Twelve new priests for Manipur, a sign of hope

In January, diocesan and religious ordinations were held in several villages, presided over by the archbishop of Imphal, Mgr Linus Neli. Meanwhile, in the parish of Tuibuang, new houses were delivered for those displaced by the violence, built thanks to the solidarity of Catholic communities from all over India.

Imphal (AsiaNews) - Twelve priests have been ordained in the archdiocese of Imphal, the Catholic Church in the Indian state of Manipur, which for over a year and a half has been afflicted by serious ethnic violence that has also hit the Christian community hard.

It is a tangible sign of hope in the midst of so much suffering in this land where the Church does not tire of promoting concrete paths of reconciliation between the Meitei and Kuki ethnic groups.

On 5 January, Archbishop Linus Neli presided over the first of these ordinations in one of the villages. Fr. Berno Ningrei, a religious of the Society of St. Paul, became a priest. Similar celebrations for five other diocesan priests and six belonging to religious institutes will follow in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, the efforts of the archdiocese of Imphal to transform the aid received thanks to the mobilisation of Catholic dioceses all over India into opportunities for rebirth also continue.

"On Sunday, 12 January,’ Fr. Varghese Velickakam, vicar general of the archdiocese, told AsiaNews, ’50 houses were delivered to internally displaced persons in the village of Gamnom, in the parish of Tuibuang. Supporting this effort were the Franciscan Family Association of India (AFFI) and the Tamil Nadu Conference of Religious. Another 50 houses will be delivered by the end of this month, while another 200 houses are under construction. We expect to reach 480 by the end of March. We have also distributed other relief goods (coats, blankets, buckets), along with holy pictures donated by the Fiat Mission movement. The houses are scattered throughout the territory: the village chief - who is a Catholic - has also made available enough land for cultivation around the houses’.