By Purushotham Nayak
Kandhamal, Nov. 2, 2019: Catholics of Kandhamal, Odisha, prayed for the victims of anti-Christian violence on November 2, the All Souls Day.
Father Pradosh Chandra Nayak, vicar general of Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, led the Mass at Our Lady of Charity Church in Raikia.
The areas had recorded the highest number of victims during anti-Christian violence of 2007 and 2008. Two priests concelebrants the Mass.
About 15 nuns and more than 700 Catholics including students from Bishop’s Tobar Hostel and Saint Catherine’s Girls’ Convent attended.
“The victims of anti-Christian were ready to sacrifice their lives to witness Jesus Christ,” said Father Nayak in his homily.
They believed that the extremists can kill the body but not the soul, he added.
Ashalota Nayak, a widow who came to the Mass with her son, said her husband sacrificing his life for his belief in Jesus has strengthened my faith in the Lord. “May the Lord grant my husband eternal rest,” she prayed while talking to Matters India.
Her husband Bikram Nayak was a victim of anti-Christian persecution.
Asirbad Nayak, the son, said, “My father is physically not here on earth but he is present in my life with his virtues, love, faith in Christ.” The seventh grader was just five months old when his father was killed in August 2008.
The Hindu fanatics first attacked Bikram Nayak in a cattleshed in Tiangia. They first chopped the leg then physically tortured him. The dropped him death hitting his head with a weapon.
He was taken by paramilitary forces to the Government Hospital in Raikia where he was declared dead.