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ACN-NEWS
INDIA: Bishop stresses „option for outcasts“
Date: 03.10.2006
Königstein/Ts. According to Mgr Anthonisamy Neethinathan, Bishop of Chingleput, in the south east Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the “option for dalits, or outcasts, is the priority” for his diocese. During a recent visit to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the prelate, who himself hails from a dalit family, explained: “My diocese is a predominantly rural area with a population of more than 95 percent dalits. Also for this reason, it reads in our diocesan vision statement: ‘Jesus came to give life in abundance and life in its fullness.’ As a matter of fact, still today dalits are mainly poor labourers under high cast Hindus and Christian dalits do not even get government benefits as they are granted to Hindu dalits.”
Bishop Neethinathan asked ACN to support the construction of a pastoral centre which he said “is a ‘must’ for the diocese.” He also asked for Mass intentions for 72 diocesan and 15 religious priests. “Despite extreme poverty there is no lack of vocations in Chingleput: Currently, 42 young men are preparing for the priesthood and, in addition, there are 25 minor seminarians. Before entering the major seminary, these young men have to go to college for three years in order to get a degree,” he said. Chingleput diocese, with a total population of more than 2.8 million, has about 120,000 Catholics.
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