INDIA (ACN News): Four years after the severe violence against Christian villages in the East Indian state of Orissa, Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar sees hope for the future.
He reported this to the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need during a recent visit to its international headquarters in Germany.
He said he saw no danger of the violence repeating itself to the same extent in his archdiocese.
His work is based above all on good relations with the authorities, the police and the other religious communities.
Archbishop Barwa said there was much positive news to report.
This year alone, he has performed 33 priestly ordinations.
“Our faith has grown since the attacks. All the difficulties could not part us from Jesus,” Archbishop Barwa, who has been in office since April 2011, said.
But a great deal of help was still necessary, he said.
Numerous churches and houses have been rebuilt, but there was “still much to do”.
Archbishop Barwa said the “rebuilding of souls” required a lot of time.
Alongside the reconstruction of buildings, pastoral care for traumatised people and disoriented youth, as well as the training and further education of priests, was the top priority.
“Thanks to your prayers and your material generosity, we have been able to carry out much rebuilding,” Archbishop Barwa said.
But the Church in his archdiocese would continue to need assistance from ACN.
The attacks by fundamentalist Hindus, which began at Christmas 2007 and reached their climax in August 2008, claimed about 100 lives.
About 50,000 Christians were driven out, and nearly 5000 houses and numerous churches and ecclesiastical buildings were destroyed.
