MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY FACE DELAYED APPROVAL OF FOREIGN FUNDING

What a terribly sad story this is! Unthinkable! Could the Indian government even do the same work the Missionaries of Charity are doing? Apparently the Order can still receive donations until December 31. Then what?

What is so unfortunate is that there is no dearth of stories of physical violence and persecution against India’s minority Christians (many stories just this month of December), and it has increased yearly over the past 4 years but 2021 brought a real surge as attested to by the myriad of news stories. We can only ask why?

MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY FACE DELAYED APPROVAL OF FOREIGN FUNDING

The Indian government has not renewed the licence allowing the Missionaries of Charity to receive foreign funding, citing “adverse inputs”.

By Linda Bordoni (vaticannews)

Christmas Day news of a move by the Indian government to block foreign funds of Saint Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity (MoC) has triggered reactions of concern at a time in which the country’s ruling BJP party is accused of promoting hate attacks on religious minorities.

According to a statement released by the Indian Union Home Ministry on Monday, the MoC does not meet conditions under local laws. Thus it refused the application to renew a licence that allows the charity to receive funds from abroad.

The statement said the reason was “not meeting the eligibility conditions” under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) after “adverse inputs were noticed,” without giving further details. As of Monday, the Ministry of Home Affairs states that no “revision application has been received from Missionaries of Charity for review refusal of renewal.” In the meantime, the existing registration remains in place until 31 December 2021.

The news sparked immediate outrage leading to allegations that the Union Ministry at Christmas had frozen all Bank Accounts of the MoC in India, an action that would impact tens of thousands of patients and employees who would be left without food & medicines.

The MoC, however, issued a statement on Monday clarifying that the government Ministry of Home Affairs had not frozen its accounts. It added that since its FCRA renewal application had not been approved, “as a measure to ensure there is no lapse, we have asked our centres not to operate any of the FC accounts until the matter is resolved.” This statement from the MoC based in Calcutta was confirmed by a subsequent statement released the same day by Sr M. Prema the Superior General of the MoC.

A tightening of rules

The legislation regulating foreign contributions to Indian charities was tightened in 2020 by the Modi government, creating difficulties for many international organisations operating in India.

In the current political climate, religious minorities face growing obstacles in a divisive climate fomented by Hindu nationalists who accuse Catholic organisations of proselytism.

Christians and other critics have said the justification of preventing conversions is false and note Christians represent only 2.3 percent of India’s 1.37 billion people, while Hindus are the overwhelming majority, accounting for nearly 80 percent of the country’s population.

Nobel Peace laureate Saint Mother Teresa, who died in 1997, founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. The charity has more than 3,000 nuns worldwide who run hospices, community kitchens, schools, leper colonies and homes for abandoned children. (Local news sources)

 

POPE RECEIVES PAPUA NEW GUINEA PILGRIMS – POPE FRANCIS MAKES SURPRISE VISIT TO AILING NUN – 127 KILLED, 8 MILLION DISPLACED IN FLOODS IN INDIA

There is a stunning story from India, as you will read below. I cannot wrap my mind around these numbers! How does one even help this many people! They need homes, food, clothing, medicine, sanitary facilities and a ton of other things, I am sure, but all I could think of as I read this report is that we absolutely must pray for the displaced and for those trying to help them.

POPE RECEIVES PAPUA NEW GUINEA PILGRIMS

From Holy See Press Office: This morning in the Santa Marta residence, the Holy Father received a pilgrimage of faithful from Papua New Guinea, led by Fr. Martin Prado, an IVE missionary and their parish priest. During the audience, the pilgrims spoke of the situation in their country and performed some songs of their land. At the end of the meeting the Pope gave them his blessing. (Vatican media photo)

POPE FRANCIS MAKES SURPRISE VISIT TO AILING NUN

Pope Francis visited an elderly nun at the Daughters of Charity’s house in Rome on Sunday, a gesture of kindness for her years of service at the Casa Santa Marta.
By Devin Watkins (vaticannews)

Sister Maria Mucci spent many years serving Pope Francis, as well as numerous Vatican visitors, at the Casa Santa Marta.

Having fallen ill, she is now in the infirmary at her congregation’s house in Rome, the Regina Mundi House. So, on Sunday evening, Pope Francis popped in for a quick visit to the ailing nun. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-07/pope-francis-surprise-visit-daughters-of-charity-rome.html

He also paused for a picture with members of the Daughters of Charity community staffing the residence, along with employees and guests. At the end of his visit, the Holy Father gave them all his blessing.

Fr. Tomaž Mavrič, CM, the Order’s Superior General, announced the news on his Facebook page.

Venerating his predecessor’s relic
Another special moment occurred when Pope Francis contemplated a relic of his predecessor, Pope St. John Paul II. The relic is the bloodstained shirt worn by the Polish Pope when he was shot by a gunman in St. Peter’s Square on 13 May 1981.

Gemelli Hospital, having treated Pope John Paul II after the assassination attempt, later gifted his bloodied shirt to the Regina Mundi House, where it is now venerated.

127 KILLED, 8 MILLION DISPLACED IN FLOODS IN INDIA

ucanews.com, Bhopal, India -July 30, 2019 – At least 127 people were killed and an astounding eight million displaced after rivers in Nepal burst their banks in the latest monsoons and swept through villages in the eastern Indian state of Bihar.

Catholic social work departments in the area are struggling to provide basic amenities to the affected such as temporary shelter, drinking water and sanitation facilities.

“Millions have been badly hit after the flood situation worsened over the past week,” said Bishop Cajetan Francis Osta of Muzaffarpur, the worst affected area.

Eleven of the 13 flood-hit districts are in the area of Muzaffarpur, which has been working with Caritas India.

“Our social work department is doing its best to provide tarpaulins, mosquito nets, bedsheets, soap and drinking water,” said Bishop Osta.

FOR MORE: https://www.ucanews.com/news/state-of-horror-millions-homeless-127-killed-in-bihar/85752

AUDIENCE CATECHESIS: HOPING AGAINST HOPE – FRANCIS: PROFOUND SORROW FOR VICTIMS OF BLOODY CONFLICT IN IRAQ – POPE TO YOUNG PEOPLE: REFLECT ON CHALLENGES OF EVANGELIZATION – 25,000 JOIN LENTEN WALKING PILGRIMAGE IN INDIA

After reports on the weekly general audience, the papal appeal for Iraq and his meeting with religious leaders from that nation and the Holy Father’s Message to young people in Barcelona, I offer an interesting story about the Catholic Church in India. We know the word “catholic” means universal but on occasion we can forget about the faithful in nations other than the ones we live in, the believers around the world in the Universal Church.

POPE FRANCIS TWEETED TODAY: The peace that springs from faith is a gift: it is the grace of feeling that God loves us and that he is always beside us.

AUDIENCE CATECHESIS: HOPING AGAINST HOPE

Pope Francis at today’s general audience again focused the weekly catechesis on hope, this time linking that virtue to faith. Above all, he explained how the faithful should put their trust in God’s word, even at those times when hope seems humanly impossible, hoping against hope.

“In the chapter from the Letter to Romans that opened today’s audience,” said the Pope, referring to the reading that precedes the weekly catechesis in all languages, “Saint Paul presents Abraham not only as our father in faith, but also as our father in hope.  Paul tells us that Abraham put his faith in the God who gives life to the dead, who calls all things into being.  Hoping against hope, he trusted in God’s promise that, despite his old age and that of Sarah his wife, he would become the father of many nations.

“In Abraham, we see the close bond existing between faith and hope.  Abraham’s hope in God’s promises was fulfilled in the birth of his son Isaac, and, in the fullness of time, in the ‘many nations’ gathered into a new humanity set free from sin and death by the power of Christ’s resurrection.”

Francis explained that, “faith teaches us, in fact, to hope against hope by putting our own trust in God’s word even at those times when hope seems humanly impossible.  In our Lenten journey to Easter, may we be confirmed in faith and hope, and show ourselves children of Abraham by accepting the promise of new life given us in the Lord’s resurrection.”

“And now, said the Holy Father, “I would like to ask you a question: are we all convinced of this? Are we convinced that God wishes us well and that all that He promised us is able to bring it to fruition? But Father, how much do we have to pay for this? There is just one price: opening your hearts. Open your hearts and this strength of God will lead you ahead, it will do miraculous things and will teach you what hope is. This is the only price: open your heart to faith and He will do the rest. This is the paradox and, at the same time, the strongest, highest element of our hope! A hope based on a promise that from a human point of view seems uncertain and unpredictable, but which is no less even when faced with death, when it is the God of Resurrection and life Who promises. This is not a promise from anyone? He Who promises is the God of Resurrection and of life.

“Today we are all in the square, we praise the Lord, we will sing the Lord’s Prayer, then we will receive the blessing. But this passes. But this is also a promise of hope. If today we have an open heart, I assure you that all of us will meet in the square of Heaven that never comes to an end. This is God’s promise, and this is our hope, if we open our hearts. Thank you.”

FRANCIS: PROFOUND SORROW FOR VICTIMS OF BLOODY CONFLICT IN IRAQ

Before today’s weekly general audience in a sun-splashed St. Peter’s Square, in a room adjacent to the Paul VI Hall, Pope Francis received participants in the meeting of the permanent Committee for Dialogue between the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Iraqi superintendents: Shiite, Sunni, and those for the Christians, Yazidis, Sabeans/Mandaeans.

At the end of the weekly catechesis in Italian, Pope Francis greeted that delegation of Iraqi superintendents, noting it was “composed of representatives of different religious groups, accompanied by His Eminence Cardinal Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. The richness of the dear Iraqi nation consists precisely in this mosaic that represents unity in diversity, strength in union, prosperity in harmony.

“Dear brothers,” continued the Holy Father, “I encourage you to go ahead on this road and I invite you to pray that Iraq may find peace, unity and prosperity in reconciliation and harmony between the various ethnic and religious groups. My thoughts go to the civil populations trapped in the western districts of Mosul and those displaced by war, to whom I feel united in suffering, through prayer and spiritual closeness. In expressing my profound sorrow for the victims of the bloody conflict, I renew to all my appeal for every effort to be made to protect civilians, an imperative and urgent obligation.”

POPE TO YOUNG PEOPLE: REFLECT ON CHALLENGES OF EVANGELIZATION

Pope Francis has sent a Message to a symposium for youth in Barcelona, Spain telling the young people they should reflect on the challenges of evangelization. The theme of the four-day meeting that began March 28 is “He walked by their side (Lk 24:15) – Accompanying young people to freely respond to Christ’s call.”

The symposium was organized by the CCEE, Council of European Catholic Bishops’ Conferences, the Spanish Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the archdiocese of Barcelona. Joining Archbishop Juan José Omella of Barcelona are other church leaders including Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, and Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski of Krakow.

The message was sent in the Pope’s name by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin. The Holy Father urged youth “to conduct a reflection on the challenges of evangelization and on the accompaniment of young people, so that – through dialogue and encounter and as living members of the family of Christ – young people may be enthusiastic bearers of the joy of the Gospel in all areas.”

25,000 JOIN LENTEN WALKING PILGRIMAGE IN INDIA

About 25,000 people took part in the annual Lenten Walking Pilgrimage in the western Indian city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) in which Catholics, members of other Christian Churches and other religions also participated. A large number of priests, religious, Catholic lay people and members of other confessions and religions participated in the overnight march led by the Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay.    The pilgrimage began at night on March 25 from Cross Maidan, wound its way to the Basilica of Mount Mary (some 20 kilometers distant) the following morning, Sunday, where it concluded with Holy Mass.

Cardinal Gracias, president of India’s Latin-rite bishops, began the pilgrimage with his blessings and reciting prayers to the Virgin, interceding for the city of Mumbai and the whole of India.  He prayed in particular for harmony and peaceful coexistence among the different components of Indian society, asking that,”Christians in India may live their faith in peace.”

More than 50 percent of the participants were boys and girls from remote villages of Goral, Uttan, Vasai Agassi, Korlai, Roha and from the suburbs of Maharashtra. Cardinal Gracias recited a special prayer for the young people: “Mary Seat of Wisdom guide our young people, and direct their steps towards mission, both for the country and for the Church, and intercede for the young people present, to contribute mission of the Church and the growth of the nation. We also pray for our young people for their faith and for their vocational discernment.”

The cardinal led the pilgrimage for a short distance, reuniting with the crowd at the time of recitation of the Holy Rosary. The pilgrims walked for seven hours at night, animated by prayers, songs and the many volunteers.  Felix Sequeira, one of the pilgrimage organizers told AsiaNews: “About 25,000 pilgrims carried four statues in procession decorated with flowers and lights: Mary Queen of Peace, Jesus carrying the Cross, Mary Mother of Sorrows and St. Joseph Patron of the pilgrimage.”

The pilgrimage is held every year in March, during the season of Lent. The first edition took place in the Marian Year 1988, when some devotees have decided to organize a Lenten march for peace. “Since then, the number of participants has grown from year to year with people of every creed and caste,” Francis Fernandes, president of Marian Seva Sangh, a main organizer, told AsiaNews. (Source: AsiaNews)

TRADEMARK SAREES ARE TITAGARH’S GIFT TO THE VATICAN

TRADEMARK SAREES ARE TITAGARH’S GIFT TO THE VATICAN

(From the Hindustan Times – Joydeep Thakur)

The otherwise dull eyes of septuagenarian Shefali Roy sparkled with excitement and her face filled up with joy as she went on to narrate how sisters from the Missionaries of Charity across the world would be donning the iconic white and blue saree during the canonization ceremony of Mother Teresa at Vatican on September 4.

These sarees are, however, no ordinary ones. They are not found in the market no matter what price one offers for them. These sarees are woven and stitched by leprosy patients at a home in a dingy lane at Titagarh in North 24-Parganas.

Titagarh is about 20 km from Kolkata and is a part of the area along the Hooghly river that developed into an industrial in the 19th century.

Roy is one of the senior-most and oldest members of that home – the Gandhiji Prem Nivas. It is a home for leprosy patients run by the Missionaries of Charity. After being detected with leprosy more than 40 years ago, she was forced to leave her home in Cooch Behar. She had since then taken refuge in the Niwas along with her daughter like many others.

Mother Teresa’s mission survives beyond her life

“You could hardly imagine our feelings when we used to see Mother wearing a saree which had been weaved and stitched by us. Society ostracized us for the disease but the sarees which we make are worn by sisters of the charity the world over. The Mother also wore it till her last breath. Now the sisters wear them,” she said sitting in a room, the walls of which are adorned with pictures of the Mother and Pope Francis.

The Gandhiji Prem Nivas was established in 1979 when sisters of the Missionaries of Charity used to come to Titagarh to organise a medical camp under a tree to treat leprosy patients. Later, it was upgraded and a makeshift hut was built with just a few inmates.

Now it is a full-fledged home the foundation of which was laid in the early 90’s by then chief minister Jyoti Bas

The welfare home for leprosy patients was established in 1979. None of the 5,500 sisters of Missionaries Of Charity working in more than 130 countries wear anything except these sarees.

Work starts at this welfare home at 8 am every day. More than 400 men and women – all leprosy patients – work round the year to produce around 4,000 hand-woven sarees. These are then directly sent to the Missionaries of Charity’s headquarters in Kolkata from where they are supplied to the sisters across the world. There are more than 5,500 sisters working in more than 130 countries now.

“In fact, all the sisters, including Sister Mary Prema Pierick, who is the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, would also wear the same sarees that have been woven by the leprosy patients of the Nivas when they attend the canonisation ceremony at Vatican on September 4,” said Brother Marinus, who is in charge of the Titagarh home.

Sunday would be a big day for the inmates and workers of the leper home. They are preparing to celebrate it in their own small way with evening prayers and probably a small supper, if funds permit. Even though it would be a Sunday and a holiday for the workers who stay in adjacent leper colonies, the authorities of the home are planning to set up a giant screen to project the canonisation process from the television and show it to the workers.

But while just three days remain for the world to witness the canonisation process of Mother, the saree weavers don’t really understand the complexity and gravity of the ceremony.

“We are not sure what exactly canonisation is. We just know that it is something very important and that Mother would be honoured,” said 65-year-old Arati Roy, one of the inmates of the colony.