Bhubaneswar: Thirty two Catholic priests from northeastern India have rediscovered the faith’s vitality after spending a week with the survivors of anti-Christian persecution in Kandhamal in Odisha.
“The Catholics of Kandhamal may not pass a catechism examination or win a prize at a catechism quiz competition but they passed with flying colors the ultimate test of their faith,” says Bishop John Thomas Kattrukudiyil of Itanagar, who led the priests from various northeastern Indian dioceses. The prelate, who heads one of the two dioceses in Arunachal Pradesh, asserts that faith is more important than knowing certain nuances of its content.
The North Easter Regional Council, comprising bishops of all 16 dioceses in the region, has been organizing exposure programs for its priests for the past few years. They have already visited Goa, Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
The purpose of the exercise, Bishop Kattrukudiyil explained, is to make the priests who are mostly from northeastern India to get acquainted with various Christian communities in other parts of the country. “This year we brought them to Odisha specifically to help them meet personally the valiant Christians of Kandhamal who did not hesitate to sacrifice everything for the sake of holding on to their faith,” the prelate told Matters India.
As part the October 15-21 program the priests were sent to different villages and each priest spent a night in an affected family interacting with the survivors. They visited most affected families in every village. After the exposure to the families the priests met together to share their experiences.
Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar and Divine Word Father Joy Thomas guided their discussion, which was followed by lectures on the Church’s missionary nature. The program lasted a week.
The priests shared their impression with Matters India before leaving for the region.
“The victims of Kandhamal lost everything but not their faith. They are surrounded by people who question and challenge their faith. They still live under constant threats,” said Fr. Paul Dahanga from Tezpur diocese.
Fr. S M Soosai from Guwahati noted that the hate speeches that extremists repeated over the years influenced “even the moderate people” leading to widespread attacks on Christians.
What impressed Fr. Philip Barla of Tezpur diocese was unwavering faith Kandhamal’s poor and mostly illiterate Christians. “Such intense and fanatical violence has failed to have any impact on the faith of the poor Christians of Kandhamal. The organizers and perpetrators of the crimes must have hoped to wipe out Christianity from the region. But they have failed. The physical and mental torture only strengthened the faith of the poor victims,” he added.
Fr. Premananda (one name) from Guwahati Archdiocese says God “powerfully saved” the Kandhamal people to rebuild their faith, although the violence had destroyed their property and assets. “The violence against the poor Christians of Kandhamal was unleashed by fanatics motivated by obscurantism and it was a denial of the legitimate constitutional rights of the victims,” he explained.
Fr. Sebastian Ekka from Dibrugarh says Kandhamal Christians’ resilience has refuted the allegation that they were lured or tricked into accepting Christian faith with material incentives.
Fr. Boniface Dhanwar of Itanagar sees the “unfortunate anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal as “an opportunity” for all Christian denominations in the area to unitedly witness their faith. “Kandhamal incident has deepened the faith of the victims and now they will live their Christian lives with greater intensity,” he predicted.
Fr. Philip Barla from Tezpur warns Kandhamal could be repeated in other parts of India. “We must be prepared,” he said and insisted those dying for the faith should be declared martyrs.
Fr. Thomas Lakra of Itanagar agreed and urged the local Church to press Rome to recognize those who died at Kandhamal as martyrs.
Fr. Francis Stephen of Jowai diocese, who coordinated the program, wants the Church to prepare future priests to respond to communal riots in an organized. “The tentacles of this fanaticism can easily extend also to the North eastern states,” warned the priest from Meghalaya, a Christian-majority state in the region.
Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, who heads the Catholic Church in Odisha, thanks the visiting priests for their concern for the Church in the eastern Indian state.