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Rome, India, 2nd September
2004 (CNA) -
The Catholic Bishops of
India are voicing concern for a new wave of violence
against Christians and calling on civil authorities to
intervene and urging people to work to build religious
tolerance and harmony.
The Fides News Agency
reports that August 26 in the central eastern state of
Orissa, a group of Hindu militants attacked and
desecrated the parish church of Our Lady of Charity in
the village of Rakia also destroying the homes of
several Christian families near the parish.
According to Archbishop
Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, the attack on
the parish was organized and premeditated.
The bishops issued a
statement which included the report of the pastor, Fr.
Alphonse Baliarsingh, who said 300 fundamentalists broke
down the parish door with clubs and destroyed a statue
of our Lady, a Crucifix and other religious
statues. The assailants made a bonfire with the
Bible, liturgical books and other sacred objects, and
they destroyed the tabernacle.
Catholics in Kerala, south
west India, have been deeply shaken after a priest,
Father Job Chittilappilly, 71, was murdered his home
next to the parish church of Our Lady of Grace in the
town of Thuruthiparambu.
An investigation by
local police revealed that the body was discovered early
in the morning and that the priest had been stabbed
several times. The motive for the crime is still unclear
but it would appear to be an execution in cold blood.
The local Bishop, Bishop
James Pazhayattil of Irinjalakuda diocese, contacted by
Fides said “Father Job was attacked and killed while he
was praying the rosary before going to celebrate the
6.30 Mass. Our diocesan community is still deeply shaken
and we have no idea who would want to kill him”.
Local church sources say
that Father Job visited their homes, including Hindus,
but he never tried to convert them by force and he was
always made welcome, the Bishop said.
This incident is the latest
in a series of attacks on Christian places and
persons.
Pallottine Father John
Sunderam, parish priest in the archdiocese of Ranchi, in
Jharkhand state is still in coma after being seriously
wounded by band of criminals who broke into his church
on August 22 in an apparent robbery.
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