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| GUWAHATI, India (UCAN) -- A Catholic archbishop says a great step forward took place at a Church-initiated meeting when Muslim leaders agreed to make peace with Bodo tribal people in Assam state. |
About 20 key Muslim leaders attended the Feb. 5 meeting, which Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati described as an "unbelievably great breakthrough." The meeting in Guwahati, Assam's commercial capital, aimed to forge peace between the Bodo and Muslims in the northeastern state.
It was held as 45,000 people from both communities sheltered in government relief camps amid continuing reports of sporadic violence, despite the deployment of army troops and peace efforts by the state and various groups.
At least 50 people died in October 2008, when Bodo and Muslims clashed and burned each other's houses in Udalguri and Darrang districts.
After the Feb. 5 meeting, Archbishop Menamparampil said Muslim representatives accepted the proposal "to avoid any further instance of violence." They also agreed to establish a joint Muslim-tribal peace team.
According to the Salesian prelate, "a clearly good start has been made," even if much work still remains. "The conflicting groups are eager for a settlement," he commented, adding that government involvement would be important. |
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The prelate also said the Bodo leaders agreed to avoid provocative statements that could incite violence and to cooperate to bring about peace, reconciliation and rehabilitation.
Tensions between the two communities started after Bodo people claimed to be the area's indigenous inhabitants and said Muslims were migrants and should leave.
Tezpur diocese covers the affected districts. Some priests have reported that the violence has also affected Christians. Three Catholic tribal villages near Muslim-majority areas were burned down, and Muslim mobs killed three Catholic tribal men, Tezpur diocesan sources said.
An archdiocesan official spoke of "great anxiety" among Church people when the peace initiative was announced, because they were not sure of the Muslim response.
"But they came in strength, including teachers, professors and other socially important people," he said. "The Muslims were happy this matter was taken up in a religious atmosphere," he added.
"It was an attempt at the impossible," Archbishop Menamparampil acknowledged, admitting he was very anxious before the peace meeting started. Participants' positive response reassured him.
The prelate had visited the affected area on Dec. 1 on behalf of the Joint Peace Team of Northeast India, which he initiated 12 years ago. The team works for peace in the violence-affected region.
Archbishop Menamparampil, chairman of the Office of Evangelization of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences, has worked in northeastern India for the past 40 years. His team has worked for peaceful settlements to several ethnic conflicts in Assam. These include clashes between the Bodo and Santal in 1996; between the Kuki and Paite in 1998; and between the Dimasa and Hmar, and between the Karbi and Kuki in 2003.
INDIA Mission candidates learn first-hand in remote villages
By Lissy Maruthanakuzhy
March 11, 2009
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Guwahati, India (UCAN) -- Three days in remote tribal villages was an eye-opening trip for seminarian Shoji Abraham and 260 others preparing to work as missioners in northeastern India.
The 18-year old seminarian said he lived and did his priestly studies "safely within the four walls" of his St. Paul congregation until the cross-cultural experience, beginning on Feb. 26, opened a new world to him.
"Earlier, I did not understand much about the life of the people outside," he said after returning from the exposure program Guwahati archdiocese ran for young people in training to become priests and nuns.
Ranging in age from 17 to 25, and coming from the archdiocesan seminary and 11 Religious congregations, they went in groups to seven villages covered by Mariampur parish, which belongs to the archdiocese based in Guwahati, commercial capital of Assam state.
Abraham said the villagers, both Hindus and Baptists, welcomed the young Church workers to their homes. The visitors listened to parents and elders, organized games for children and visited the sick. Each village stay concluded with a social gathering. |
Sisters visiting a family in a village under Mariampur Parish, on Feb. 26. |
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The villagers' simplicity and hospitality touched Abraham, who said the program helped him "understand life" as well as improve his knowledge about village dwellers.
Most of the visitors did not understand the local Garo tribal language, but communicated "with smiles." Salesian Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati and Vicar General Father Varghese Kizhakevely joined some groups.
Father Kizhakevely said normal formation programs train the candidates to be "experts" in computer usage, music, teaching and other skills, but the clergy and Religious they produce often "fail to communicate Christ" to people. The recent village exposure program was the second the archdiocese has conducted.
"They [young people] seemed to be unaware of the reality of the people who they are called to serve," the vicar said.
Abraham recalled the archbishop's advice to go to people with "great love" and said the Church leader's presence had encouraged them. The archbishop has worked more than four decades in the region.
"Consider the village as precious. Go to a village with the desire of doing something good, like Jesus did," Abraham cited him as saying.
"This is a time to experience the life of an ordinary person in a village, to be convinced of what we are called to be in our missionary life," the seminarian continued to quote.
Blinda Marwein, in formation to join the Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians congregation, said the program was an "eye-opener." She "benefited a lot" from the daily sharing of personal missionary experiences of resource persons.
The experience "lifted up my spirit to be a zealous missionary," she said, adding that the support and guidance of the archbishop and others showed "they are indeed great missioners in heart, in words and in deeds."
The Catholic Church reached the northeastern region, where tribal people form a large part of the population, only in the 19th century. The early missioners, based in Guwahati, spread the faith in the region, which now has 15 dioceses.
The seven states that form the region have about 38 million people. Christians among them number nearly 6.3 million and form more than 80 percent of the population in the three states of Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland. The other four states are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram and Tripura.
The exposure program was an opportunity for the participants "to express their missionary zeal for the people," said Salesian Father Joseph Parippil, one of the trainers.
Capuchin Father Joseph Zacharias, another priest involved in the program, said one fruit was the interaction among members of various congregations.
The program helped them "come out of the shell of one's own way of learning, thinking and action," the priest said. Instead, they entered "an open space of cooperation, sharing and exposure to vulnerabilities and opportunities." |
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