Prayer and Solidarity with Persecuted Christians in India

The tragedy in India is worsening. We owe the highest obligation because we share the Baptismal bond.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - Catholic Online offers the opportunity for our readers to comment on many of our articles. There have been numerous responses to our continued coverage of the horrid persecution of Catholics and other Christians by militant, extremist Hindus in India. Here are just a few: "Please influence CNN and bring this news in public press and TV." "Let's all ask our Pastors and Priests what we can do as a Catholic community to bring attention to these atrocities. I never see this mentioned in the NY Daily News, Post or WSJ." "Where are the protests from our democratic form of government now when true social protest is desperately needed to save hundreds or thousands of innocents being slaughtered for teaching and speaking the truth? Why does this country not threaten economic sanctions or other means to bring the Indian government to its senses?" At Catholic Online, we will continue to call attention to the plight of our brothers and sisters in the land evangelized by the Apostle Thomas.We must!

(Proud to be Catholic? Show Your Support Right Now! Virtual Vigil of Prayer and Solidarity for the Persecuted Church in India. Please Sign the 'Catholic Action' Petition!)

On August 16, 2008 Fr. Thomas Pandippally, of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate, watered the ground with his blood, martyred at the hands of Hindu extremists in Orissa, India precisely because he was a Christian. It was only the beginning. Asia News reports that Anti-Christian violence is only getting worse. Since August 24, 2008, 59 Christians have been killed, 18,000 injured, 177 churches destroyed or damaged, 4,300 homes set on fire, and 13 schools and colleges destroyed. The "All India Christian Council" provides the following breakdown as the wave of persecution has now spread beyond Orissa: ORISSA 14 districts affected; 300 villages destroyed; 4,300 houses burnt; 50,000 homeless; 57 people murdered; 10 Fathers/Pastors/nuns injured; 2 women gang-raped; 18,000 men, women and children injured;149 churches as well as 13 schools and colleges destroyed.KARNATAKA,4 districts devastated; 19 churches attacked; 20 nuns and women injured. KERALA, 3 churches damaged.MADHYA PRADESH, 4 churches damaged. DELHI, 1 church destroyed; attempts made against 4 others. TAMAIL NADU, 1 church attacked.UTTAR PRADESH, Two people, an old priest and employee have been murdered.

We were among the first to call attention to the brutal kidnapping and subsequent murder of the beloved Chaldean Archbishop Rahho in Iraq. We relentlessly reported on the incident and called our readers and viewers to tirelessly pray for his safe return. We raised the questions as to why more was not done by governments throughout the world, including our own. The Lord called the Archbishop to the honor of martyrdom. Still concerned at the plight of our brethren in Iraq, we now call attention to the horrid pogrom of violent persecution unleashed against our brethren in India. We have launched a "Virtual Vigil of Prayer and Solidarity for the Persecuted Church in India" through which we hope to mobilize an international army of prayer warriors,storming the heavens for the intervention and protection of the Lord. We are raising an outcry, wherever we can, calling for all just governments to lead the much needed effort to insist that the Government of India intervene to stop this horror. PLEASE JOIN US!

Witness the Words of Jesus Come to Life

The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of solidarity: "The principle of solidarity, also articulated in terms of "friendship" or "social charity," is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood. An error, today abundantly widespread, is disregard for the law of human solidarity and charity, dictated and imposed both by our common origin and by the equality in rational nature of all men, whatever nation they belong to. This law is sealed by the sacrifice of redemption offered by Jesus Christ on the altar of the Cross to his heavenly Father, on behalf of sinful humanity." (CCC 1939) We Humans struggle with this obligation in solidarity and have for generations. The Book of Genesis provides an account of "the beginnings" of the created order and the origin of man and woman. It gives us some insights on why. The story of the fall of the human race recorded in the third chapter of that Book is an account of the wrong choice made by our first parents. They had been fashioned out of love, by Love and for love. They were also given the capacity to choose to love in return. Yet, they chose against Love. Their choice is what Western Christian theology has called the "original sin".

The results of that choice are still being felt, not only individually but even in relationships between Nations. The fracturing of their solidarity with God led to a fracturing of their solidarity with one another in the family. In the wake of that rupture in relationship, all of creation was affected. What makes human persons differ from all the other creatures is our capacity to make choices. Love and compassion are choices. God is not interested in the rote response of robots. He invites the loving response of sons and daughters, toward Him and toward one another. He invited the entire human race into communion with Him and into a communion with one another. The exercise of our freedom opens up either heaven or hell. In the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself." (par. 1861) The results of this first wrong choice have had generational repercussions. One of the stories in Genesis concerns the children of Adam and Eve, Cain and his brother Abel. It is the first account of murder in the Bible, an act of fratricide. Cain killed his brother. His resentment over what his brother had received as a gift from God festered into murder. After the dreadful act, he tried to hide his responsibility from God.

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Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out in the field." When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD asked Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He answered, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" The LORD then said: "What have you done! Listen: your brother's blood cries out to me from the soil! Therefore you shall be banned from the soil that opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. If you till the soil, it shall no longer give you its produce. You shall become a restless wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the LORD: "My punishment is too great to bear. Since you have now banished me from the soil, and I must avoid your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, anyone may kill me at sight." Not so!" the LORD said to him. "If anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold." So the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight. Cain then left the LORD'S presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Genesis 4:1-16) This story provides a framework within which we can more fully understand our relationship with God, our obligations to one another and the effect of our choices. The question "Am I my brothers' keeper" still echoes in our day. We are our brothers' keeper. The sin of Cain was a sin against solidarity.

There is another story, recorded in the New Testament; it concerns a "scholar of the law" who asked Jesus about his responsibility to "love his neighbor as himself" in fulfillment of the great command to Israel. The "scholar" wanted to extract a formula. Instead, Jesus used the opportunity to teach all of us about our obligations in solidarity: "But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.' Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?" He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." (St. Luke 10:29-37)

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We must now "...go and do the same" The tragedy in India is absolutely clear. Here we are talking about other Christians, those to whom we owe the highest obligation because we share a Baptismal bond. We must act and we must act now. Please, join our "Virtual Vigil of Prayer and Solidarity". Please Contact your elected representatives and insist that they act to end the horrid violence. Contact your local Press and insist that this story be covered. Most importantly, join us in the "Virtual Vigil of Prayer and Solidarity" today.

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