xw9qqttTyBg= The Commission for Migrants in the Archdiocese of Bangalore organized the annual International Migrants Day in Bangalore on 14th January, 2018. It was a gathering representing diversity Vol. XXVII January - December 2018 2 3 Vol. XXVII January - December 2018 Preparations for World Youth Day Syro-Malankara Church Leaders Reflect on Education Policy His Excellency Dr. Gilberto Llerena Garcia, Ambassador of Fr. Joseph Manipadam, Secretary, CBCI Office for Education and Panama, Mr. Ricardo Berna, third Secretary of the Embassy Culture had a meeting with the heads of Syro-Malankara Catholic and Mr. Manoj Narang visited the CBCI Centre and met Rev. Educational Institutions of the Country and all the Bishops of the Theodore Mascarenhas SFX, Secretary General of CBCI and Rev. Syro-Malankara Synod in Trivandrum. They discussed current Fr. Deepak Thomas KJ OCD, CBCI Youth Council Secretary. The educational concerns and the implementation of the All India meeting was held to discuss about the preparations for the World Catholic Education Policy 2007 and its impact on the Catholic Youth Day to be held in Panama from 22nd to 26th January, 2019. schools. For details: For details: http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=E2ZRR12BuB8= http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=gnuU3QxBFeE= CBCI Council for Women celebrates International Animation for the Heads of Colleges and Schools of Women’s Day! Andhra Pradesh at Loyola College, Vijayawada. About 150 participants attended the orientation programme CBCI Council for Women celebrated International Women’s Day organized at the Andhra Loyola College in Vijayawada along with and the theme chosen was ‘Press for Progress’. The participants Archbishop Prakash Mallavarapu of Visakhapatnam and Bishop were invited to continue their efforts for the cause of gender parity Joseph Raja Rao Thelegathoti, S.M.M, Vijayawada respectively. more ardently and enthusiastically. For details: For details: http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=gnuU3QxBFeE= http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=wNdXOhoBpP0= Animation for the Heads of Colleges and Schools of International Women’s Day at CBCI Centre Rajasthan About 120 participants attended the orientation programme organized for the Heads of Colleges and Schools of Rajasthan at The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India celebrated the the Bishop’s House in Jaipur along with the Bishop Oswald Lewis International Women’s day with a symbolic and meaningful of Jaipur, Bishop Pius Thomas D’Souza of Ajmer and Bishop celebration at its Headquarters in New Delhi. Devprasad Ganawa of Udaipur. For details: For details: http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=Oij6x3ZU~~Ss= http://www.cbci.in/detail_Slide1.aspx?type=3&id=gnuU3QxBFeE= Vol. XXVII January - December 2018 4 5 Vol. XXVII January - December 2018 Dalit Leaders meet the Secretary General Seminar in North East India on Fake News Most Rev. Theodore Mascarenhas, Secretary General, Catholic Responding to the challenges of fake news and baked news in an Bishops’ Conference of India met the leaders of National Council era of social media, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in India of Dalit Christians (NCDC) on 13th March 2018 at the CBCI (CBCI) conducted a two-day workshop on Effective Use of Social Centre, New Delhi.