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Anto Akkara, a rights advocate and journalist with international media, has made numerous ‎visits ‎to ‎Kandhamal district of eastern India’s Odisha state to find out first-hand about the serious ‎human ‎rights ‎violation and atrocities committed against Christians there.  Violence against ‎Christians ‎erupted with ‎untold savagery in Kandhamal, with Hindu extremists blaming the August 23, ‎‎2008 assassination of ‎Hindu leader ‎Swami Lakshmanananda on Christians, despite Maoist rebels ‎claiming the murder.  Seven ‎Christian men, falsely implicated in the murder, have been languishing in jail for over 7 years.  ‎Akkara, who has written ‎several books unmasking the injustice to the Christians of Kandhamal, ‎organized an event on March 3rd at New Delhi’s Constitutional Club, in which the wives of the ‎seven men appealed for justice for their ‎husbands.   His upcoming ‎book, “Cry of the Oppressed,” provides facts, concrete evidence and conspiracies to prove that the ‎seven men were falsely implicated.  To know ‎about his latest efforts on behalf of these innocent people, we called Akkara on his mobile ‎phone in Bangalore.  

In the first part this interview last week, Akkara lamented that the world seems to have forgotten the Christians of Kandhamal, with justice and compensation denied to them for the mere fact they are Christians. Talking about the travesty of justice, he said that a renowned and honest judge who was about to acquit the 7 innocent men, was suddenly transferred, and his replacement convicted them all on trumped up charges without any shred of evidence. Akkara said the police found a broken barrel of an old unused hunting gun with the accused as evidence of murder, which became two firearms with the prosecutor and on conviction became 3 firearms.  So Akkara went public and organized the event on March 3 at New Delhi’s Constitutional Club, where he invited several leading personalities of India, notably Kuldip  Nayar, the 93-year old patriarch of Indian journalism.  But Akkara lamented that minutes before the start of the event, several news channels and media suddenly disappeared, for reasons best known to them.  However, Akkara hasn’t given up. At the New Delhi event, he launched a website with an online signature campaign at www.release7innocents.com, advocating for the cause of the 7 innocent men with the Chief Justice of India, the President of India and the National Human Rights Commission. 

Today, Akkara begins the final part of this interview explaining how difficult it is for poor and illiterate people of India to obtain justice.

Listen: 

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(Vatican Radio) A senior official of Caritas Europa said on Thursday the “human rights dimension” of the migrant crisis is “being sidelined” by attempts to prevent the migrants and refugees from arriving in Europe and crossing its borders. Shannon Pfohman, Head of Policy and Advocacy for Caritas Europa, said she didn’t regard the flow of migrants into Europe as a crisis in itself but said it would be more apt to say there is “a crisis of solidarity” among European nations. 

Pfohman’s remarks came as on the same day that Caritas Europa launched a new report entitled “Migrants and refugees have rights! Impact of EU polices on accessing protection.” The report calls for safer and legal paths of migration to Europe, a guarantee of the right to asylum and to refrain from using forced returns and practices that violate human rights such as detention and the use of coercion. It also highlights the human tragedy these migrants and refugees face when seeking protection in Europe after fleeing war, repression and the violation of human rights. Pfohman was interviewed by Susy Hodges about their report and the migrant and refugee crisis in general. 

Listen to the interview with Shannon Pfohman of Caritas Europa:  

Human rights dimension sidelined

The release of the report by Caritas Europa coincided with an EU summit to try to reach agreement on a proposed deal with Ankara that would see all migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey being sent back. For each Syrian returned, a Syrian refugee from the camps in Turkey would be resettled in the EU. Pfohman lamented the failure up to now by EU policymakers to find a long term viable way of handling this influx of migrants and refugees and conceded that EU leaders remain very divided on this issue. She also expressed concern over the current “deterrent approach” being adopted by EU policymakers as a way to avoid having to pay for the costs of the integration and reception of the migrants and refugees within Europe countries.

Asked for her views about the proposed EU-Turkey plan that would see all migrants landing in Greece being sent back to Turkey, Pfohman said Caritas is very "concerned" about this proposal and also by the fact that right now, “Greece is being turned into a refugee camp” because of the closure of borders along the Balkan route for migrants trying to reach northern Europe. She said that it’s the migrants and refugees who because of their vulnerable status are paying a heavy price for these policies and the restrictions on entry into Europe.  

Indecision and poor decisions

“The people who are most in need are suffering the most as a result of the (EU) indecision… not only the indecision but the poor decisions when it comes to ensuring the protection of human lives,” Pfohman said.

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The Church of the Central Indian state of Orissa will celebrate "Martyrs' Day" on August 30 every year. As Fides News Agency learns, this was established by the Regional Conference of Bishops of Orissa (OCBC), choosing the date which is the day after the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist. His Exc. Mgr. John Barwa, Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar and president of the Regional Conference, told Fides: "We are delighted with this decision, adopted to honor and respect the sacrifice of more than 101 people who lost their lives during the anti-Christian massacres in 2007 and 2008: The Divine Word prelate said most victims are from Kandhamal district that witnessed anti-Christian violence in those years. The others are from other districts of the state,” he added.

The Regional Conference of Bishops of Orissa has officially asked the Indian Bishops' Conference (CBCI) to declare August 30 a "National Day" to commemorate the martyrs of Orissa. "We are awaiting the decision of the CBCI, but we are confident", said Mgr. Barwa, who gave a speech during the recent plenary assembly of Indian bishops, held in Bangalore, and highlighted the support of the bishops on this initiative. "After my presentation on the story of the martyrs of Orissa, many Bishops were eager to learn more", he said.

The Conference of Bishops of Orissa has already appointed a special team of priests and researchers to document the incidents that caused the deaths of 101 Christians in Orissa. With the support of the Episcopal Conference, the diocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar would like to start the diocesan process to declare the martyrdom, by appointing a "postulator" for the cause.

Father Ajaya Kumar Singh, human rights activist and director of Odisha Forum for Social Action, lauded the OCBC decision of Martyrs Day. The local Catholic community in Orissa has welcomed the Bishops’ decision to celebrate the Day of the martyrs on August 30 with joy.

(Source: Agenzia Fides, Matters India)

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Washington D.C., Mar 17, 2016 / 08:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Secretary of State John Kerry declared Thursday that Christians, Yezidis, Shi’a Muslims, and other religious and ethnic minorities are victims of ISIS genocide.

Secretary Kerry announced at a news conference that “in my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims.” Daesh is another name for the Islamic State, or ISIS.

The announcement is groundbreaking because the term is rarely used to describe ongoing atrocities committed by a state or non-state actor. It is the “crime of crimes,” according to the United Nations, because it involves the intentional destruction, “in whole or in part,” of an entire people.

Thursday’s announcement came after reports from earlier in the week surfaced that the State Department was expected to miss the March 17 deadline for announcing whether or not it would declare genocide. Congress mandated the deadline in the Omnibus spending bill passed in December.

Significantly, the move followed the European Parliament’s declaration of genocide issued in early February. Advocates for Middle Eastern Christians say that the declarations by both the U.S. and the European Union could put further pressure on the United Nations Security Council to declare genocide and refer the matter to the International Criminal Court where the perpetrators could be tried.

Thursday marked the first time the U.S. has declared a genocide is taking place since 2004 in Darfur.

Initially, there had been some question as to whether Christians should be included as genocide victims. A report last fall suggested that the State Department’s declaration would only include Yazidis, based on reports from the Middle East that were limited in both their timespan and geographical scope.  

The Knights of Columbus, along with the advocacy group In Defense of Christians, released a 300-page report last week documenting atrocities committed against Christians by the Islamic State. That report was sent to the State Department which had requested it.

In the report were personal accounts of displacement, theft, murder of family members, torture, sexual slavery, and numerous other acts of violence committed by ISIS against Christians in Iraq, Syria, and North Africa.

Advocacy groups hailed the declaration as an international call to action to prevent further genocide against the minority groups.

“Today's announcement by Secretary of State John Kerry is correct and truly historic,” stated Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, in response. “For one of the few times in our history, the United States has designated an ongoing situation as genocide, and the State Department is to be commended for having the courage to say so.”

The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution Monday expressing “the sense of Congress” that Christians, Yezidis, and other Middle Eastern minorities are genocide victims. The Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom have also acknowledged ISIS’ actions as genocide.

“By joining its voice to that of the House of Representatives, the American people, and the international community, the United States today makes clear to ISIS that its attempt to stamp out religious minorities must cease,” Anderson stated.

“(Secretary Kerry) used the word that has the moral authority to raise the international consciousness and compel the international community of responsible nations to act,” the group In Defense of Christians said in its response to the genocide label.  

“By proclaiming that they are victims of genocide, the United States has done a great justice to the victims of the atrocities committed by ISIS, including the over 1100 Christians who have been killed because of their faith,” the statement continued. “Hearing the voice of the United States speak this truth will restore the hope in the hearts of those who are still fearing for their lives and struggling to survive in the Middle East.”

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), sponsor of the House resolution on genocide commuted by ISIS, also hailed the secretary’s declaration.

“I sincerely hope that the genocide designation will raise international consciousness, end the scandal of silence, and create the preconditions for the protection and reintegration of these ancient faith communities into their ancestral homelands,” he stated.

“Christians, Yezidis, and others remain an essential part of the Middle East's rich tapestry of religious and ethnic diversity. They now have new cause for hope.”



Photo credit: Dennis Diatel via www.shutterstock.com

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IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Mike Mastromatteo

By Mike Mastromatteo

TORONTO (CNS) -- Given Irish history and the people's struggles with the great famine, British absentee landlord oppression, and the 19th-century migrations to North America, there is virtual storehouse of material for historical fiction, especially for a writer with an Irish-Catholic sensibility.

Chicago native Mary Pat Kelly has researched her family history to produce a substantial body of work that, for the most part, celebrates the Irish Catholic experience in the U.S. and internationally.

Her two most recent novels, "Of Irish Blood" and "Galway Bay," provide a fictionalized account of the lives of her ancestors in19th-century Galway, Ireland, and later in Chicago.

Kelly's novel, "Special Intentions," is based on the author's six years' experience as a postulant at the motherhouse of the Sisters of Providence at St. Mary-of-the Woods, Indiana, near Terre Haute.

"I feel drawn to tell certain stories," Kelly said in a recent interview with Catholic News Service. "I've been very lucky in my life by having some incredible experiences," adding that it took her 40 years to track down all her Irish roots.

While the heroines in Kelly's fiction exhibit skepticism about the Catholic faith and some of its basic doctrine, there remains a bedrock of appreciation, belief and respect for tradition. Consider the situation facing Honora (Nora) Kelly, protagonist of "Of Irish Blood." Fleeing a destructive relationship with a shifty Chicago hoodlum, Nora seeks to make a fresh start on life in Paris before World War I.

After finding absolution of sorts from Father Kevin, a Paris-based Irish priest secretly working for Irish independence, Honora learns something about grace and redemption. A priest of the Irish College of Paris, Father Kevin recognizes her struggle to return to the faith.

"I apologize to you Honora," says the Father Kevin character, "on behalf of the priests who made Catholicism seem a religion that condemns us to guilt and shame. ... How sexual morality became the be-all and end-all of so much of Catholicism, I don't know. It's been made more important than kindness or mercy."

Afterward, Honora seems almost surprised that absolution can be so simply obtained.

"It's just like that," Father Kevin reminds her. "Grace flows; it doesn't drip and drop."

It's clear that Kelly's sense of being Irish is as central to her identity as is her Catholic faith.

"I think it is a part of who I am as a person," she told CNS. "When I draw on my experiences, so many of them are within the Catholic faith. I'm from Chicago. I grew up in an Irish Catholic family. I went to Catholic schools, and I was in the convent for six years. I entered when I was 17 and I was caught up in the changes of Vatican II. I was really formed by the Catholicism of my youth, but my college years was the time I really came to discover the church."

In addition to providing the raw material for "Special Intentions," Kelly's convent experience fostered her appreciation for civil rights work. And while she only professed temporary rather than final vows, there's no doubt her convent experience, coupled with the traditional Irish-Catholic upbringing, had a profound impact on the future novelist and filmmaker.

"My time in the convent was a wonderful awakening," Kelly says. "I mean there were painful times too, as anyone who went through that experience will tell you, but it really was a deep, rewarding experience. I made a lot of good friends, and it gave me an opportunity to be on the margins of society, which I might not have felt if I hadn't had the convent experience."

Kelly is now based in New York City with Irish-born husband Martin Sheerin. Ever eager to expand her knowledge of things Irish, Kelly jokes that her husband's ear for the sound of Irish speech is a blessing when it comes to authenticating the dialogue she creates in her Irish-centered novels.

Equally at home in fiction, biography, documentary filmmaking and television show production, Kelly won acclaim as a producer for TV shows as diverse as "Good Morning America" and "Saturday Night Live." She has produced noted documentaries on African-American sailors in World War II, plus a pair of biographies of one of her film mentors, Martin Scorsese. Her 1986 documentary, "To Live for Ireland," was nominated for an Emmy.

Kelly is now at work on another novel, tentatively titled "Irish Above All." It will focus on the life and work of Edward J. Kelly, mayor of Chicago from 1933-1947 and a great uncle of the author.

"There are stories that I want to tell, and which I feel connected to in ways that are very providential," Kelly said. "I think as an artist, as a filmmaker and as a writer, in some little way you are participating in that creativity. It's a real privilege."

When not researching a novel, biography or film script, Kelly still likes to visit Chicago to see family and touch base with her "Chicago-Irish" roots. A big part of that going home again experience comes by visiting her two favorite Chicago parishes, St. James and what the locals call "old" St. Patrick's.

"If anyone wants to feel really good about being Catholic, go to Mass at one of those two Chicago parishes," she said.

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Mastromatteo is a Toronto writer and editor.

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Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Alaa Elkamhawia, EPA

By Barb Fraze

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that atrocities carried out by the Islamic State group against Yezidis, Christians and other minorities were genocide, the first U.S. declaration of genocide since Sudanese actions in Darfur in 2004.

Kerry said he was not judge and jury, but the Islamic State had self-defined itself as genocidal because of its actions against Yezidis, Christians, Shiite Muslims and other minorities.

A 66-member coalition is "working intensively to stop the spread of Daesh," Kerry said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. He said the world must "marginalize and defeat violence extremists, once and for all," so they were not replaced by another extremist group with a different acronym.

"We must recognize and hold the perpetrators accountable," Kerry said in a March 17 statement that included a litany of atrocities such as rape and murder. He said Christians often were given the choice of converting to Islam or death, which was a choice between two types of death.

Kerry said military action to defeat Islamic State was important, but so were other actions. He said the coalition against Islamic State was working to strangle the group's finances and to ensure that people who fled would someday be able to return.

On March 14, the House of Representatives, in a bipartisan 393-0 vote, approved a nonbinding resolution that condemns as genocide the atrocities being carried out by Islamic State militants against Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities in the areas it occupies in Iraq and Syria. They gave Kerry until March 17 to decide whether to make a formal declaration of genocide.

The European Parliament passed a similar resolution in February.

State Department spokesmen had said Kerry was studying volumes of information before deciding on the genocide information. Last October, they hinted that a genocide designation was coming for the Yezidi minority in the region, but not for Christians. The comments led to a firestorm of protest from Christian groups that resulted in the congressional action.

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, asked U.S. Catholics to sign a pledge calling for an end to the slaughter of Christians and members of other religious minority groups in the Middle East.

"As a people of faith, we must convince the U.S. Department of State to include Christians in any formal declaration of genocide," he said March 14, just days before Kerry's deadline.

In his remarks, Kerry said the U.S. government did not have total access to everything going on but was basing its decision on intelligence and military sources and outside groups.

On March 10 in Washington, the Knights of Columbus and In Defense of Christians issued a 278-page report containing contains dozens of statements collected from Feb. 22 through March 3 from witnesses and victims of atrocities carried out by Islamic State forces. The incidents included torture, rapes, kidnappings, murder, forced conversions, bombings and the destruction of religious property and monuments.

In Beirut, Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan commended the "courageous and clear resolution." He said adopting the resolution would "help the (world's) first Christian communities survive in their homeland of the Middle East." He made the remarks before leaving March 17 to visit Homs, Syria, his fourth visit since the liberation of the city.

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Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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