By Victor Ferrao Rachol, Dec 8, 2019: On December 4, the body of Sister Mary Sandra Vianney was found on a railway track in Hubli, Karnataka. Media reports said it was a case of suicide. Sister Vianney was among at least a dozen priests and nuns who ended their livesContinue Reading
By Virginia Saldanha Mumbai, Dec 7, 2019: After the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder, in 2012, the Justice Verma Commission, through an extensive consultative process put forward a number of recommendations to tighten the rape laws, make the investigation process more woman sensitive, and put safety measures in place byContinue Reading
By Dr. Valson Thampu As compared to those who are crying foul against Sister Lucy Kalappura’s Lucy’s book, Karthaavinte Naamathil (In the Name of the Lord), I have a disqualification. I have read it. I managed to get hold of the pdf version, pre-publication. In a context where everybody knowsContinue Reading
By Virginia Saldanha Mumbai, Dec 2, 2019: The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 was passed in parliament on the same day as the abrogation of article 370, with hardly any debate. Worst of all, there were some MPs who were seen on TV smirking and making fun duringContinue Reading
By Don Aguiar Mumbai, Nov 28, 2019: I want to change my vote after election. Can I? If not, how can leaders change their party after elections? Well – You can’t, they can. And you shouldn’t complain, because you, probably, voted for the Great Game Changer, in 14 and 19.Continue Reading
By R.V. Smith The declaration of Sister Mariam Theresa as a saint was naturally a cause for celebration. She was the 12th Indian to get that honor, but surprisingly enough, no clergy from North India has got that distinction. Starting from the mid-16th century, we find such illustrious personages asContinue Reading
By Gita Aravamudan New Delhi, Nov 15, 2019: What the nun in the Bishop Franco Mulakkal case faced follows the same pattern as what happened to the more well-known public figures in the MeToo movement. In many cases, the all-powerful male professional network kicked in months after the allegations areContinue Reading
By Swami Agnivesh* The predicament of minorities in every society has to be understood sensitively and wisely, especially by themselves. On the whole, this is not the case. Religious minorities tend to live ghettoized, in a parasitical sort of relationship with the putative mainstream. It needs to be reckoned hereContinue Reading
By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ Not many in India (and for that matter in most parts of the world) would have heard of ‘Rupert Mayer’; whenever his name crops up, the spontaneous response invariably is “Rupert who?” In a nutshell, Rupert Mayer was a great German Jesuit, who demonstrated unflinchingContinue Reading
By John Mary The Vatican’s strategy to make up for shrinking numbers of the faithful in the traditional catchments of Europe and the West has energized the Catholic Church in India. However, the process of canonization, mandating two miracles, has nevertheless led to a controversy over the archaic practice, centeredContinue Reading