By Matters India Reporter
Miao, March 31, 2019: Church people in Arunachal have expressed relief over the recovery of Marian statues hours after they went missing from two grottoes in the northeastern Indian state.
“It is indeed a matter of great relief that both the statues have been discovered. We wish to assure ourselves that these are isolated incidents and not the handiwork of some vested interests,” said Father Felix Anthony, newly appointed spokesperson of the Catholic Church in northeastern India.
The Miao diocesan priest also said the Church pray for peace and harmony of all people of Arunachal Pradesh, especially in the context of party-related violence reported from a few districts of the state.
Statues of Mother Mary kept at two grottoes — one in Miao diocese and another in Itanagar diocese — were found missing on March 31 morning.
The statue from the grotto attached to Miao diocese’s Tezu parish was recovered in the afternoon from a teenage boy. He told people searching for the statue that he had found it lying on a field little away from the grotto and took it home. He said he has no clue who had removed the statue from the grotto.
The parish is some 375 km east of Itanagar, the state capital.
“Thank God, it is found. We would appreciate efforts taken by our smart youth from Tezu parish in discovering the stolen statue,” Father Anthony told Matters India.
He said the other statue, missing from the grotto of under Itanagar diocese’ Doimukh parish, was also recovered from a person who is reportedly mentally unstable.
The Tezu grotto was set up ten years ago while the Doimukh was built in 2014.
Father Anthony says such incidents call for “vigilance from all of us, especially in the context of what is happening in Arunachal these days.”
“Let us find out why the boy had taken away the statue. Hope he is not playing in the hands of some vested interests,” Father Anthony added.
The priest also said the Church authorities had not filed any police case regarding the missing statue.