Church Reports

• Church – Society   

1. 7 sites to get facelift in Srinagar

Key Points:

1. The Jammu and Kashmir administration is spending Rs 6 crore to revamp seven historical sites including Hazratbal shrine. 19^th century Raghunath temple, and St Luke Church as a part of its heritage revitalisation project under smart city mission.
2. St Luke’s Church which was established in 1896 will also get wooden flooring, deodar wood cladding, linseed oil work and brick footpath. “The church will have a khatamband ceiling,” said a district official. In khatamband, wood is joined together in geometrical shapes to form a ceiling.

(timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 21 September 2020)  (News Link)

 Church – Kerala

1. Malankara Church dispute: CM Vijayan to hold talks with factions

Key Points:

1. Thomas Mar Athanasius, Metropolitan of Kandanad East diocese, and Synod secretary Yuhanon Mar Diascoros will take part in the talks.
2. Hoping to find a peaceful resolution to the decades-long Malankara Church dispute, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has convened separate conciliatory meetings with the Jacobite and Orthodox factions in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
3. The meetings gain urgency in the light of Friday’s verdict of the Kottayam sub-court ordering the handover of St Mary’s Jacobite Syrian Church at Manarcad, which is a major pilgrimage centre, to the Orthodox faction.
4. The representatives of the Jacobite Church will be Synod secretary Thomas Mar Timotheos, Kuriakose Mar Theophilos, media cell chairman, and Geevarghese Mar Coorilos, Metropolitan of Niranam diocese. “We have cooperated with the government sub-committee, formed for peace talks between the churches, from the beginning. It is the rival faction that has been avoiding the meetings. They continue to snatch away our churches in these Covid times too. Now, they are aiming for the Manarcad church. We will raise our concerns with the government,” said Kuriakose Mar Theophilos.
5. However, the Orthodox Church sticks to its stand of executing the Supreme Court verdict of handing over the churches. “We promise that no faithful will be driven out of their church,” said Johns Abraham Konat, spokesperson of the Orthodox Church.

(newindianexpress.com, 21 September 2020)  (News Link)

• Church – Religious Freedom

1. Trump’s top envoy urges Vatican to challenge China on religious freedom

Key Points:

1. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has penned a new article for the religious journal First Things, arguing that the Vatican’s agreement with China on the appointment of bishops has confused Catholics on the ground and urging the Holy See to be more vocal on China’s violations of human rights.
2. “The Holy See has a unique capacity and duty to focus the world’s attention on human rights violations, especially those perpetrated by totalitarian regimes like Beijing’s,” Pompeo said in the article, published Sept. 18.
3. He noted how throughout the 20th century the Catholic Church’s “power of moral witness” played a role in ending communism throughout central and eastern Europe, and in challenging “autocratic and authoritarian” regimes in both Latin America and East Asia.
4. “That same power of moral witness should be deployed today with respect to the Chinese Communist Party,” he said, noting that the Second Vatican Council and popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis have all upheld the position that religious freedom is “the first of civil rights.”

(cruxnow.com, 21 September 2020)  (News Link)