By Matters India Reporter
Sambalpur, March 23, 2025: Bishop Niranjan Sualsingh of Sambalpur in Odisha state has urged his faithful to do penance and prayers as reparation after some miscreants desecrated the sacred species during a robbery.
The bishop’s March 22 appeal said some people broke open the Holy Family Church at Titilagarh in Balangir district on March 21 night and took away the tabernacle and the donation box, besides destroying a statue.
“The thieves have desecrated the species,” he added.
The parish is some 390 km south of Bhubaneswar, the capital of the eastern Indian state.
The bishop said the parish priest Divine Word Father Joseph Antony has lodged a police complaint.
“The acts of sacrilege and vandalism have deeply wounded our faith community,” said Bishop Sualsingh, who urged the priests, nuns and lay people in his diocese to “stand united in prayer and solidarity” in “this moment of pain and sorrow.”
He urged them to pray for strength, peace and justice, “entrusting the matter into the hands of Our Lord with contrition and penance.”
The bishop asked his people to be vigilant and take “utmost care in protecting our sacred spaces” and place the tabernacle into the church wall and keep its key safe.
Titilagarh is a constituency in the Odisha state assembly. It is a known summer hotspot in India because of its extreme heatwaves.
We all pray foe Safety of our Sacred Relics n Churches n People should be Vigilant AMEN