Posted on 07/09/2006 10:13:35 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
...In seven states in India, the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] and its allies have introduced over the past few years a number of laws that punish “proselytism.”
Ivan Dias, the archbishop of Bombay...asserted that “conversion from one religious belief to another is a strictly personal matter between God and the individual concerned.”
Conversions “induced by force, fraud or allurement,” the cardinal continued, are not part of the Church’s mission. Those who attack the Church must provide proof for their accusations, but they have not been able to do so...
“Christians in India number only 2.3% of the total population: of these 1.8% belong to the Catholic Church. Despite being such a tiny minority, the Christians cater to 20% of all the primary education in the country, 10% of the literacy and community health care programmes, 25% of the care of the orphans and widows, and 30% of the care of the handicapped, lepers and AIDS patients."
...But the anti-Christian act that provoked the greatest outrage was, on June 25, the aggression against four sisters of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, in Andra Pradesh, a state in which there is no anti-conversion law in force.
The four sisters of the Missionaries of Charity – Maria Julia, Chriselda, Emma Felesia, and Reena Francis – had come to the hospital to assist the sick, as they have done every Sunday for years, with the permission of the authorities. Surrounded by a crowd of 300 persons, including news broadcasters, and accused of converting the dying through coercion, they were held hostage until the arrival of the police, who placed the sisters under arrest.
The aggression against the Missionaries of Charity has no precedent in India. Their founder, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, is respected in India as a national institution...
(Excerpt) Read more at chiesa.com ...
www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=6627
The Missionaries of Charity started their apostolate in Tirupathi in 1986. Tirupathi is a famous Hindu shrine in Chittoor District, Cuddapah Diocese. The sisters run Nirmala Sadan, a home for orphans and destitute people. The management of the Ruia Hospital invited them to visit patients and to take care of the dying, orphans and old people.
Patients with AIDS or infected by HIV admitted in the hospital have been entrusted to the care of the sisters. There are many signed agreements between the hospital authorities and the sisters regarding mutual support in taking care of the patients. Very often, the hospital authorities ask the sisters to take into their home babies born with special needs and destitute old patients who are abandoned at the hospital.
Ping
Those are some very impressive figures for percentages of charity work done by such a small religious following.
DISCUSSION ABOUT:
Mother Teresa’s Sisters Are Hostage to Fanatic Hinduists
These nuns have sacrificed everything for the needy, it is deplorable that they are being treated like this.
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History has shown time after time,if you cause God's servants grief--then expect to receive a LOT of grief for yourself.
Courtesy ping!
You may want to respond to this.
Christianity bears its fruit in India ping.
The TTD had asked the State government to enact a law to prohibit propagation of any religion on June 24.
Who are the hostages and the harassed?
Sounds pretty bogus.
One doesn't need personal information to pray for souls. Not even the name...the intent is there.
I don't believe for a minute the Sisters were prying for personal information.
May the Lord bless them and give them strength in this time of testing.
Ping
I'm sorry, I don't understand you. You describe the patients the sisters were caring and praying for as their "vicims." In what way were they victims? The sisters did no harm, but did only good for the dear people, physically and spiritually.
I wonder if the "Mother Teresa was a power-blinded money-launderer" FReepers will show up to this thread ....
Does the phrase "wolves in sheep's clothing" ring a bell?
You should hear the crap Sisters of Charity spread here in India. The Mother herself only used to fly first class and on private lear jets...some vow of poverty.
Please do not use potty language or references to potty language on the Religion Forum.
No good deed remains unpunished.
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