The small Christian Community in the country is peacefully going about seeking out their miserable existence in various parts of the country. They work hard and earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. They have their own little organizations which they run to meet their needs to keep themselves happy and contented. They neither aspire for power nor riches and have learnt to share and care for their less fortunate brethren with whatever they have been given by God.
In the last few days we have been constantly hearing of incidents such as of burning down of St. Sebastian’s church in East Delhi, desecrating and damaging of a Church in Madhya Pradesh. Forcing of Catholic schools in Bastar (Chhattisgarh) to put up statues of Hindu idols. The schools there agreed to put up the photograph of Goddess Saraswati, but rejected many other demands of the saffron brigade (VHP). There is no doubt in the mind of any Indian that our religious organizations like the Society Jesuits (SJ), Don Bosco (Salesians), SFX, and others have done a wonderful job in all corners of the country in providing quality education to all those who enter their portals, irrespective of religion, class and caste. The Catholic contribution to education, health and social welfare work, is overwhelmingly out of proportion to their miniscule numbers in the country (2%). They deserve credit and gratitude at least for this.
Many of our national leaders — including Lal Krishna Advani and Manohar Parrikar and many more, were students of Catholic schools and colleges. Many of them have broken the academic records by topping exams in various fields. Besides this, orphanages, dispensaries for medical care, old aged homes, and other social welfare institutions are doing outstanding work. Mother Teresa and her homes for the sick, aged and underprivileged have been praised the world over. Love is the catch-word that is flashed to enter the hearts of the suffering people who are afflicted and underprivileged. None of these institutions are rolling in money. They are totally non-profit organizations and manage to run on a shoe string budget with the grace of God and the goodwill from the community around them, where the littlest contributions are most welcome.
Stop persecuting the minorities!
