PIME: fasting and prayer in union with India’s Christians
Milan (AsiaNews) – Given the seriousness of reports coming from India, PIME’s Cultural and Missionary Activities Centre in Milan will hold a vigil with a public prayer and fasting as a show of empathy to Orissa Christians on 5 September, the liturgical feast day for the Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata. The deed is meant to express empathy to the Indian Catholic Church which is planning a day of fasting and prayer in every diocese across the country. The Vigil will take place at 6 pm near San Francesco Saverio Church, Via Monte Rosa 81, Milan.
The initiative was announced in a letter that Fr Gian Paolo Gualzetti, director of PIME’s Cultural and Missionary Activities Centre in Milan, wrote to Card Varkey Vithayathil, major archbishop of Ernakulam-Ankamaly and chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.
“In this hour of sorrow for the Indian Church as a whole, as Italian citizens and Catholics, we want to express through you in prayer, our solidarity and empathy for India’s Christians.”
The vigil of fasting and prayer is meant to follow in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks. In yesterday’s general audience in the Vatican he prayed for Orissa Christians that “the Lord may accompany and sustain them in this time of suffering and give them the strength to continue in the service of love for all.”
With the vigil set for the feast day of the Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata, it will be possible to listen to the luminous testimonial that is offered during these difficult hours her sisters are enduring .
“It was painful to see that the people we serve, for whom we are doing good work, can do such things,” said Sister Nirmala Joshi, Missionaries of Charity superior, as she commented events in Orissa. “We must never the less forgive and go on with the eyes focused on our mission.”
Last but not least the letter offers an opportunity to denounce the silence that has so far accompanied the tragedy of India’s Christians (except for Catholic, especially missionary, publications). This is especially so since what is happening in Orissa was expected! In May our review Mondo e Missione published a report with a title that said it all: Orissa, i perseguitati di serie B (Orissa or the second zone persecuted). The report went into great detail to describe the never-ending suffering and threats Christians were enduring months after the tragic events of last Christmas.
In it Archbishop Raphael Cheennah of Bhubaneswar talked about the loneliness his flock had to endure. “Today,” he explained, “India is a market that is tempting everyone. There are great economic interests and everyone wants good relations with us. Under the circumstances what happens to minorities is not interesting.”
Next 5 September, the PIME community will meet for prayers and fasting but they meeting will also be clarion call for Italian political leaders to do more than utter paltry words of solidarity. Further silence might allow Orissa authorities to again prevent the archdiocese of Bhubaneswar from receiving foreign aid to rebuild homes, churches and schools burnt in the December violence. Instead we want Italy to stand up so that this tragedy is not followed again by such callous behaviour.
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Here is the full text of the letter sent to Cardinal Vithayathil:
Your Eminence
Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil,
Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Ankamaly
Chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India
Your Most Reverend Eminence
We are saddened by the terrible news of massacres and devastations that have affected various parts of Orissa in the last few weeks in which many Christians have fallen victim to acts of violence.
As citizens of the world we are struck by the wave of hatred that is sweeping over so many poor and defenceless men and women by people indoctrinated in ideologies based on exclusion and intolerance.
We are pained by the fact that such episodes of bloodshed and terror can take place in a land, India, that gave birth to the father of non-violence, the Mahatma Gandhi, to whom the world owes wisdom and prophecy.
We are particularly aggrieved to see that so many of our brothers and sisters in faith are victims, guilty only of believing in the Gospel of Jesus and the liberating power of his message.
Your Eminence, in such an hour of sorrow for the Indian Church, we as Italian citizens and Catholics want to express through you our solidarity and empathy in prayer for India’s Christians and the missionaries who work and have worked among them.
We want you to sense the affection of so many Italian Christians who with bated breath are following the sad events in Orissa.
Our thoughts go especially to the Christian communities affected by the violence. We call on the Lord to be by their side to sustain their faithfulness to the Gospel even in the Hour of the Cross.
Let us pray so that in difficult moments such as these when hostilities are so clear, hatred and a desire for vengeance never cloud our ability to forgive as our Master did. Let us also hope that our Christian witness can be given freely, always and without hindrance to every man and woman of your great country.
With such sentiments, and welcoming the invitation you extended to local communities, on 5 September, feast day of the Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata, we shall also meet in Milan for a moment of public fasting and prayer in solidarity with Orissa Christians.
As citizens of Italy we shall also make sure that our political leaders will put pressure on the Indian government to truly uphold religious freedom, which is guaranteed under India’s constitution, throughout the nation.
We dare hope that India, a country that has played a major role on the international scene for quite some time and has been an example of democracy for the whole world, may find in this painful hour the strength to rediscover in the peaceful coexistence of different faiths and cultures the greatest treasure it can offer to the world today.
Fr GianPaolo Gualzetti
Director of the Cultural and Missionary activities PIME
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13/10/2022 17:01
