Amen - an autobiography of a nun by Dr Sister Jesme

A book written by a former nun is threatening to embarrass the Catholic Church in Kerala. is written by former nun Dr Sister Jesme and threatens to reveal what allegedly happens behind the closed doors of convents. The book claims that harassment and sexual repression take place in convents. “I wanted an outlet for my trauma. It'll help me start my second life afresh. The society has the right to know what's happening to the sisters,” says Dr Sister Jesme. Sister Jesme was the principal of St. Mary's College in Thrissur till she quit the congregation last August alleging harassment from superiors. The church in turn has labelled her mentally sick. “Thirty-three years cannot be penned down in 180 pages but there are points the I want to make about the capitation fee, the quarrels that happen within the church, about the homo-sexuality, the hetero-sexuality,” says Jesme. The book comes soon after the Central Bureau of Investigation booked two priests and a nun in the high-profile sister Abhaya murder case. The state women's commission now says it will take up Jesme's case very seriously. “We are studying the matter and will take it up seriously. I cannot tell you anything more on this issue,” says State Women Commission Chairperson, Justice Sree Devi The Catholic Church in Kerala is silent on the book and in an election year, political parties too would be cautious about raising these allegations. More Born C Meamy Raphael, Jesmi writes in her autobiography that she got her first rude shock when she was a Novitiate. ''At a retreat for novices, I noticed girls in my batch were unsettled about going to the confession chamber. I found that the priest there asked each girl if he could kiss them. I gathered courage and went in. He repeated the question. When I opposed, he quoted from the Bible which spoke of divine kisses,'' she writes. Her second shock was from an ordained nun. ''I was sent to teach plus-two students in St Maria College. There, a new sister joined to teach Malayalam; she was a lesbian. When she tried to corner me, I had no way but to succumb to her wishes. She would come to my bed in the night and do lewd acts and I could not stop her,'' she writes. In Bangalore for a refresher course in English, she writes, ''I was told to stay at the office of a priest respected for his strong moral side. But when I reached the station, he was waiting there and hugged me tight on arrival. Later in the day, he took me to Lalbagh and showed me cupid struck couples and tried to convince me about the need for physical love. He also narrated stories of illicit relations between priests and nun to me. Back in his room, he tried to fondle me and when I resisted, got up and asked angrily if I had seen a man. When I said no, he stripped himself, ejaculated and forced me to strip,'' Jesmi recounts. More

Virakta Mutt in Deshanur, Belgaum has a Christian priest and Hindu Muslim devotees

Church or mutt? A sign of hope 16 Feb 2009, 0515 hrs IST, N D Shiva Kumar, TNN BELGAUM: In these troubled times of religious intolerance and rise of fundamentalism,, a village 25 km from Belgaum, stands out as a beacon of hope. The church here has adapted itself to local culture so much so that it is called a ‘mutt’ — — and has both Christian and Hindu features. The walls are adorned with teachings of Basavanna, Sarvajna, Akkamahadevi, Kabir Das, Tulsi Das, Sur Das, Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa and Meera. The church priest wears a saffron shawl; the devotees, comprising Hindus and Muslim, recite verses from the Bible, Gita and Koran. “The essence is peaceful coexistence of all faiths,’’ says priest Fr Menino. The village has a population of around 11,000 and is dominated by Lingayats and Muslims. The priest is the lone Christian member in the village. The priest worked closely with the villagers and started the first girls’ school, helped build roads, brought post office and electricity to the village. The church runs a primary school with 459 students and provides hostel accommodation to 46 poor students. Most villagers prefer to send their children to the church school. Though it has classes only up to 7th standard, high school students throng the church during nights to study. “We have a lot of powerlooms in our village. We can’t study at our homes due to the sound. So, we come here to study at nights,’’ said Shivanand Jawahar Thondikatti, a 10th-standard student. Besides Christmas, the church celebrates Sankranti. “Around 3,000 people participate during these celebrations. This place is a classic example of peaceful coexistence,’’ said Fr Menino. Source

Tenth Anniversary of the Killing of Graham Staines

Ten years after the brutal murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in India’s Orissa state, widow Gladys Staines is urging persecuted Christians there to turn to Christ. On Thursday,22nd January, a mass was held at the site of murders in Monoharpur marking the tenth anniversary, followed by a prayer service on Friday and the inauguration of a new physiotherapy hall. Baptist missionary Graham Staines, 58, and his sons Philip, 9, and Timothy, 7, were sleeping in their station wagon in Manoharpur village when they were attacked by a mob of Hindu extremists and burned alive inside their vehicle on the night of 22 January 1999. Mr Staines had spent more than 30 years working with leprosy sufferers in India. In an interview with AsiaNews this week, Mrs Staines admitted there had been times of sadness during the last 10 years. “I feel sad that I do not have my husband to support me, to guard me, but these are just momentary emotions of sadness which also fill me with great hope, the hope of heaven and of being reunited with my husband and children in paradise and seeing the Father face to face. This guarantee fills me with consolation,” she said. Although Mrs Staines said she missed the support of her husband and was sad that she was not able to see her sons grow up, she affirmed forgiveness for the killers and said that Christ had been her companion over the years. “God gives me great support, and the prayers of people has been a source of great consolation, and this is the solidarity I share with the widows of Kandhamal. It is Jesus who is the source of every consolation and support. God gives us the strength to be able to carry our cross and to live in His will. Our life and our work here on earth has to go on according to His holy will.” Mrs Staines went on to express her sadness over the recent wave of attacks against Christians in Orissa but urged women who had lost their husbands in the killings to stay strong “and Christ will be your support, your companion, your guide and your strength”. “When God is working with us, nothing can be against us,” she said. “I am in prayerful solidarity with them, I share their sufferings and I want to encourage them with hope. It is painful and sad but importantly - it is not how we live, but what matters is ‘whether we are in the will of God’.” Mrs Staines returned to Orissa in 2006 to continue the work of her husband in fostering peace and harmony. She encouraged Christians elsewhere to support believers in Orissa with solidarity and prayers. “To the people of the world I say, do not give up hope, pray for India,” she said. Mrs Staines has previously stressed forgiveness for the killers. When one, Dara Singh, was sentenced to death and 12 others given life imprisonment in 2003, she appealed for clemency. Singh’s death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. In a 2006 interview with AsiaNews, she stressed the importance of forgiveness. "In forgiveness, there is no bitterness and when there is no bitterness, there is hope. This consolation comes from Jesus Christ." source

Karnataka High Court allows House Churches to hold Worship services

Legal Victory for House Churches in Karnataka

Posted on January 14, 2009 by cd

KARNATAKA, INDIA (ANS) – Over four months after government authorities closed several house churches in Karnataka, India, the Karnataka High Court said they should reopen and can hold worship services.

This followed the action of several pastors and Christian believers from Davanagere District who had lodged a writ petition to the High Court of Karnataka in Bengaluru.

The All India Christian Council had supported the pastors in logistical and finding legal representation. For last four and half months about twelve churches in Davanagere in central Karnataka were locked.

Following attacks on several churches on August 17, 2008, the district administration issued notices seeking a survey of churches functioning without permission. In early September, several churches were sealed. The next week Deputy Commissioner K. Amar Narayan instructed the Police Department to survey churches and prayer halls to check how many of them were authorized. The Indian media noted that worship places of other religions were not checked.

Local Christian leaders say the problems were because extremist Hindutva groups influenced officials. During 2008, groups like RSS and Bajrang Dal have beaten believers, pastors, and even set fire to churches. They also made false accusations against pastors and registered cases with the police.

The High Court chief Justice Mr. Dinakar was strict with the District Collector saying, “In a democratic country, no one has power to stop anyone worshiping according to one’s own faith. One’s faith can be a church or any other worship centre.”  more

Story of Hindutva

Augustine Kanjamala | Friday, 26 December 2008 Why Hindu extremists target Christians A militant school of Hindu thought which despises Islam and Christianity as alien creeds is growing in strength in India. Many Westerners believe that Hinduism is exemplified by Gandhi, the saintly man who led India to independence through toleration and ahimsa, or non-violence. But there is another strain of Hinduism which is far from tolerant and dreams of reviving the martial traditions of Aryan forebears. One leading Hindu monk, the Sankaracharya of Karvipith, criticised Gandhi in 1922: “Ahimsa undermines Hindu self-respect; passive and non-resisting sufferance is a Christian and not an Aryan principle.” Organized anti-Christian animosity and violence in India goes back to the Hindu reformist movement, Arya Samaj, and its founder Dayananda Sarasvati (1824-1883). When an American Presbyterian mission in Punjab began to attack Hinduism and denounce its superstitions, Dayananda was infuriated. His Hindu social reform movement bore some resemblance to Luther’s slogans. His mottoes included, “back to Vedas” (like “back to the Scriptures”). He introduced the Sudhi rite for reconversion to counter Christian proselytism among the Chura community of outcasts. In 1923, a political extremist from the state of Maharashtra, V.D. Savarkar, after imprisonment for 12 years for terrorism, published his book Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? He argued that only those who are bound by the Hindu culture and uphold India as their pitrubhumi (fatherland) and punyabhumi, (holy land) should enjoy full rights. Muslims and Christians, whose holy lands are far off in Arabia and Palestine, are not children of the soil of the sub-continent. He popularized the slogan: “Hinduise all politics and militarize Hinduism”. The exclusivist Hindutva policy was radically opposed to the inclusive and secular policies of the founders of independent India. more

India, an Exporter of Priests: New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN Published: December 29, 2008 ALUVA, India — In the sticky night air, next to a grove of mahogany trees, nearly 50 young men in madras shirts saunter back and forth along a basketball court, reciting the rosary. James Estrin/The New York Times FOCUSED ON FAITH In Kerala, a state in the southwest part of the country where 20 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, families like the Alengadans pray together at home and Mass attendance is high. They are seminarians studying to become Roman Catholic priests. Together, they send a great murmuring into the hilly village, mingling with the Muslim call to prayer and the chanting of Vedas from a Hindu temple on a nearby ridge. Young men willing to join the priesthood are plentiful in India, unlike in the United States and Europe. Within a few miles of this seminary, called Don Bosco College, are two much larger seminaries, each with more than 400 students. more

Kandhamal killings split Orissa Maoists on religious lines

December 30th, 2008 - 11:51 am ICT by IANS - Send to a friend: Berhampur (Orissa), Dec 30 (IANS) The killing of a Hindu leader and his associates that triggered attacks on Christians in Orissa have split the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) on religious lines for the first time, with many Hindu members breaking away to form a rival group.The unexpected development, which have taken many by surprise, came to light when the breakaway faction put up posters threatening to target Christian members of the CPI-Maoist in the state. The new group calls itself “IDGA-Maoist”, which some posters say is the acronym for “Idealize of Democrat Garila (Guerrilla) Army (Maoist)”. According to informed sources, the new group’s formal inauguration will take place Jan 3 at an undisclosed location under the leadership of a guerrilla identified only as M2. The origin of the split is the Aug 23 gunning down of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swamy Laxmanananda Saraswati and four associates at Jallespata in tribal-dominated Kandhamal district. It sparked off an orgy of violence against Christians, whom the VHP blamed for Saraswati’s killing. About 40 people, mostly poor Christians in rural areas, were killed. While the police blamed the Maoists for the killings, the VHP insisted that Christians were responsible. The CPI-Maoist claimed responsibility for the murder, saying Saraswati was creating a sectarian divide in the impoverished region. The breakaway IDGA’s posters have denounced the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), the military wing of the CPI-Maoist, and its leader Sabyasachi Panda for the VHP leader’s death. A Maoist sympathiser close to the new faction told IANS that the main reason behind the break-up was the Kandhamal violence, for which he blamed Panda. “Maoists don’t have any religion. Their religion is to safeguard the vulnerable people and fight exploitation and oppression. But those under Panda are acting like a mafia,” he said, requesting anonymity. People familiar with the Maoist movement in the state believe that the split will result in escalation of violence. Sixteen of Orissa’s 30 districts are considered Maoist- dominated. Six southwestern districts - Malkangiri, Koraput, Raygada, Kandhamal, Nayagarh and Gajapati - are the worst hit. The existing Maoist group active in southern Orissa is known as the Bansadhara Divisional Committee. This is expected to face the wrath of the splitters. Nihar Nayak, an expert on Maoists at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, told IANS that if a split has indeed taken place on religious lines, it would mark a first in India’s Left history. “Since the Maoist movement began in India, they have never supported a specific religion or caste or community,” he said. Nayak added that the objective of the splinter group would be “to protect Hindus from Maoist attacks and retaliate by killing Christian leaders” in the state. In its posters, the new group has threatened to kill one Christian on the 23rd of every month — to avenge Saraswati’s murder Aug 23. The new group’s area of influence includes three regions: southcentral Orissa, Ghumsar division in southern Orissa and Bansadhara division which shares a border with Andhra Pradesh. Some police officials here fear the law and order situation in the region might worsen if the new group starts revenge killing, inviting retaliation. “It is certain that violence will escalate and this split is going to be a major headache for the already burdened police force,” a senior officer told IANS requesting anonymity. Deputy Inspector General of Police P. Koche told IANS: “I don’t have any information regarding this new Maoist group.” Sanjeeb Panda, another deputy inspector general of police, added: “We don’t have any official information regarding the split. But I can’t rule out that there has been a split among the Maoists.” source