New Delhi (UCAN): Swami Chakrapani Maharaj, leader of the All India Hindu Assembly, a hardline Hindu organisation, said it would be a “major sin to give any relief and support to those flood sufferers in Kerala who are beef eaters.” He appealed to the Indian government and Hindus in general not to provide relief to flood-hit victims in Kerala who eat beef, as the cow is a revered animal in Hinduism.
 

The monsoon rains… they write prose and poetry through the vast agricultural land of Kerala.  For over 15 per cent of the over 34 million population living outside their homeland, the monsoon evokes the most nostalgic ruminations. 
 
A little more than Taiwan in geographical area, the land is garlanded with 44 rivers and the uplands beaded with 42 dams. This wealth of resources were the very ones that threatened to wipe the whole province away from the map of India in mid-August.

KOCHI (UCAN): Monsoon rain, pouring down since August 7, triggered flash floods and landslides in India’s Kerala state claiming at least 23 lives, and washing away homes, as government agencies and voluntary groups rushed aid to the area.
 
Army, navy and air force personnel were called in to help police and residents manage the disaster in the worst-affected six districts in the central and northern hilly areas of the southern Indian state.
 

KOCHI (UCAN): After the High Court of Kerala, India dismissed a case against George Cardinal Alencherry over a land deal that has rocked the Church for more than a year, priests have submitted a formal request for the Pope Francis to look into the matter.
 

KOCHI (UCAN): Former Catholic priests in the southern Indian state of Kerala have launched a Rent a Priest service which aims at filling the gap for people who do not want to go to their parishes.

People who can’t stand their parish priests can hire a former priest through the service who is listed under an association called Catholic Priests, Ex-Priest and Nuns Association.

Former priests in this association provide sacramental services.

Thiruvananthapuram (UCAN): The recent discovery of the tomb of Chaldean Metropolitan Mar Abraham, the last Persian rite bishop to serve the Christian community in southern India, could help the country’s different Churches work more closely together.

“Bishop Abraham, who governed a unified Church, is a landmark find in Church history,” George Cardinal Alencherry, who heads the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, said.