Violence in India 1

News and headlines that you won’t hear from the BBC:

“A 37-year-old Carmelite priest was tortured and killed on Saturday night as he travelled to the site where he was to celebrate Sunday Mass. The body of Carmelite of Mary Immaculate Father Thomas Pandippallyil was found by religious sisters headed to the Mass he was to celebrate at the centre in Yellareddy. He was found dead with his hands and legs broken, 18 stab wounds inflicted on his body and his eyes gouged out. A fellow priest said the murdered priest was "so quiet, holy and committed to the work of the Lord and service of the poor. His motto in life was, 'To wipe the tears of the poor.'"

“A priest who has survived the wave of attacks on Christians by Hindu extremists in India considers himself safe "in the hands of God." Father Sequeira was the victim of an attack Aug. 25; a young laywoman who worked at the orphanage where he worked did not survive.”

“The president of the Indian Episcopal conference says that the faith of Indian Christians is more important than their lives. Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil made this statement in the context of a continuing wave of violence against Christians in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. The attacks, which intensified at the end of August, have left thousands of Christians homeless and several dead. The Missionaries of Charity, the sisters of the order founded by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, are among those who have been victimized, with four missionaries last week being forced to spend a night in jail after being accused of forcing the conversions of four babies who they were taking to a charity centre. The babies were taken from the nuns and placed in a government ward, despite the fact that the religious had all the necessary documentation for the children.”

“So far at least 20 people have been killed, hundreds wounded, 45 churches have been burned, social centres, hostels, orphanages, and hospitals have been ransacked and destroyed, and hundreds of homes have been burned. Tens of thousands of people who fled from the violence are still living in the forests or in shelters set up by the local government.“
“Father Thomas Chellen, undergoing treatment at a Catholic hospital in Bhubaneswar, India, said he was grateful to be alive after a Hindu mob nearly set him on fire. ‘They had poured kerosene on my head, and one held a matchbox in his hands to light the fire. But thanks to divine providence, in the end, they did not do that. Otherwise, I would not have been there to tell
this horror.’ A Hindu mob of 500 people broke into the pastoral centre around noon Aug. 24, Father Chellen said he fled through the backyard with another priest and a nun… We fled to the jungles and came in the night to take shelter in the house of a Hindu friend and spent the night there… The following morning, the Hindu family moved the priest and nun to an adjacent vacant house and locked it to give the impression that no one was inside. However, the Hindu mobs overheard the priest speaking on his cell phone, broke into the room and dragged him and the nun outside… They tore my shirt and started pulling off the clothes of the nun. When I protested, they beat me hard with iron rods. Later, they took the sister inside and raped her while they went on kicking and teasing me, forcing me to say vulgar words… Later both of us, half-naked, were taken to the street, and they ordered me to have sex with the nun in public, saying nuns and priests do it. As I refused, they went on beating me and dragged us to the nearby government office. Sadly, a dozen policemen were watching all this," Angry at his plea to the police for help, the mob beat the bleeding priest again… We resisted as much as we could. This is like being tortured for Christ."