By Matters India Reporter
Bengaluru, Feb 23, 2019: More than 1000 people including bishops, priests, religious and lay people attended the “Kandhamal Day” celebration reconnecting with Christian faith in Bengaluru, on Feb 22 at the Good Shepherd Auditorium.
Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore and the Karnataka Region Catholic Bishops’ Council jointly organized the “Kandhamal Day” with the purpose of to help clergy, religious and Catholics to listen to the testimony witnesses of Kandhamal violence survivors and re-dedicate life to the service of humanity.
Divine Word Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Archdiocese, Odisha, Father Dibakar Parichha and two women from Kandhamal gave their testimonies of faith. They also shared about the 2008 anti-Christian violence that Kandhamal witnessed.
Anto Akkara, journalist and author, who has reported on Kandhamal violence extensively, made a multimedia presentation on the subject.
“The big ‘KANDHAMAL DAY’ is the first ever official and exclusive programme organised by the Catholic Church outside Odisha,” Akkara told Matters India and thanks to the initiative of Archbishop Machado and the bishops of Karnataka State.
“It was a huge programme with more than 1000 in the presence of all the bishops of Karnataka State along with Archbishop Barwa and others,” he added.
Odisha faced India’s worst anti-Christian violence that lasted for seven weeks, in Kandhamal, a rural hilly district in Odisha, in August 2008 after the murder of a Hindu religious leader. In the aftermath, the frenzied Hindu mobs armed with axes and swords attacked Christian homes, churches and convents in Kandhamal.
The violence claimed more than 100 people’s lives, largely Christians and 56,000 people displaced. More than 350 churches and some 6,500 houses were looted and burned. Several women were raped including that of a Catholic nun.