Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Giving aid in India is tough

byStaff writers
27 June 2010
Reading Time: 2 mins read
AA
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

PATNA, India (ACN News): An archbishop in northern India has praised the Government for not bowing to pressure to curb Christian outreach to a huge underclass community urgently in need of basic education and health care.

Archbishop William D’Souza of Patna stressed the vital work of Church groups providing urgent help for hundreds of thousands of Dalits – many of them non-Christians – who live in extreme poverty, often largely cut off from the rest of society.

His comments, made in an interview with the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, come after a surge in anti-Christian sentiment across key parts of India, spread by hardline Hindu nationalist groups who controversially claim that the Church’s work with the poor is motivated by a hidden agenda of mass conversion.

Archbishop D’Souza made clear, however, that the Bihar state coalition government has long accepted the Church’s work with the Dalits, also known as Scheduled Castes.

Describing his diocese as “predominantly a Church of the Dalits”, Archbishop D’Souza said: “There is no direct opposition from the Government so far. The Government appreciates what we are doing.”

He underlined that, while promotion of Christian values made up a crucial part of the outreach work, its primary objective was to raise people out of abject poverty by making them aware of their rights and providing training aimed at giving job opportunities.

Pointing out that Dalits made up 45,000 of the 65,000 Catholics in the diocese, Archbishop D’Souza said: “The people we help are very poor and we don’t have the resources to give them all that they need.

“All we are trying to do is to give them a ray of hope for the future – through health and education and teaching them Christian values.”

Dalits work as manual labourers, cleaning latrines and sewers, and clearing away rubbish.

Although in urban areas, discrimination against them has declined dramatically, reports from rural areas indicate that partly for religious reasons and also because of the nature of their work, Dalits are seen as unclean and are barred from access from Hindu temples, eating places, schools and water sources.

Related Stories

Plans for indigenous elements, memorials to trauma, to complement Catholic liturgy

Called to share the message of Jesus at mission school

Cathedral green packed with families for festival day

In Patna archdiocese, the Church – both diocesan and religious communities – have responded by setting up a vast support network.

There are 3000 self-help groups – with up to 15 members each – with programs on human rights, women empowerment, home economics and organisational skill development.

Dalits are taught skills such as making soup and basket making, in initiatives intended to create jobs and provide income.

There are youth groups across the diocese where thousands of young people are given training and are taught human rights and Christian values.

Although the archbishop described the diocese as a “100 per cent missionary Church”, he said adult baptisms had fallen having peaked in the 1950s and 1960s.

 

ShareTweet
Previous Post

A lavishly-produced, action adventure

Next Post

Waiting in hope

Staff writers

Related Posts

Plans for indigenous elements, memorials to trauma, to complement Catholic liturgy
News

Plans for indigenous elements, memorials to trauma, to complement Catholic liturgy

5 July 2022
Spirit of Mission: A group of young people including university students, seminarians and ministry workers present at the Xavier School of Mission held June 20 to 24. The mission school hosted guest speakers and workshops to encourage people to go out and proclaim the Word. Photo: Joe Higgins
QLD

Called to share the message of Jesus at mission school

4 July 2022
Cathedral green packed with families for festival day
QLD

Cathedral green packed with families for festival day

4 July 2022
Next Post

Waiting in hope

$40m upgrade opened

Ukrainian Church concern

Popular News

  • Mass with signs of indigenous respect launch historic Plenary Council assembly

    Mass with signs of indigenous respect launch historic Plenary Council assembly

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Plans for indigenous elements, memorials to trauma, to complement Catholic liturgy

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Called to share the message of Jesus at mission school

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Cathedral green packed with families for festival day

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Fr Mike Schmitz’s next podcast Catechism in a Year starts New Year’s Day

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Plans for indigenous elements, memorials to trauma, to complement Catholic liturgy
News

Plans for indigenous elements, memorials to trauma, to complement Catholic liturgy

by Mark Bowling
5 July 2022
0

Part of the Australian Catholic Church’s reconciliation and healing will be to introduce indigenous culture into the...

Spirit of Mission: A group of young people including university students, seminarians and ministry workers present at the Xavier School of Mission held June 20 to 24. The mission school hosted guest speakers and workshops to encourage people to go out and proclaim the Word. Photo: Joe Higgins

Called to share the message of Jesus at mission school

4 July 2022
Cathedral green packed with families for festival day

Cathedral green packed with families for festival day

4 July 2022
Fr Mike Schmitz’s next podcast Catechism in a Year starts New Year’s Day

Fr Mike Schmitz’s next podcast Catechism in a Year starts New Year’s Day

4 July 2022
Mass with signs of indigenous respect launch historic Plenary Council assembly

Mass with signs of indigenous respect launch historic Plenary Council assembly

3 July 2022 - Updated on 4 July 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping