Dear Freepers in Christ,
Actually Freeper NYer beat me to posting this article. I did see this article this morning on my email as I am subscribed to the Zenit News Service.
This is Good News despite the fact that I am not a Catholic from Southern India. It is true that Catholic Seminaries in many parts of Southern India are overflowing and in some Seminaries the Rectors are turning away potential Seminarians because they have no more place for them.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for the Archdiocesan Seminary in Bombay where Vocations are not as plenty as in Southern India that is essentially because large numbers of Catholic Families have been immigrating to various countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc in the last 10 years or so.
In Addition, to what I have said above it is difficult to get Vocations to the Priesthood in Cities like Bombay, Delhi, etc where Catholics are not as religious or staunch in their faith as compared to Catholics from South India.
Also, because Catholics for a number of years have been facing rampant discrimination in the Corporate World specially in Bombay-- many, many, Catholic Families have been immigrating for the last 20 years even to countries like the United States as well as to the United Kingdom.
I know of at least 2 dozen Catholic Families from my immediate neigborhood who have migrated since 1986 to the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and to Canada as well. And more of them are going every month and every year.
I am also on the verge of migrating to Canada in the near future.
My Family and I are a minority among Catholics in Western India. We are very orthodox in our Catholic Faith as regards all the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Every Year more than 10,000 Catholics from Bombay migrate to Canada and 20,000+ Catholics immigrate to Australia as per figures released by Canadian Immigration Officials and Australian Immigration Officials to English- Edition News Papers published in Bombay.
Finally, This Anti- Conversion Law has made Catholics in Southern India quite bold in terms of coming forward and giving their Sons as Vocations to the Priesthood and to the Religious Life.
In Christ,