Author: admin
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BAD APPLES, SAD COUPLES, GLAD TIDINGS
Fortunately I belong to a small parish where just a handful of people come for the Sunday evening Mass. It is therefore a time of quiet reflection for me. These reflections then are based on the first two readings of the first Sunday of Lent. The first reading was from Genesis on the “fall” of…
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INDIAN SYNOD – FORWARDS OR BACKWARDS?
Synod, what’s that? Are we suffering from collective amnesia? The next round, the Continental one, is slated for 24th – 27th February. For Asia it will be held in Bangkok, Thailand. If I correctly recall, our Asian bishops had earlier met in Pattaya, Thailand, better known for its sex tourism! Back to the Synod; how…
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विकास- विश्वास- विलास- विनाश।
Conscientious citizens of India need to reflect seriously on these 4 critical words…
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VIKAS-VISHWAS-VILAS-VINASH
There has been a progression, or rather regression, of Vs over the last week. For those unfamiliar with Hindi, let me first do a literal translation of the 4 Vs in this title – Vikas (Development), Vishwas (Faith), Vilas (Luxury) and Vinash (Destruction). Vikas has been the buzz word of the BJP Government. There is…
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FUNEREAL FUNDAS
Funerals are usually dour affairs, nothing to write home about. Yet, having witnessed some interesting funerals on TV in the recent past, I did find some lessons to be learnt and thoughts to be shared. The first one was that of Queen Elizabeth the Second (QE II) who died last 8th September aged 96. Her…
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CHRISTIAN UNITY IS IMPERATIVE
Let me shoot from the hip. Efforts for Christian unity, or ecumenism, are imperative, not an optional extra. We have just concluded the Christian Unity Octave that is held annually from 18th to 25th January, concluding on the feast of the Conversion of St Paul. The Octave was celebrated with both solemnity and sincerity in…
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CONTRASTING & COMPLEMENTARY COUSINS
This piece is occasioned by the Gospel reading at the third Sunday of Advent. From prison, John the Baptist sent his emissaries to Jesus with the question “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?” (Mat 11:3). A seemingly innocuous question, but pregnant with meaning. In the midst…
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IS CONVERSION NECESSARY?
By “conversion” I here mean the explicit act of baptising a non-Christian to make such a person Christian. We know that the right-wing Hindutva brigade has always been against religious conversion, thinly veiled as “forceful conversion”. Several anti-conversion laws have been passed in various States, not just by the BJP, but even by the Congress…