Thank you for visiting this blog.......... Here are some of our viewer's comments. Their prayers keep our mission going. It is your turn now. Read the new articles and news in the blog archive (at the right side)collected from various sources and pass it on to your friends. Send your feedbacks to cryforjustice@gmail.com

for the powerpoint presentation Christians 2008, kindly send an e mail to the above address.

I've just gone through your presentation. It is well done without any melodrama or extreme views. Presenting facts as they are is bound to have a great impact. Keep up the good work Francis Parmar, SJ Principal, St Xavier's College Ahmadabad

Dear brothers in Christ. Leave everything to HIM and try to help out those who are suffering in HIS name. Thanks and for any help which I can afford in the name Christ please contact me. With love Royson The power point is very well done, a good presentation. May God hear our cry for justice.
Roger Hedlund

I second what Mr. roger Hedlund has said. Also I would like to say that our persecutors do not know the power of the CROSS. Jesus told Abraham to tell his people to look at the Cross and be saved. But what are our persecutors doing……..disrespecting the Cross by climbing on it to put their flags on it.
A READER

Man has to account for everything at the end of the day, so let us pray & help the sufferings. Reji, Dubai When we the Christians keep quiet situation will go in an aggressive way. Instead we have to give our voice.With love in Christ Jesus.
Dhanaseelan W.R.

Excellent! You have done a wonderful job for the Risen Christ! Thank you for sending this.
Fr. Antony Kalliath, NBCLC, Bangalore

While I sit down twiddling my thumbs, wondering how efficacious prayer isI recall a saintly sage Fr. Ed Daly who shares 'that when fifty thousand meditated in Washington DC to bring down the crime rate, immediately 25% of the crime rate came down. The Peace Meditation by Swami Sachhidananda Bharati also encourages me to the breathing prayer as I walk on my many trips to schools, chanting the Jesus prayer. This sit-in-dharna is a great moment for me to experience the Power of Prayer as a congregation. Today my patron saint Margaret Mary asks me to be ready. "Greta when they beat you do not worry, you will become 'Mar-greta' Until then I simply carry out the mission of moral education in 7-8 schools which is a great joy for me so that I can share my God experience with others. Awaiting a Great Experience of a United Bharatthro the blessing of Bharat Mata Mary
Greta

I want to thank you for your information of the Persecution in several States in India. May God bless your efforts to spread the truth and information on Persecution of Christians which many are not aware. I shall pray for your efforts. Keep up the good fight! May God bless you.
Fr.Cruice Sanjivi, C.Ss.R.

Praise the Lord ! Prayer, Fasting & penance for the world is not enough from our part. It is the time of re- thinking and purification of the lives of priests & nuns. We failed in many ways to give witness to our people in spreading His Kingdom. Each consecrated person should be a sanctuary. At the same time we must seek all the ways and means to get all legal support. No blood shed, No killing lives but forgive grant all the possible help to all the people who are suffering in Orissa / any where without caste / creed. But we use our pen as our mighty sword to give awareness & to think and to guide our people. I believe God Almighty has some plan and He is with us in our warfare and already reacted. His Love & anger.
Love & Prayers. Provincial Superior CTC Kottayam

The first thing that we as Christians have to do is to get on our knees and pray , because the Bible clearly says such times will come , depends on weather we can stand the test of faith and stand firmly for the faith that you have even if it is to lay your life for the sake of the Lord. We cannot wrestle against the principalities and powers of this world, so all these efforts may not help as much as prayer does.
Dheeraj Samuel

Quite true! We can only pray that the Hindu fanatics realize the real truth and abstain from further atrocities against Christianity.
K.K. Joseph

Dear brother in Christ, Thank u very much for preparing and designing the wonderful and effective slides and sending me. May god bless you richly
Br.HKC, DELHI,INDIA

Our brothers and sisters are suffering in various parts of the country, and life is just normal for the other Christians? We must do something to save them, or at least improve their condition. Wouldn't our Muslim brethren do something if their folk are suffering? Of course, we must not resort to violent methods as it is against our religion, but we must do SOMETHING to show our displeasure to the public...and that this is not to be continued. Don't you agree?
Bridgette George

"Thank you for your detailed description, also using the actual images. Horrible, unimaginable, shocking!!! Why delay in restoring the secular nature of our nation? O God of Justice, act now. Guide all the Indians especially the nationaL LEADERS with Divine wisdom to restore peace, justice and freedom."
Fr.Tommy UCMF


"THE POWERPOINT IS VERY WELL DONE, A GOOD PRESENTATION.May God hear our cry for justice."
Roger Hedlund

"I feel we must approach UN and western media so that they can take actionagainst India like granting visa excluding Hindus. Hindu militantorganisations like VHP, Bajrang Dal should be banned across the Christiancountries. They are in operation in the US, England, Europe,etc." Mathew Joseph


"we must conduct continues chain prayers,because prayers are so powerfull and never fails.At the same time give wide publicity to every possible ways so that every nation has to comment on the issue."
Antony Joseph

"Where is Media? busy covering Bihar flood & terrorist attack in Capital..why VHP, Bajrang Dal brutality is neglected...??? "
TOMES

"No brutality can stop our faith. So these people who going against Chritians remember no matter what you do our faith grow stronger and stronger each day. "
George CJ

" We all are human beings with fundamental rights.As a democratic republic,this is the duty of the country to protect humanrights. Lets the time to start our battle with peace and harmony for rights. " Arun Francis

"Does any religion allow this – Is this not Terrorism. Keeping quite about it will not help – Christians, do not retaliate, we are willing to die as Martyrs, however, are these people willing to face God and justify their actions? Please raise your voices, against the atrocities committed, in the name of religion. I am an Indian, and am proud of being a Chrisitian." A reader

"I would like the leaders of the Church, especially the bishops to come together, consult and pray together and form a united strategy to face the persecution. We hear only isolated voices. Will the Shepherds run away when the sheep is attacked ?" K. T. Antony

"The entire church should observe 40 days mourning (prayer and fast) as in the Old Testament. I am sure God will act." Theresa Joseph, Delhi "Most of the Christians including priests have not realized the magnitude of violence and its implication. Unless we conscientize our own people how will we survive?" Tony Tete "Christianity flourished wherever it was persecuted. It is the time of God’s intervention." Sr. Stella

"Thank you for the presentation, we will continue our prayers." Vinitha

an appeal from the hearts of many

CHENNAI: At the centenary celebrations of the Sacred Heart Matriculation and Higher Secondary School, Church Park, on Monday, the Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore, A.M. Chinnappa, made an impassioned appeal to the people of India to stand up and speak out against the atrocities on Christians in Orissa and elsewhere.
“The little people, the poor Christians, the Dalits … are being massacred, their little property, which is worth almost nothing, is being ransacked and burnt to ashes. This is a sad thing,” he said. “The saddest part is that the whole country is keeping quiet and watching the fun,” he added, alleging that the Central and State police in Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala were “remaining mum and just watching the whole show.”Calls for action
The Archbishop called for action, saying “everybody sympathises and sends messages, but to no avail.” He said India had become increasingly incapable of handling crisis situations. “When it was the tsunami, we could handle it because the money came from outside … But who is giving money for the little people, the poor people in Kandhamal?”
A number of Church Park’s well-known alumni, including several politicians, joined the Archbishop in condemning the violence and pointing to the school itself as a bastion of Christian education and secular values.
“For me, the first foundation of secularism was laid in this convent school started by Irish nuns,” said Jayanthi Natarajan, Congress spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member, reminiscing how she and her classmates overheard Muslim prayers at the neighbouring Thousand Lights mosque, repeated Hindu chants in the Hindi class and ran to the church to pray for help at examination time.
Fellow Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi added her memories of the principal reading from the Bible, the Upanishads and the Koran during school assembly and the nuns dressing up in the spirit of Onam, Diwali and Pongal. “We need to stand up and say, do away with caste, community and stand for secularism as we were taught in this school,” said Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari.
Rachel Chatterjee, Principal Secretary to the Andhra Pradesh government, said the school had taught her to identify with the powerless. “Especially in the context of today’s disturbances, it is important for the ethos of the classroom to reflect secular values. Children must be taught to speak up even when the majority are not for it.”
“We have a lot of things going for us, but secularism is the oxygen without which India and India’s civilisation cannot possibly survive in the way we want it to,” said N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu. “At this time when the bogey of conversion is being raised, I want to join you in proclaiming the contribution by this small group of people across the country,” he said, adding that he had studied in Christian institutions through his school and undergraduate college years, starting at Church Park.
The Prince of Arcot, Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, urged the political leaders on the dais to speak up in Parliament and the Assembly and condemn all atrocities committed in the name of religion.

UK Christians to march for end to sectarian violence in India

Growing violence against Christians in India has now spread to 12 states, according to the All India Christian Council, while 57 have been killed and 50,000 driven from their homes in Orissa state alone amid attacks by Hindu extremists.
A march has been called in London on Saturday to present a petition to Gordon Brown and to the Indian High Commission, calling on the Indian Government to intervene to stop the escalating violence.
India’s national government is threatening to impose emergency rule on two states unless they stop anti-Christian violence which has raged for six weeks.
The federal government issued an official warning to Orissa and Karnataka, accusing the Hindu nationalist BJP which rules both states of failing to curb the violence. Unless the two state governments take decisive action, ‘President’s rule’ will be introduced, in accordance with Article 356 of the constitution.
Attacks by Hindu extremists’ have now spread to 12 states, according to the All India Christian Council.
On just one day, September 20, a Christian man was hacked to death by militants as he tried to reach a relief camp in the town of Phulbani in Orissa's Kandhamal district. And in Karnataka, militants ransacked four churches, three in the city of Bangalore and one in Kodagu district. Seven Christians were accused of ‘forced conversion’ in Thalikare.
Looting, arson, forced conversions to Hinduism and even murders continue to be reported.
The situation is now "getting out of hand", according to the All India Christian Council.
On September 20, Christians were joined by politicians from several different parties at a protest rally in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, condemning the violence.
Hindu extremists launched their anti-Christian campaign after one of their spiritual leaders Laxmanananda Saraswati was murdered in August. Hindus have blamed Christians for his death, even after Maoists admitted responsibility.
Release is requesting that Christians continue to pray for the return of law and order across India and that governments of affected states will take firm action to protect Christians. They also ask for Christians to pray that the violence will help highlight the plight of India’s persecuted Christians and make it more difficult for militants to attack with impunity.

About the march: Marchers will gather in Richmond Terrace off Victoria Embankment at 2pm, for the rally staged by India Christian Concern. For more details, contact coordinator William Sidhu on 07958 281230.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/uk.christians.to.march.for.end.to.sectarian.violence.in.india/21555.htm

Mobs attack 3 villages in Kandhamal

Prafulla Das
PHULBANI: Violence erupted in Orissa’s Kandhamal district once again when hundreds of people attacked three villages in the G. Udaygiri Block in the early hours of Tuesday.
At least two persons, including a woman, were killed and more than a dozen injured. About 300 houses were burnt down.
Ten persons were arrested from the three villages. In Bhuabneswar, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said those involved in the attacks would be severely punished.
The affected villages, Rudangia, Telingia and Gadaguda, have a sizeable Christian population. A prayer house was also damaged at Rudangia. Some residents of Rudangia retaliated, but to no avail. Both sides used country-made guns, police said. The residents of the village fled to a nearby forest to escape the mob. They returned only after additional forces reached the village.
According to the locals, policemen present during the attack at Rudangia failed to control the mob. They said one person was killed when the policemen “fired in the air” to bring the situation under control.
Ramani Nayak of Rudangia was hacked to death. Her husband and two daughters, however, managed to escape.
On the death in police firing, District Collector Krishan Kumar said: “It may have happened, but the body was not found till the evening.”
Nine of the injured, including three women and a child, were taken to the MKCG Medical College Hospital at Berhampur.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/01/stories/2008100158670100.htm

Archbishop’s Anger

Can an Archbishop get angry? Even if he is angry, should he express the anger in public? These are the questions many asked and discussed last week. When some one asked me the same, I got the clue. Last week many TV channels showed again and again an encounter between Karnataka Chief Minister Yeddyurappa and Bangalore Archbishop Rev. Bernard Moras, and that became the flashpoint for the interesting discussion.
When Yeddy became the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Archbishop Bernard Moras had sought an appointment with him to congratulate him, wish him success and to offer his government the Christian community’s prayers. Such courtesy calls are done by the heads of Churches in every State, irrespective of who the Chief Minister is, and which party he belongs to. Yeddy turned out to be so smart and stumped the Archbishop when he sought an appointment with the Archbishop and visited him in his place and sought his blessings. By the time Yeddy completed 100 ‘glorious days’ in office and hosted his saffron party’s national executive meeting in his capital, his foot soldiers started unleashing terror on the Christians and vandalizing churches one after the other. Perhaps they did not want to be behind their counterparts in Orissa! When Christians protested, unlike the poor dalits and tribals in Orissa, Yeddy’s police, like mad dogs, run amok, beating even the praying nuns and women, and dragging several youth to lock-ups. When Yeddy and his Home Minister put the blame on Christians for "forced conversions", their Bajrang goons run amok with fire on their tail-ends, and list of churches in their trouser pockets. Archbishop Moras was away in the Holy Land, Israel.
By the time the Archbishop returned Bangalore, dozens of churches were attacked and Christians were in jail. Yeddy’s Home Minister told the media that he had talked with his "friend archbishop" and that everything was "under control" (of the Bajrang Dal goons, of course). When the fire spread and reached the door step of the Archbishop, he was definitely shaken. So was Yeddy, after receiving an "advisory" from the Central government under article 355. He and his Home Minister rushed to the Archbishop’s House to douse the flame for the moment. And there, in front of TV cameras, Archbishop Moras raised his voice, and setting aside courtesy for a moment, said to Yeddy: "Mr. Yeddyurappa, we are hurt. The Church in Karnataka is wounded. What would you do if one of your temples’ sanctuary is destroyed….?" Yeddy stood like a dole and muttered sheepishly, "we too are hurt". The channels flashed the "tongue-lashing of the Archbishop"!
Now, the question is, ‘can an Archbishop get angry? Even if he is angry, should he express the anger in public?’
There is a general feeling that a Bishop or Archbishop should behave more like the loving and compassionate Jesus, who taught the disciples to show the left cheek to the one who slaps on the right cheek. Many construe this admonition as passivity and fear to speak out, react or question. Just imagine, if the shepherds become so sheepish, what would the sheep become! Two examples from the life of the same Jesus would suffice to make the shepherds and sheep become fully human. Consider these:
When Jesus was arrested and presented before the High Priest Annas, one of the guards slapped him for ‘tongue-lashing’. Then Jesus said: "If I have said anything wrong, tell everyone here what it was. But if I am right in what I have said, why do you hit me?" See here a Jesus questioning an agent of the Power, when the latter indulged in violating human rights and dignity! In the second case, when Jesus entered the Jerusalem Temple, he found the temple occupied by the business people and making money. Without preaching to them, He made a whip and drove out everyone, saying, "Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!" The gospel adds that the devotion to God’s house (Temple) burnt like a fire in Jesus. See here the angry Jesus!
Archbishop Moras who returned from the Holy Land found his churches vandalized and Christians taken to jail. What is wrong if he became angry and questioned the agent of the State in public, just as Jesus did? I do appreciate that, and not the passivity of some other shepherds who hid in shells when their churches were attacked, and justified their silence saying, "We don’t want to provoke them more." The irony is that such shepherds are easily provoked and become very angry when their educational institutions are targeted, or if some objectionable lessons are found in the text books of students!
My prayer is: "Lord, make all the Bishops and Archbishops angry at least when they see your temples vandalized, your crucified hands and legs again broken to pieces, your innocent followers targeted, thrown in jail or butchered after burning down their houses, Amen."
(jacobkani@gmail.com)

Conversion to Hinduism a condition for Christians to return home in Kandhamal

Conversion to Hinduism a condition for Christians to return home in Kandhamal

Parvathi Menon

• Forced conversion of Christians by Hindutva groups has become the order of the day
• August and September saw steady depopulation of villages of their Christian population
• The writ of the Sangh Parivar appears to run untrammelled in the district
  
  PHULBANI: “Those who don’t want to become Hindus, stay here. Those who have gone back to their villages are tonsured and forcibly converted,” said D.S. Kumar. A graduate, he used to run an STD booth and a petty shop in Minia, a village in Kandhamal district of Orissa, before his home, possessions and shop were burnt by Hindutva mobs on August 24. Nearly 90 Christian homes in his village were destroyed between August 24 and 29.
  “The nine churches in my gram panchayat had already been destroyed in December 2007,” said Kumar. He is now among the 244 inmates of the relief camp at the Balika Upper Primary School in Phulbani, district headquarters of Kandhamal.
  Since the murder of VHP leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati on August 23, for which the Maoists claimed responsibility, Sangh Parivar mobs have been allowed to take the law into their own hands and unleash terror against the Christian population, driving them into the forests, into relief camps, or out of the district.
  Kumar’s father Jagannath Digal converted to Hinduism to save his land. “He owns four acres, which they threatened to take away from him. Those who return for livelihood reasons are forced to convert to survive,” said Kumar.
  Forced conversion of Christians by Hindutva groups has become the order of the day in Kandhamal district. Not only have Christian families suffered the loss of their homes, possessions and places of worship in sustained attacks by marauding mobs of Hindutva supporters from August 24, they now cannot return to their villages unless they convert. Heavy price
  From the relief camps in Khandamal district and elsewhere where Christian families have taken refuge come stories of this new stage of the Hindutva project.
  August and September saw a steady depopulation of villages of their Christian population, who fled fearing for their lives. Now, if families wish to return, conversion to Hinduism is the price they must pay.
  Jibardhan Majhe from Rattanga village near Phiringia said that after an attack on his village in December 2007, the RSS asked him to convert by tonsuring his head and breaking a coconut in the temple. He refused and his house was burnt along with other Christian homes on August 26 this year. “Four families of my village have converted to Hinduism and have gone back,” he said.
  “In my village, the Hindus told us that if you want to stay here you have to convert. All Christian families except four converted to Hinduism,” said Rina Digal, an inmate of the relief camp. He is from Rasimendi village near Phulbani.
  The writ of the Sangh Parivar appears to run untrammelled in the district, with the State machinery appearing to be incapable of controlling them.
  They have built a base among the Kondh tribals who act as their foot soldiers against Dalit Christian. The Sangh Parivar has cleverly exploited the divide between the tribals and Dalits who have gained from the education and employment opportunities created by the large network of Christian organisations and charities in the district over the decades.
  “Dalit Christians are doing well educationally and socially, and there is jealousy among the tribals over their success,” according to Father Uday, Prefect of the St. Pauls’ Seminary in Baliguda. “The tribals loot from Christian homes after an attack, and take away utensils, money, gold, paddy, rice, dal and cattle. Hindu businessmen see opportunities in this.”Threat calls
  Christian priests, pastors and nuns are unlikely to be able to return to their places of work in Kandhamal in the near future. Some have been marked and get regular threatening calls. “I am a tribal and my nephews are searching to kill me,” said Father Lakshmikant, Parish priest of the St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Baliguda.
  He had to flee from the mobs that were after him and spend days in the forest before he reached Bhubaneshwar. He is now in charge of a relief camp at the Missionaries of Charity Centre for Leprosy in the capital.
  Meanwhile, thousands of Christian families in relief camps, who have rejected the option of conversion, have little hope of returning to their homes and villages that they left more than a month ago.
• http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/01/stories/2008100161861400.htm