Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
New Delhi (Fides Service) - The Catholic Bishops of India speaking on various different occasions in these first days of 2006 expressed the hope that the new year will bring winds of peace, optimism and harmony to this vast sub-continent.
At a recent general body meeting of the Catholic Council of India in Vailankanni, Tamil Nadu, Cardinal Telesphore Toppo Archbishop of Ranchi and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India confirmed that concern for marginalised people remains a priority for the Catholic Church committed to promoting value based education among the poor and backward classes for all regardless of race, culture, social status or religion. Following in the footsteps of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta through the activity of Catholic social services and works Catholics in India can promote peace and restore dignity to every human person.
“Peace is God’s gift, but with increasing instances of violence the world over, peacemaking has become a central task for every citizen” said Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil, the Archbishop of Guwahati in north east India. In an address to university students at Gawahati University Centre for Peace Studies Peace he stressed that peace building is an urgent task which is the responsibility of each and all. He encouraged the students present of various religions to strive to promote peace, warning them however that the peacemaker must be prepared to fail, to face opposition and even death. Drawing from his experience of peace-building in north east India he outlined some of the skills needed to negotiate peace among ethnic communities in conflict and said peacemakers must be able to listen, understand, trust, engage in dialogue seek strength in prayer.
Contemplative presence helps inter-religious dialogue especially in the Asia context, said Bishop Leo Cornelio, Bishop of Khandwa diocese, Andhra Pradesh state, when he visited a community of Carmelite nuns in Vijayawada. He said a hidden life dedicated to prayer was a clear witness of a life closely connected with God: this witness serves also to encourage inter-religious dialogue at the practical and doctrinal level. The Bishop praised this choice of life and recalled the presence in India of Catholic communities such as the enclosed Carmelites who live a life of prayer and the presence of Catholic Ashrams and other spirituality centres based on the Hindu Ashram. (Agenzia Fides 11/1/2006 righe 30 parole 321)
