Catholics From India

"If God so wills, I will bear fruit. I am a grown up plant of forty years in priesthood service. This is God's plan and His will. I never thought that, at the age of sixty-six, I would be made a bishop. God has fulfilled His own dream in this way. That's how I take it."

"Where there is Mary, there is Jesus and where there is Jesus there is joy, Mary is not only the Mother of God, she is the Mother of all of us who seek her constant intercession, we entrust our suffering to her."

"Christmas is a time when we see God in others, especially in the less privileged and downtrodden. This is so obvious from the fact that we believe that God was born in a manger, as a poor child. Therefore, the message that I want to give my audience is that we must be able to recognize every human person as someone beautiful and precious. This we do by reaching out to poor and less privileged people."

"It is God who converts a heart, it is God who gives faith. This is why politics cannot touch this intimate sphere of consciousness. Christians do not want power, but they only want to give service to man, in particular to the marginalized and the excluded."

"We believe that persecution is part of our Christian vocation and Christian life. We are not afraid, but we live it as a blessing from God. We know that where there is persecution, faith is strengthened, and today I am proud to say that faith in my people is strengthening."

"Peace can be built on the foundations of reconciliation and justice. Today I can see the evidence of authentic faith that my people are showing: in them there is no hatred or resentment towards those who have destroyed and killed, but the joy that comes from God This is love towards the enemy, preached in the Gospel. I preach this to families and to the displaced faithful who suffer from poverty. This is how we heal the wounds of the past and make space for reconciliation."

"We can do all these services for the public because of our faith. If I don't believe in God, why will I take interest in the welfare of others? So strong is my faith that my hands serve the people."

"Each of these Churches, including the Latin Church, has its own genius. The beauty is to learn from each other without destroying the uniqueness of each one."

"We are a soft target. We are peace-loving people. We will not go and damage anything. We will not go and protest. We take candle-light processions whenever something goes wrong. And remember, we are patriotic people. We love our country. We love our motherland. And we will be anything you ask of us. Please trust us."

"He is being declared a saint during a time when many fascist forces are trying to divide the people in the name of religion, caste and creed, but Blessed Devasahayam symbolizes a person who connects all people. It is moment where we can encourage more laypeople to follow great people like Blessed Devasahayam and build bridges between communities where all will be equal without making any differences between any religions."

"If universal jurisdiction over our faithful is recognized to us, we can help foster this energy so that its strength is in the service of the universal Church. Otherwise what we lose the universal Church will lose."

"The social situation at the time of Jesus was more similar to ours today. We are called to respond and act as Jesus responded and acted in his time. It is hard and tough I know. However there is no option other than to have the same mind as in Jesus in order to follow him."

"Christmas should be for all people, an occasion to rejoice because the message of Christmas is that God loves all of us, so out of love for us, Jesus became man identifying himself with the poor. But He preferred to be born in a manger as a very low state. He became the poorest of the poor that means that God has a special concern and love for the poor people. The divine child in the manger has absolutely nothing even not a place of his own to be born. Through this example, Jesus teaches us that the true greatness of a person lies not in what one has but in what one is. God is the creator of all things but it is not anything of this world that can make him great."

"A relationship is always based on the way we communicate."

"Finally, the truth has come and we welcome the verdict because we knew that they are innocent. The Church does not promote or propagate religious conversion. It is very unfortunate that from time to time some fanatic groups harass poor people, especially Dalits and tribals, in the name of religious conversion, but it is unacceptable in a democratic country like India."

"We have appealed to Indian premier Modi to look at the matter and do the needful as it is a very serious matter of concern and if not taken seriously it may give a wrong message. Our papers on church land are complete and there was no such issue in the past. The incident has extremely saddened our people, who are in a state of shock."

"There is exploitation. Covering up such issues is not right."

"At a time when fewer women opt for religious life, intercongregational collaboration is the future. Sanjoepuram brings together congregations with different charisms to work for a common cause. Our experience has been very positive."

"The purpose of missionary activity is not so much to "do something for others" as to "transform others into doers.""

"The Indian Constitution is in danger and many people live with a feeling of insecurity. It is urgent to protect the values of the Constitution, including the freedom to practice one's own religion. In this context, especially with the approaching of the general elections, we must strive to better understand our Constitution and do more to protect it."

"In the Middle East and other parts of the world so many innocent people are still convicted. Justice is trampled, and men and women are killed for their faith. We entrust their lives to Jesus Christ."

"Follow the path of the saints, they left their comfort zones to serve the people of God, sharing with them the Word of God which heals and gives life."

"A congregation is supposed to assess a person's mental health during formation. It is a dangerous signal if a nun commits suicide at the slightest provocation. We have to reassess our system's effectiveness."

"I will try my best to jounrey together with you to love God more deeply and love you all."

"Despite a law prohibiting local brews, the sale of hooch continues unabated with the connivance of local police and excise officials."

"He knows what he wants, he's a good Jesuit, and the Jesuits know exactly what they want."

"Knowing nature closely and intimately enhances faith. So loving and caring for nature is a way of protecting your faith."

"The only way to overcome this crisis is to have more babies and honor the sanctity of life."

"When the intention is to spread Islam and annihilate non-Muslims, two widely discussed methods are love jihad and narcotics jihad. There is a section of people who want to establish that no such thing exists in our society today. They are trying to conceal the truth and reality."

"Our Heavenly Father has been good to us and this goodness needs to be shared with the less fortunate, especially at this difficult moment."

"Our actions whether good or evil have an ultimate significance and have effects of infinite range and scope. We stand under incalculable responsibility. We must be faithful in little things because there are no little things; we must be faithful in God’s absence because God is never absent."

"Only external forces with their own interests can introduce such seeds of hatred."

"There is no limit to possibilities when you are certain that the message you carry has something valid to offer. It is bound to make an impact even if it takes time. What the carrier of the Good News has to do is to work according to the rhythms of human nature and the processes of history and wait for the action of the Lord."

"Though the Scripture says that all the baptized form one Mystical Body with Christ as its Head and that there is no separation among us whether we are "Jews or Greeks, slaves or free", the social, cultural and local systems do not permit us to put it into practice. It is because of the social system that pulls down the Christian community from the Gospel values. As such, we cannot change the existing system over night. In fact, we need more time, education and formation of the Christian community. Yes"

"God dwells In a Holy House. Faith is growing. Nothing deters the people. Their love for Christ and Church increases."

"I am a person who believes in inter-faith dialogue. The tensions and intolerance we see in society today is because there is a declining trend of communication between various religious institutions. We know so less about each other. Communication and dialogue is the only way we can remove this veil of suspicion."

"The challenge is already there to create an atmosphere of harmony. In addition, new ways of evangelization have to be adopted, not making Christians alone but making humans out of each one."

"Christians in India have constitutional guarantees to practice our faith, share the Good News and the message of Christ, which is for all humanity. This is not conversion nor is anyone forced."

"Tragically, the fundamentalists target tribals who originally are not even Hindu. These tribals are extremely poor and depend entirely on the majority community for their livelihood, so they are an easy target for pressure and intimidation from those who want to force them to participate in these re-conversions."

"I don’t have any particular work. I pray for the Jesuits, relatives and friends. Every morning I give communion to the senior and sick fathers in the infirmary. Sometimes Jesuit fathers and brothers come to me for spiritual advice. I try my best to help them."

"When we have God at the centre of our Church, we can lead our people to reach God's Kingdom. Without God at the centre or our Church surrounding God, then not much of anything can be achieved."

"Christ gave the message of love to the world and preached brotherhood, and that all are children of God and hence we must treat each other as brothers and sisters. Christmas is the most awaited Holy period in the calendar for the followers of Christ. Christmas means the celebration of God's incredible love towards mankind. God sent his Son to the mankind to spread the message of peace and love."

"We don't want favors from the government but we need social justice."

"The religious also are today tempted to use rich temporal means. But the effort should be to live up to their religious vows and not to rely on rich temporal means. Prayer, asceticism, self renunciation, poverty and suffering should resume their hold on religious life, or else, the religious will be less effective in their apostolate. We all have to be ready to preach the Gospel without any secular interests motivating us."

"For far too long, language has been a highly sensitive issue in this diocese. The language issue has become a divisive issue in Catholic parishes throughout the diocese. Since Bangalore is Karnataka's capital, we must enhance the status of Kannada, the State's main language."

"We have the fundamental right to profess our faith, and no one can deprive us. We must be united, to promote justice and defend Christian values"

"Minorities have been asserting their rights but bureaucrats and education officials have tried to downplay them. I wish all the best to all our educationists that they might turn the High Court order into a reality."

"How do we deepen the faith of our people? People are simple and have faith, but this needs to be renewed and revitalized, to awaken missionary zeal into our people. We need to focus on training and creating a new leadership of lay faithful. Another challenge we face is the poverty among the Catholic community, too, and they too need holistic development."

"Discriminating against people according to caste is not only un-Christian; it is also inhuman. I am happy to be a priest and consider my priesthood to be the greatest gift God has given me for the good of His people. The episcopacy is an added responsibility and I try "to be a happy servant," which is the motto of my episcopate. Being a dalit, it may be easier for me than for others to understand the concept of a being servant; and as a first generation Christian in my family, my faith in Christ brings me great happiness—as it is still new and still uncontaminated."

"Poor people are being treated like animals here. How else can they conduct surgeries in unhygienic conditions and send them home with spurious drugs? We are shocked to learn that the illiterate young women were not even told about the impact of sterilization surgery. It has been going on for a long time. The tragedy has brought it out now."