ASIA/INDIA - BEATIFICATION OF MOTHER TERESA: OPPORTUNITY TO RE-LAUNCH INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE THROUGHOUT INDIA – “SAVE A MILLION LIVES” PROJECT

Wednesday, 24 September 2003

Bangalore (Fides Service) – The Beatification of Mother Teresa will be an opportunity to re-launch interreligious dialogue throughout India at a time of tension between communities of different religious faiths. Mother Teresa in fact is appreciated and admired by Christians and non, also by Muslims and Hindus. This is why Christians in India are sure that the figure and the message of the little Mother in her white sari can serve as a channel of reconciliation.
Convinced of the power of Mother Teresa’s example ,Christians in Gujarat state northern and those in Bangalore, in the southern state of Karnataka see Mother Teresa as an antidote to religious fundamentalism and inspiration for interreligious dialogue. To commemorate Mother Teresa and her work the Global Council of Indian Christians, one of the largest Christian organisations in this state, will hold an interreligious event on 17 October.
“As an essential part of remembering Mother Teresa we decided to re-launch interreligious dialogue” the organisers told Fides Service. “This is why we have planned an interreligious meeting. In honour of Mother Teresa we invited local and national civil leaders, religious leaders, heads of civil organisations, who have gladly accepted, since they recognise the value of Mother’s life and service which continues today in 128 countries all over the world.”
Moreover, the Global Council of Christians requested the federal government to declare 19 October, the date of the Beatification, a national holiday on which people all over the country may devote some time to helping the poor and the sick.
The Global Council has undertaken a Save a Million Lives blood donation campaign to collect blood for a million people in need. Moreover it has voiced support for a campaign to assign the Nobel Prize for Peace to the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s sisters) for their service in Baghdad during the war and in other countries with situations of war. PA (Fides Service 24/9/2003 EM lines 20 Words: 304)


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