Goa Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao on Tuesday endorsed a statement by the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of India, a member of the National United Christian Forum (NUCF) which comprises all the other Christian groups in the country, expressing concern over the current situation of the minorities, particularly Christians in the country. “The recent reports from Bastar, where a Catholic school was forced to put the statue of Sarsawati on the compound and children were forbidden from addressing the principal with the honorific “Father”, the burning of a church in Delhi; the declaration of ‘Good Governance Day’ on December 25 to undermine the importance of Christmas; the provocative call by some fundamentalists to convert 4,000 Christians to Hinduism in Agra on Christmas Day; and the regular targeting of the Christian community, calling them even anti-national, are a cause for concern,” the statement said.
On the recent controversy over Christmas holiday, it said: “Christmas is the only holiday that Christians have in the whole year when we join the rest of the world in celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. A circular by the Navodaya School Commissioner to keep certain government-run schools open on that day is perceived by the Christian community as an insult to the importance of Christmas Day.”
The NUCF has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remind the people that development cannot take place in the country if there are attempts to disrupt communal harmony prevailing in the country for centuries.
