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India ________________
Government leader hails Catholic contribution
Statement issued for World Day of the Sick
While preparations were underway in Vailankanni, India, for the 10th World Day of the Sick, which was observed there on February 11, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee hailed the contributions of the Indian Catholic Church in the field of health care.
“The contribution made by the Christian community, and in particular the Catholic Church, in the field of health care in the country is well known and commendable,” said Prime Minister Vajpayee in his message to the World Day of the Sick gathering.
Archbishop Oswald Gracias, secretary general of the Indian bishops’ conference, told a press briefing in New Delhi that the task of hosting the international observance of the World Day of the Sick would help the Church in India “to review priorities and try to reach out more to the poor in rural areas.” The Catholic Church already runs 4,967 hospitals, 62 nursing schools, 1,981 rehabilitation centers, and three medical colleges in India.
India’s health minister, C.P. Takur, was among the guests at the ceremonies, along with a 27-member Vatican delegation led by Archbishop Javier Lozano Barragán, the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers. In addition to two dozen other international delegates, 1,400 Indian health workers and several bishops attended the ceremonies at the shrine of Our Lady of Good Health at Vailankanni, which is known as the “Lourdes of the East.” The greatest pilgrim center in India, the Marian shrine facing the Bay of Bengal attracts nearly 20 million pilgrims—half of them Hindus and Muslims—every year.
A suspect and a candidate
Hindu militant stands for
office
Hindu groups have announced that
Dara Singh, the prime suspect in the
triple-murder of Australian missionary Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons,
will be a candidate for the legislature of India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state.
Ravindra Pal Singh, better known as Dara Singh, is now in prison in the eastern Orissa state, on trial for reportedly being the leader of a mob that burned the car in which the Rev. Staines and his young sons were sleeping outside a remote village in Orissa in January 1999. He is also suspected of involvement in several other attacks on Christians.
Describing Singh as a “great revolutionary” and “protector of Hinduism,” militant Hindu groups announced last week that his name would be on the ballot in Uttar Pradesh elections next month. Under prevailing rules, there is no legal restriction to bar a candidate who has not yet been convicted of a crime.
“This is a stain on Indian democracy,” said Father Dominic Emmanuel, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, reacting to the announcement of the electoral bid. He expressed regret that several influential Hindu groups had lent their support to the candidacy.