India’s Supreme Court has accepted a petition seeking cancellation of bail for a legislator a week after he was jailed for murdering a Christian in Orissa.

The court yesterday ordered a notice to be sent to Orissa state asking for an explanation on why bail for Manoj Pradhan should not be cancelled, ucanews.com reports.

The Orissa High Court released Pradhan and his accomplice Praful Malik on bail on July 7 on condition that Pradhan would not tamper with evidence in other cases against him.

Pradhan, a member of the state legislative house, was sentenced to seven years’ jail on June 29 for killing Parikhit Nayak on Aug. 27, 2008 in Kandhamal district, the epicenter of anti-Christian violence then.

Kanaka Rekha Nayak, the murdered man’s widow, challenged the bail in India’s highest court. She told ucanews.com that the seven-year jail term itself was inadequate compared to her husband’s suffering and death.

However, Pradhan is now in jail after a court sentenced him on Sept. 9 to six years of rigorous imprisonment for the murder another person, Bikram Nayak, from Tiangia village. The murder was committed on Aug. 26, 2008.

The Supreme Court accepting the petition to cancel the bail itself “shows that there is merit in the case. We are sure the bail will be canceled,” said Ritu Singh, a lawyer associated with the case.

Singh said “no one should escape law because of political clout.” Cancellation of bail is necessary to build up people’s confidence in the judicial system, she said.
Pradhan has now been convicted in two murder cases and acquitted in seven others relating to arson and rioting. Three more cases are pending against him.

ORISSA,  (ucanews.com):

Orthodox and Catholic theologians studying one of the main issues on the road to full unity — the role of the pope — have concluded their meeting with the resolve to continue studying, and with an emphasis on the “primacy of charity.”

The International Mixed Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church concluded its six-day meeting in Vienna on Monday.

In this 12th plenary session, the commission has been examining the same theme that drew them together in 2009: “The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium.” This theme obviously has great ramifications for the ecumenical process, since in the first millennium (before the Great Schism of 1054), there was no split between the Catholic and Orthodox.

During a Eucharistic celebration presided over by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, the cardinal affirmed in his homily, “We have and we need a primacy in the canonical sense, but above all there is the primacy of charity.”

“All canonical dispositions in the Church serve this primacy of love (agape),” he added.

A communiqué that was released at the end of the meeting noted that 23 Catholic members of the commission took part in the gathering, and representations from all the Orthodox Churches, except the Patriarchate of Bulgaria.

The participating Orthodox Churches included: the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Patriarchate of Antioch, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Patriarchate of Moscow, the Patriarchate of Serbia, the Patriarchate of Romania, the Patriarchate of Georgia, the Church of Cyprus, the Church of Greece, the Church of Poland, the Church of Albania and the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.

The Catholic co-president of the meeting was for the first time Archbishop Kurt Koch, the new president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He was appointed to that role in July. The Orthodox co-president was Metropolitan Ioannis Zizioulas of Pergamum.

At the opening session on Sept. 22, Cardinal Schönborn and Metropolitan Michael of Austria of the Ecumenical Patriarchate both gave welcoming addresses in which they stressed the importance of Vienna’s place in the history of Christianity.

The co-presidents relayed to the participants the words of Benedict XVI and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the occasion of the meeting.

Authentic testimony

In his Sept. 22 general audience, the Pope appealed, “I exhort everyone to pray intensely for the efforts of the commission and for a continuous development and consolidation of peace among the baptized, so that we can give the world an ever more authentic evangelical testimony.”

In a celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Metropolitan Michael of Austria underlined “the close collaboration between Orthodox and Catholics in Austria and in Vienna in particular, expressing the wish that the Lord’s prayer ‘that all may be one’ (Jn 17:21) be a reality in the search for the unity of his Church.”

The commission continued its discussion on the Bishop of Rome in the 1st Millennium, based on the consideration of a draft text, which is being used as a working document. The commission decided that the document still needs further revisions.

The commission also decided to form a sub-commission to begin consideration “of the theological and ecclesiological aspects of primacy in its relation to synodality,” the communiqué reported.

It noted that this sub-commission will submit its work to the joint coordinating committee of the commission, which will meet next year.

During the meeting, participants were informed of the death of Monsignor Eleuterio Fortino, co-secretary of the joint commission since its inception, and they offered prayers for the repose of his soul.

The communiqué concluded that this meeting “was marked by a spirit of friendship and trustful collaboration.”

It added that the participants “strongly commend the continuing work of the dialogue to the prayers of the faithful.” – ZENIT

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Mumbai and president of Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), released the revised and updated edition of ‘ Shining Faith in Kandhamal’, authored by Anto Akkara, on September 23, 2010 in Bangalore at the 65^th founding anniversary of Asian Trading Corporation (ATC) – the publishers of the book.

“This is a very inspiring book,” said Cardinal Oswald Gracias in his presidential address hailing the book by international journalist author hailing from Thrissur. “What happened in Kandhamal I really felt was very sorrowful. But it was also a moment of grace. These stories (narrated in the book) will strengthen the faith of our people,” remarked Cardinal Oswald holding aloft the book – earlier edition of which has been translated into Malayalam ‘Theeyil Thilangia Vishwasam’.

The book provides critical study of the protracted anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal in Orissa and update on the situation of the homeless Christians after two years  along with over 60 spine-chilling testimonies of Christian faith from Kandhamal jungles.

Cardinal Telesphore P Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi and former CBCI president, received the first copy of the book from Cardinal Oswald at the function in which Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore was the chief guest while Archbishop Albert D’Souza of Agra, CBCI Secretary General, and several other Archbishops, KCBC officials, Bishops and other church dignitaries were present.

‘The RSV Holy Bible’ and ‘The Spirit of the Liturgy’ by Pope Benedict XVI, the exclusive publishing right for which has been granted to ATC – leading Christian publisher in India – were also released at the function attended by over 1000 Christians.

Jagratha News contains Catholic responses by the Bishops of Kerala and various organizations of the Kerala Catholic Bishop’s Council on current controversial social issues affecting the Catholic Church and the society at large. Jagratha News is an ‘eNews Service’ in Malayalam.

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