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16 November: International Day for Tolerance

In 1995, the 125th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, UNESCO created a special prize,  the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize that rewards significant activities of institutions, organizations or persons, in the scientific, artistic, cultural or communication fields for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence. The prize is awarded every two years.

TOGETHER is a global UNO campaign to promote tolerance, respect and dignity, to reduce negative perceptions and attitudes, and to strengthen the social contract between host countries and communities, refugees and migrants.

This Day is an occasion for people to learn to respect and recognize the rights and beliefs of others; to reflect, discuss and debate on the negative effects of intolerance. Other activities include essays, dialogues and story-telling of people’s personal accounts of intolerance and how it affects their lives. Human rights activists also use this day as an opportunity to speak out on human rights laws, discrimination against minorities, all forms of racism, xenophobia, exclusion and hatred.

Globalization has sharpened inequality, poverty, enduring conflicts and movements of peoples. Diversity is seen as weakness. There is a rise of exclusive politics. Barbaric terrorist attacks are designed to weaken the fabric of ‘living together.’

Tolerance is more than indifference and the passive acceptance of others. It is an act of liberation, a struggle for peace, accepting the great diversity of humanity, reaching out to others across new bridges of understanding and dialogue.

Cultures differ from one another in many ways, and also share common elements. But humanity is a single community. There are seven billion ways of ‘being human’.

We pledge:

• to defend humanity’s cultural diversity and heritage from pillaging and attacks,
• to prevent violent extremism through education, freedom of expression and media literacy,
• to empower the young to strengthen dialogue between cultures and religions.

Tolerance is an act of humanity, which we must nurture and enact each in our own lives every day, rejoicing in the diversity that makes us strong and the values that bring us together.

19 November: World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

The Day draws attention to the emotional and economic devastation caused by road crashes. It also recognizes the work of support and emergency services.

Road deaths and injuries are sudden, violent and traumatic events. Their impact is long-lasting, often permanent. Each year, millions of newly injured and bereaved people from every corner of the world are added to the countless millions who already suffer. Road crashes are the leading cause of death in people aged between 5 to 34 years. Every six seconds someone is killed or injured.

The grief and distress experienced by this huge number of people is all the greater because a significant number of the victims are so young. Many of the crashes could and should have been prevented. But the response of governments and society to road death and injury and to bereaved and injured victims is often inadequate, unsympathetic, and inappropriate to a loss of life or quality of life.

This special Remembrance Day is therefore intended to respond to the great need of road crash victims for public recognition of their loss and suffering. It offers the opportunity to demonstrate the enormous scale and impact of road deaths and injuries and the urgent need for action.

Many events can be held on this Day:

• Remembrance services and flower-laying ceremonies in memory of dead road victims;
• Reunions of affected families and friends;
• Media campaigns and coverage, video presentations on road traffic crashes;
• Awareness campaigns on the risk of speeding traffic .

Slowing down is a safe option.

We all want to arrive safely at our destination. By slowing down, we make our roads safer for our children, families and friends. Research shows that a 5% cut in average speed can result in a 30% reduction in the number of fatal road traffic crashes.

Road traffic slogans to live by:

Alert today – Alive tomorrow.
Slow down! Your family will be waiting for you.
Stop accidents before they stop you.
Speed thrills but kills!
Accidents do not happen, they are caused.

 

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SR ESME DA CUNHA

Member of the executive committee, the parish council and the liturgical committee, co-ordinator of the BCC’s (Basic Christian Communities), catechism teacher, Charismatic prayer group member, business man, father, guide of the parish youth, patriarch of his family, the list goes on… and yet Joseph Sheeban has time for mass every day—sometimes even twice a day!

The eldest of the four children of Daniel and Assunta, Joseph is a hardworking young man who gives his time for others. As children, Joseph and his brothers and sisters had to attend mass every day and when the first Mass was over they were taken for a second Mass, especially during the holiday season. His mother was a teacher in the parish school, while his father, after a short stint with Caritas,  went on to support his family by giving tuition in English and French. Joseph had his early education in the parish school, but moved on to a better known high school. His family nurtured his spiritual life right from early childhood. He says: “Our whole family gathered for prayers every evening for an hour or more, the rosary always followed by bible reading and other prayers. No day went by without morning mass and evening prayers.” Joseph inherited this practice from his father, who had a major influence on him. The children were taught by their dad to ‘obey blindly.’

Joseph and his siblings knew poverty from childhood. The meagre earning of the parents could never get them anything beyond the bare necessities of life. But what Joseph remembers vividly is that every Wednesday, without fail, either the postman with a money order from a friend of his father or somebody from the parish or elsewhere would turn up at the house bringing some goodies or just a few necessities required to cook a meal. Says Joseph: “My dad had great faith in St. Joseph, and prayed to him, especially when we were short of food. Dad would always say, ‘Leave it to Divine Providence; someone will bring it for us’.”  This happened every Wednesday.

Joseph’s desire to become a graduate was not to be, since the family was always in dire financial straits. All that Joseph could complete was a Diploma in Electronics and Communication Engineering. With this, he began helping the family at the age of nineteen. He worked at several jobs and rose to become a senior stores manager in Videocon. At the same time, he also secured a degree by correspondence from IGNOU. When the company shut shop, Joseph began his own business. He depended all the time on Divine Providence and trusted the Lord to lead him.

His faithfulness in attending Mass daily continues. He also immerses himself in the Charismatic prayer services and night vigils in the neighbouring parishes. He and his brother would also take people by bicycle to attend programmes in the neighbouring parishes. Both brothers had a deep desire to join the priesthood but his was not to be. Joseph’s His father asked him to give up the idea of priesthood and take care of his siblings as well as arrange for his own marriage and those of his sister and youngest brother. With much reluctance Joseph accepted and continued to work hard and sustain the family while supporting his immediate younger brother in the seminary.

Joseph married a nurse called Isabel. “How did you meet,” I asked him. “Ah, at one of the Charismatic prayer group meetings.” Together they have raised two wonderful children, who emulate their parents in attending daily Mass and also contribute to the parish by involving themselves in various activities. Today, Joseph, Isabel and their children give their time on Sundays for parish work, irrespective of whatever else needs to be done. A great organiser, Joseph is very often entrusted with the catering for various get-togethers in the parish. In his turn Joseph gives much of the credit to his wife, saying that Isabel is the backbone of his functioning!

Conscientious and sensitive to the needs of others, Joseph is able to handle the youth of the parish, and, as co-ordinator of the BCC’s, attends the various BCC regularly. Calm and composed, he has a ready respectful smile and is good in resolving conflicts, especially among the youth in the parish.

Apart from sincerity and honesty, the hallmark of his small business of running an electrical repair and service centre, through which he provides employment to a number of young people, is his dependence on Divine Providence. I have often heard him saying, “God has given me much; I also have to give to others as much. Let us continue to pray and trust in the Lord, so that we can give more time for His work.”

 

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Ordetta Mendoza

Mrs Annie noticed a lady coming to church dressed in very poor clothes. In fact, the woman used the same old and tattered sari repeatedly. Wanting to help her without embarrassing her, Annie inquired discreetly who the woman was. She found out that the woman worked as a cook for a well-to-do Catholic man, a well-known businessman. This man had a name for being a prominent Catholic of the place. He was not only rich; he would host and ffinance prayer meetings. But one thing he did not do was to pay his workers a just salary or wage. The poor woman in question was being paid so little, she could not even buy new clothes with the salary she was getting. How come her employer, a so-called pious Catholic, did not see just wages as a part of Christian duty?

Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was canonized a few weeks ago, was killed, not for saying that he believed in Jesus, but for being on the side of the poor. He was murdered at the behest of wealthy, church-going landowners and politicians who hated him for speaking up for the victims.

In the last issue, I presented the three essential traits of spirituality—integrity, love and justice. Spirituality is not only or mainly a question of saying prayers or frequenting places of worship or sticking to a particular diet on special days. No, it is seen in our whole life. We cannot mark off a small or special area as spiritual, and consider the rest as unconnected to that.

One essential aspect of Christian spirituality is justice.

Justice means giving every person his or her due. It is different from charity or compassion. When I gift my new shirt to a poor person, it is charity. When I pay my workers a just salary, it is justice, not charity. They have a right to a just wage, unlike the poor man I mentioned, who has no right to my new shirt.

Access to power

Justice implies access to power.

What do I mean?

If I am too poor to study, or am deprived of chances to study because of my gender or for belonging to a particular ethnic group, then I have no access to the power that education would have given me. Thus, when Martin Luther King organized the African-Americans in the 1960s, he was not asking for charity; he was demanding the right to vote, the right to equal treatment.

Justice (or the lack of it) is especially seen in three areas of life—money, gender and ethnicity. Thus, I may a victim of injustice (like the cook I mentioned) because of not receiving a proper salary. Or I may be denied chances for education—or, worse still, murdered in infancy—because of my gender. Or I may not be allowed to draw water from the village well because I belong to a caste considered “low.” All three are cases of injustice.

They are also linked. Thus, the most inhumanly treated human beings in the world are poor women belonging to a race or caste or tribe considered low. She suffers economic injustice (unlike rich women), gender injustice (unlike the men of her group) and ethnic insults (unlike women and men from the so-called “higher” groups). Think of dalit women forced to clean the dry toilets of so-called “upper caste” people with their hands, and to whom, as payment, a couple of chappathis are thrown. What could be more degrading than that!

Pope Francis has launched the Day of the Poor (November 18^th this year) to invite us to listen to the cry of the poor and to get involved on their side.

It is not enough we do some occasional charity and thus calm our conscience. No, we need to listen to the silent and vocal cries of the poor, reach out and make a difference. We need to, as the Pope says, be evangelized by the poor. How can we be “evangelized” or converted by the poor?

The poor as evangelizers

I remember a Jesuit priest—professor and formator who worked among poor fisherfolk and studied their life and spirituality—who told me, “I learnt spirituality better from the poor fisherfolk than from my Jesuit formation.”

Cut off from the struggles of life and the anguish of those who really suffer, we religious, priests and better-off lay people can develop a form of “spirituality” that is artificial, comfortable and undemanding, one that consists in a regimented routine, practices of piety and nice-sounding ideas we picked up from books or conferences. This may have very little to do with the teachings and example of Jesus. It is much easier to sing hymns in a beautiful chapel than to live poor among the poor (as Pope Francis did as a bishop) and to struggle at their side.

The Bible tells us: Let justice flow like the river. Remove oppression from your midst. Treat well the widow and the orphan. Be kind to the stranger in your midst.

In our formation houses, in our sermons and circulars, when we speak of spirituality, we must make sure we are not referring simply to the annual retreat, the daily Mass and other prayers, nor merely to periods of silence or fasting, but to a well-lived life of integrity (free of all crookedness), love (free of hatred, selfishness and revenge) and justice.

Justice demands (not simply exhorts, but really demands) that in our dealings as employers, government officials, church administrators and other posts where people depend us, we make sure that all dealings are just. People’s lives are sacred. Every one’s rights are sacred. Everyone has the right to be treated with respect as a human being. Among such rights are right to life, right to free speech, right to education and a decent standard of living. When such rights are forgotten or trampled upon, there is no spirituality to speak of, but only glorified hypocrisy. We may be active in cult, but failing in spirituality.

Such betrayals of Jesus’ message started early in the church. Saint Jerome wrote in the fourth century, “Why are we adorning the walls of the church with precious stones when Christ is dying in the poor?” (I am not saying that all or most church people were guilty of this, but that Jerome saw this abuse.)

That same challenge can, and must, be made to the way some of us live, to the way some churches and religious houses are constructed, to the way common funds are allotted. No wonder, there is also a vocal underground of opposition within the church to the present Pope’s leadership and life-style. A number of Catholics, including some church personnel, would prefer a comfortable church on the side of the powerful, rather than the compassionate and caring church of the poor which he is trying to lead us into. We need to ask: Which model is more faithful to Jesus Christ? The answer is pretty obvious, don’t you think?

 

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

Rediscover Jesus: An Invitation

by Matthew Kelly

(Beacon Publishing, 2015)

Running into forty short chapters, this book gives us in the simplest language what a real encounter with Jesus can mean and how it can change our lives.  Kelly says: “I only ask that you stay open to the possibility. He wants to have a dynamic relationship with you.” The book is “not about the words on the page. It’s about an encounter. … because, whether we are aware of it or not, what you and I need more than anything else is to encounter Jesus.”

God the Father wants us to know His Son. The important question for the Christian is how well we know Him, not through books, but through a personal encounter. Becoming a true Christian means developing a personal relationship with Christ.  “It is time to stop looking for something and start looking for someone—Jesus of Nazareth.” This is what we are invited to. In the early chapters Kelly deals with the person of Christ—his historicity, his personality and the claims to divinity, the radical nature of his life and teachings, and the fact of the Resurrection that is perhaps the most compelling truth of all his claims. The ‘main event’ in Christian history is the Resurrection. Kelly quotes the experience of the atheistic journalist Lee Strobel who studied the Resurrection, leading him into faith. For Kelly, “the soul and the heart of the Gospel” is “give and forgive.” Forgiveness brings peace. Life is a course designed to teach us love.  Prayer brings us closer and closer to Christ. “If you want to stay warm, it is best to stay close to the fire. If you want to live a Christian life, it is best to stay close to Jesus.” Sin is the problem, the sickness that keeps us away from God. We are called to lead joyful lives and share the joy of the Gospel to inspire others. “Allow God to inspire you, to fill you with His power, because he wants to send you to inspire others.”

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The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It.

By Paul Collier

(Oxford University Press, 2007).

The book has received superb reviews, such as:

“The best book on international affairs so far this year”; “set to become a classic”; “Terrifically readable”; “Read this book. You will learn much you do not know”; “Provides a penetrating reassessment of why vast populations remain trapped in poverty”; “”One of the most important books on world poverty in a very long time”; “If you care about the fate of the poorest people in the world, and want to understand what can be done to help them, read it.”

The author is the director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University and a former World Bank economist. It was Collier who pointed out that nearly two-fifths of Africa’s private wealth is held abroad, much of it in Swiss bank accounts.

Collier speaks of four traps that keep the poorest countries poor: Conflict, presence of natural resources (!), which often increases the corruption and violence, being landlocked with bad neighbours, and bad governance.

Aid alone does not solve these problems. Globalization often makes the situation worse. What Collier proposes is a bold new plan supported by the Group of Eight industrialized nations. If failed states are ever to be helped, the G8 will have to adopt preferential trade policies, new laws against corruption, new international charters, and even conduct carefully calibrated military interventions.

Collier recognizes the need for international cooperation in addressing the four traps.

A book that makes the reader look at a tragic situation in a new way.

 

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Dr.Gigy

A second-year medical student from North-East India narrates her journey of faith—her lovely memories, her struggles, her moments of darkness, her newfound sense of God’s closeness.

“In his time, he makes all things beautiful in his time.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

If someone were to ask me five years ago if I was ready to put my faith to the test, I would have never said yes. But little did I know that my faith would be tested the minute I stepped out of my home town.

It was rather easy when I was a child (not that I’m any older now), it was just easier then because I grew up serving the Lord every day under his roof. For ten years I studied in Loreto Convent. Oh, how I long to go back and walk those corridors! My church, the Grotto Chapel where I attended Mass every Sunday was just next door. I devoted my last year there by visiting my school chapel every morning and in the evening, I would serve mass as an altar girl in the Chapel.

My mother and father have always been faithful people of the Lord and in them my foundation of Christ was made strong, followed by my catechism classes. Of course, I expected that, through the years, it would always be the same.

When I left Shillong for the first time, I was filled with mix emotions. I was excited and happy, sad and sentimental at the same time. As I arrived in my new school in Dehradun, I was told that it was not possible to go to church every Sunday as it was a residential school that had specific timings to everything. It was weird at first, but slowly I got used to it, so much so that I almost lost my way to the Lord. Those two years that I spent in boarding school were one of the most challenging, difficult and painful moments I have ever faced, yet it was magical, beautiful and one of the most amazing, memorable times I’ve ever had.

It was difficult because within a year I lost hope in myself. In a classroom filled with brilliant brains, I slowly started doubting my own capabilities. It became worse when I felt like God had abandoned me completely and that I wasn’t as good as the other students.

Before I chose to attend this school, I had a goal—to be a paediatrician, to help the children who suffer from various illnesses and problems. My only happiness, I thought, would be to see their beautiful smiling faces once they felt better. To feel that I’ve done something in my life to make a change in someone else’s. That would give more purpose to my life and I felt that it was my calling.

But within those two years, I lost all hope. I would pray, but I felt as though God never heard them. And slowly my faith started to diminish. I’m not blaming the school, I’m blaming myself for not trusting in God’s plan. I lost faith. Once I came out of school, I came back home and, to my parent’s disappointment, they saw how much my absence had affected my participation in church activities. It was not until I almost felt like I was going to die when my faith became the strongest.

A month before my medical exam, I had a terrifying experience.

I went to give my friend a surprise. I entered her house even though I saw her very gigantic dog and greeted him. Back then I still trusted my instincts on dogs. As I walked past him, I rang the doorbell and, to my shock, her Tibetan mastiff (which was bigger than myself) got up and, without a bark, started biting me as though I were his dinner. His jaw tried to reach for my neck. He bit my bare foot, pulling me to the end of the compound. I felt as though he was ready to eat me alive. And what was I, compared to his weight and strength? Suddenly, in that moment of darkness, I heard the doorknob turn and the door opened behind me. I felt as though my body was telling me to fight this beast, so I kicked him with whatever energy I had left in me and, although he got my foot and pulled me to the edge again, I managed to kick him to the end the second time and crawl backwards inside the house.

All I could think of was, “Where is the person that opened the door for me?” and “Why didn’t he come help me?” The second I crawled into the house I turned back to see him, the hunting animal that wanted to chew my every bone. He looked at me from the door and growled. He looked at me, but he didn’t enter. No one will ever understand how I felt in that moment. I crawled my way to the dining room, just waiting for someone to find me.

When I asked my friend later that day who opened the door for me, she told me that no one did. I was confused at first, but it was then that I knew that He was looking out for me. I knew for a fact that I heard somebody open the door behind me and I believed He sent someone to help me that day. How I prayed that night, with pain and blood, I cried thanking Him for saving me from a horrible mess.

Some people may see this as a minor incident, for me it is not. For me it was a wakeup call. I was on crutches and medication for several months. My exam didn’t go as planned.

So, the next year, when I was better, I joined a coaching centre back in Rajasthan. There I met my second nemesis, Stress. I knew I wanted to get into a medical college, I knew it was my calling and that I needed to do this for my family as well. The stress got to me at a point where I almost gave up on myself again. But, luckily this time, my faith grew stronger. I was able to pass my exam. Little did I know what would happen next. For my applications, my mum and I travelled the entire India, from Bhopal to Indore to Bangalore, back and forth, then Jaipur and other extremely rural areas searching for a college for me.

By the end of that journey, my faith had weakened. I often questioned how it is that the students who got lower marks than me are getting the colleges that I want. It seemed so unfair that the rich could easily buy their way into everything.

I, however, am blessed with such amazing parents. They never once gave up on me—even when I did. Their faith kept me going. We finally concluded that God had a different plan for me. Seeing that it was my dream to be a doctor, my parents being the best that they are, made sure of it.

And here I am today, a second year student at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China.

Once I reached China, I realized so many things. I realized how I was meant to be here, I realized how the colleges I had tried to enter would have been unsuitable for me and my family. Everything fell into place the day they decided to send me here. I can actually see the beauty in God’s plan. I’m so happy here and I’m also doing quite well in my studies too. It all just falls into place. And though, in my moments of weakness, I doubted His work, I soon realized how beautifully He had planned everything for me.

I’m not saying it’s a bed of roses, I still have my bad days and times where my faith is anything but strong. But one thing is certain: I know He will always bring me back; He will never abandon me even when I feel everything is going out of control. I know that He is here with me as he is there with you right now reading this. Trust in the Lord, I say to you, and walk by faith even when you cannot see.

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Karen Michelle Diengdoh

When I heard the sad news of his passing away, I recalled the happy memories of meeting him, when he came to be the Chief Guest at the New Leader National Awards function many years ago. He must have been in his 70’s then, but nobody could guess his age, as he was so active and agile. What struck me was the utter simplicity and humility of the eminent journalist, writer, editor, High Commissioner to the U.K. and a member of the Rajya Sabha.

Kuldip Nayar, 95, who died on 23 August 2018, was a stalwart of the Indian press, who stood up and spoke up for freedom and democracy, for human rights and secularism, till the end.

He was born in 1923 in Sialkot, Punjab, now in Pakistan. He studied English literature, journalism and law in Lahore, then a part of British India. Beginning his career as an Urdu reporter, he became the editor of the Delhi edition of The Statesman and later the head of the news agency called United News of India (UNI). Soon he became a much-admired writer, thanks to his commitment to human rights, democracy and peace. As an uncompromising, principled crusader for these values, he was widely respected and read. For a number of years his syndicated column, called Between the Lines, was published in about 80 newspapers in 14 languages.

Although the present situation in India is not very different from that period, the time of Emergency continues to be called the darkest hour for Indian journalism. Soon after Indira Gandhi declared Emergency in 1975, Kuldip Nayar was one of the few fearless journalists who reported and condemned the widespread violations of human rights and the attacks on freedom of expression. So, inevitably, he was one of the first journalists to be jailed and tortured.

The book he wrote after the Emergency was withdrawn and he was released from prison became a bestseller. It was called The Judgement. He wrote other books: Distant Neighbours: A Tale of the Subcontinent, India after Nehru, Wall at Wagah, India-Pakistan Relationship, The Martyr, etc. His autobiography, Beyond the Lines, reveals not merely his convictions and commitment, but also the vision he had for our country and South Asia. He could never digest the fact that India and Pakistan continue to see each other as enemies. He kept on urging the leaders of both countries to initiate talks to find solutions to the problems they faced. He did something symbolic to highlight this vision. From 2000, every year on 14 and 15 August, when Pakistan and India celebrate their Independence, Nayar led a group of peace activists to light candles at the India-Pakistan border at Attari-Wagah near Amritsar.

He had a friend in Pakistan who, in spite of being a politician, was a peace activist too – Jaleel Ahmed Khan. As one who migrated to Pakistan in 1947 and was a witness to the mass murders caused by communal hatred, Khan understood the value of peace and joined Nayar in several peace initiatives in both countries. Recognition of his merits and values led to his being made the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in 1990, a member of India’s delegation to the United Nations in 1996 and a member of Rajya Sabha in 1997.

We observe this year the 10th anniversary of the well-planned anti-Christian Kandhamal riots that killed hundreds of poor, tribal Catholics in Kandhamal district in Orissa. Anto Akkara, the courageous Catholic journalist from Kerala, who has risked a lot to unearth and publicize the shocking truths behind those massacres, has described, in a recent article, the inspiration and support he received from Nayar. In spite of his age and illness and many commitments, Kuldip Nayar was present for the release of his book, Who Killed Swami Laxmanananda?, and later wrote a foreword to its Hindi translation.

At a time when fake news and false propaganda are used to ignite hatred and win votes, Kuldip Nayar’s legacy as a journalist of integrity and a crusader of peace and harmony will always remain a benchmark for all who work in media.

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Basing himself on his experience of working with men condemned to death for serious crimes, Brother Carmel shares what he learnt about these men, how he now sees capital punishment and the meaning of Redemption—for the prisoners and for us.

I was elated when on August 2, 2018, Pope Francis declared that the Death Penalty was inadmissible under any circumstance. I was also glad that even Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, positions the same statement, while respecting the law of the country. At the same time he doubts whether it will solve the issues. And I agree with him!

Before coming to India, I was working as a Chaplain in one of the biggest jails in California—Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. For ten years, on a daily basis I would meet young men who were still awaiting their trials. A lot of them, being there for a heinous crime, were facing the death penalty. Some of them were as young as eighteen. For some of them it was their first crime ever. Others were seasoned “criminals.” After being sentenced, they were sent to Death Row in St. Quentin. That is where I would visit some of them at least once or twice a year.

Twice I took the witness stand in a Los Angeles Court for two inmates. People ask me why I did it. Weren’t they murderers? I’d use Don Cabana’s words from his book, Death at Midnight, “I knew this man. I believed his life was worth saving.” It was after these trials that I started getting interested in the death penalty, its implications and ramifications.

Marvin: A Cruel Gang-Leader, Murderer and Yet…

I clearly remember the morning when I took the stand to witness in favour of Marvin. Marvin’s story was one of true and sincere redemption. He was one of the founders of a big Asian gang, and consequently he was convicted of eight murders and ten attempted murders committed in the early 90s. In one of the murders, Marvin and two other assailants committed a home invasion robbery in Los Angeles in the middle of the night and, when confronted, they executed the father in the presence of his wife and small children. In another murder incident, he threw a hand-grenade into a large crowd of young adults gathered in a parking lot outside a dance hall and, after the grenade failed to detonate, bitterly complained later to fellow gang members about the grenade failure. In 1996, Marvin fled from the U.S. and, settling in another country under an assumed name, he carved out a new life and embraced a path toward redemption, during which time he rejected the gang life style, operated two successful businesses, actively participated in the Church and married into a prominent family. After ten years, he was caught and extradited to Los Angeles. I met Marvin a few days later when he was booked in Men’s Central Jail.

On February 28, 2011, I took the witness stand for Marvin. Testifying in court is not a pleasant experience, especially when your friend or family member has just been found guilty of cruel and heinous crimes. It’s not easy when the families of the murdered victims, whose life changed tragically the day your friend decided to kill their loved one, are there in front of you listening to you pleading for his life when you know that nobody was pleading for the life of their loved ones when he killed them.

Relatives of the accused cannot enter the court room to give support, at least with their presence, to a dear one; thus the prisoner spends the whole duration of the trial alone. I remember the trial of Richard—a young man—whose mother (who lived pretty far away) used to go to court every day and sit outside alone in the hallway while her son was being tried.

Can you imagine the pain a mother has to bear when she hears the prosecutor calling her son a monster? She had conceived and given birth to a monster. This and other questions used to haunt me. What if I’m wrong? What if I’m on the wrong side of the courtroom? Why am I on the side of a murderer? I remember sharing this dilemma with my father on the phone one Sunday morning during one of the trials and he simply told me, “My son, do what you need to do in order to save his life. He’s too young.” That was what I needed to hear.

Yes, I would return to the witness stand if needs be, even at the expense of being jeered at by the prosecutor and called insensitive to the pain of the victim’s family (which I’m definitely not), naïve (after 15 years working with inmates I do get a sense of who’s lying, who’s trying to take advantage of me, and who’s genuine) or a weird Catholic priest. Well, this I accept. Yes, I am weird, to be on the side of a murderer and see some goodness in him.

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Three Myths

There are three myths associated with the death penalty:

1. The Myth of Closure: After 18 months, Omar pleaded guilty to a crime he had committed. Together with his public defender, district attorney and the victim’s family, he agreed to take a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Omar went to prison for life and the victim’s family can hopefully start the process of This is what I consider closure. When a death sentence is applied on a prisoner, he will have to go through so many appeals before he is actually executed. The pain and suffering of both families—the victim’s and perpetrator’s—are relived over and over again each time the inmate has a court hearing. That is definitely not closure.

2. The Myth of Deterrence: up till now I have never met anybody who told me that he stopped half way from committing a crime because he became aware of the possibility he may be executed. Generally speaking, murders are committed under three circumstances: the first, out of passion and rage, g., when a man comes back from work and finds his wife in bed with another man, takes out the gun and shoots him/them; the second for money (including gang related murders), where a capital crime is calculated and coldly premeditated; the third because of mental sickness. In all these cases, no one will ever stop midway thinking about the death penalty.

3. The Myth of Proportionality: meaning that only the worst-of-the-worst get the ultimate penalty. This is not true. Usually it is the ones who do not have money for an excellent team of lawyers and investigators who get the Death Penalty—meaning: the rich get life in prison and the poor get the Death.

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Why Do You Do This Ministry?

People ask me “How can you do it?” My first reaction is, “How can I not do it?” But to tell you the truth, I do ask the same question myself. Let me give a couple of reasons:

There is surely some kind of identification with the men I meet in prison. Like them I am locked up in my compulsions, obsessions, defects of character and because of this, there is a deep need inside of me for wholeness, for a clear understanding of who I am, what am I doing and a desire to be free of all that shackles me. A few months before I left Los Angeles, I visited Christian on death row in San Quentin. During the five- hour visit, locked with Christian inside a one-point-five-square-meter cage, he brought up the subject of making amends to the victim’s family. We talked for a long time about the reasons why he wanted to make the amends and the possibilities of how to make them. It was a heartfelt conversation which came up unexpectedly for me, and for which I am so ever grateful. I remember telling him, “Christian, whether or not you make amends, you will always have this pain to carry your whole life.”

We continued to write, but Christian put one condition, never to mention God or religion in my letters. I kept my side of the deal. Five years later he finally broke his side. In a letter dated January 23, 2014, he wrote:

“I’m sometimes not familiar with who I am anymore. I experience these emotions I’ve never felt before and it freaks me out! Am I crazy, my dearest friend? No, I am not, I’m just going thru it . . . and its tuff! But smile, ‘cause guess what? . . . I’ve been praying! I don’t know to who, but I’m praying. And don’t you start talking about Jesus! I’m just praying to whatever creator there is.”

Beautiful! Sheer beauty. I imagine God and Christian having a tête-a-tête inside San Quentin.

These are the fleeting moments of joy and consolation in my life. I am honoured to receive such letter. Honoured to know and consider Christian an intimate friend, and especially be present at the moment of the rekindling of the spark. At the same time, I experience pain and suffering. In the past years I have been trying to come to grips with this incessant feeling that the only way I can become who I am meant to be is through the dark path of pain. Experiencing the pain of the men I meet daily, locked up behind bars—the pain of listening and absorbing their darkness, their sins, their murders, their rapes, their embezzlements, their gang fights, their being abandoned by their family, their passing through court trials on their own, their denial of their involvement in the crimes, the sheer callousness and coldness of what they were capable of doing.

As Claudia—a forensic psychologist and mitigating specialist—once wrote to me: “We are in the most wonderful of professions. We hear secrets. We listen to compelling stories. Yes, sometimes our days are filled with outcries of despair, frustration, repetitive self-defeating behaviours and a variety of other stigmata that flow from the wounds of human psyches. Sometimes, though, we bear witness to radiant triumphs and even to the sudden and unpredictable raining down of goodness on one or another of our clients.”

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Brother Carmel is a Missionary of Charity (MC) for the past 28 years, lived in Colombia, Peru, Guatemala and Los Angeles (where he mainly worked in prisons) and for the past year in Kolkata. He is originally from Malta.

This article explains the special situation of charitable entities with the “12A” tag. What is this exemption? What are its requirements?

As charitable entities with 12A, all our societies, trusts and companies enjoy the exemption from income tax.  However, this exemption is available only on the fulfilment of certain requirements as mentioned here:

Requirements for income tax exemption:

Here are the basic requirements to make a trust eligible for exemption from income tax.

The trust:

(1) should have been registered under 12A;

(2) should have all its income coming from the property owned by the trust or from donations raised by the trust;

(3) should have spent in India at least 85% of its annual income on the objects of the trust;

(4) keep its services open to all people, irrespective of caste, creed, religion, etc.;

(5) should have got its accounts audited;

(6) should have filed its income tax returns in time (by 30^th September);

(7) should comply with section 11(2) in case of accumulation (Remember that the purpose for which accumulation is done has to be submitted and it cannot be changed later and no donation can be given out of the accumulated amount);

(8) should have invested all its funds as per section 11(5) [(a) Investment in Government Saving Certificates, (b) Deposits with Post Offices Saving Banks, (c) Deposits with scheduled banks or Co-operative Banks, (d) Investments in units of the Unit Trust of India, (e) Investments in Central or State Government Securities & others, (f) Investments in units issued under any scheme of mutual fund referred to in sec 10 (23D);

(9) should not have allowed the benefits of the trusts activities to any of its members directly or indirectly, and

(10) should not have more than 20% of its annual income from its business-like activities.

Recent changes in the income tax:

Here are some of the serious recent changes which will affect the trusts with 12A and which have come in to effect:

(1) No cash transaction beyond Rs 10,000 is allowed.

(2) Corpus donations from trust to trust are banned. Any amount donated by one trust to another as corpus cannot be claimed as application of its income.  This means: We cannot claim that amount as part of the 85% required to be utilized.  Still, if a trust wants, it can give a corpus donation to another trust from its own funds or corpus, without claiming any utilization for that amount.

(3) No 80G benefit  can be claimed by the donor for a cash donation of more than Rs 2000 to a charitable trust.  This means that for any amount beyond Rs 2000, only donations through bank transactions can be allowed this benefit.

(4) If TDS not deducted, 30% of the bill (30% of the amount of expenditure on which TDS is not deducted) will be disallowed u/s 40(a)(i).

(5) Every trust should apply for Tax deduction Account Number (TAN) within one month from the end of the month in which tax is deducted. A trust having various branches and maintaining individual accounting should obtain a separate TAN other than that of the main trust.  Not having a TAN will attract a penalty of Rs 10,000/-

(6) Failure to file income tax returns before 30^th September will attract a fine or other penalties, including withdrawal of 12A.

(7) As per section 115BBC, anonymous donations shall be taxed at 30%, if it exceeds 5% of the total donations received, or Rs 1 lakh, whichever is higher.  However, this clause is not applicable to religious trusts.

(8) Any trust with the object of advancement of general public utility and having business activities that are incidental to the attainment of the objectives of the trust should maintain separate books of account related to such business and from AY 2016-17 onwards, the benefit of tax exemption may be lost if such income exceeds 20% of the total receipts (earlier it was Rs 2,50,000).  However, this restriction does not apply to a trust having object other than the object of advancement of general public utility.

Cancellation of 12A: Registration of a trust under 12A may be withdrawn if: (a) the activities of the trust or institution are not  genuine; (b) the activities are not being carried out in accordance with the objects of the trust; (c) investment of the trust’s funds are in contravention of section 11(5); (d) fresh registration u/s 12A for modification in the objects of trusts within a period of 30 days from the date of such modifications of objects in prescribed form and manner.

Other regulations to be noted by charitable trusts:

Please note the following well-known practices:

(1) For any donation between trusts, both the donor and the recipient should be registered under 12A and there has to be similarity of objects in both the trusts.

(2) There should be no mutual donations between the donor and recipient trusts.

(3) All FC regulations are to be followed.

(4) TDS has to be deducted wherever applicable and returns of the same have to be filed as per requirements

(5) GST registration has be done and its norms have to be followed, wherever applicable

(6) All donations should be accompanied with a donation letter, in which the name, address and pan number of the donor is mentioned.

(7) No cash donations of more than Rs 10,000 may be received by a trust.

(8) Any corpus donation should be accompanied with a corpus donation letter, in which the word “corpus” has to be mentioned by the donor.

(9) All funds have to be utilized for the purpose for which they were generated.  Attention has to be given that the object (purpose) of any donation cannot be changed without the explicit written consent of the donor.

(10) It is also important that we observe everything related to legal matters such as the filing the required documents regularly before the Registrar/Charity Commissioner and all applicable taxes are paid to the appropriate legal bodies.

Some Tips:

Besides the required regulations mentioned above, it is important that we pay attention to the following:

(1) We must use secular terms in our books of accounts and annual returns, because it is important that the income tax officials are able to understand our terms.

(2) All our charitable activities have to be highlighted in the returns so that the income tax officials can easily take note of them and recognize the fact that we are charitable organizations.

(3) Sufficient care must be taken for any big donations with regard to getting the required request letter or project, verifying if the objects of the donor and recipient are similar and if the recipient trust also has 12A, passing the necessary resolution by the donor trust in its board, etc.

(4) The trust should not get into any activity which is not in line with its objects as given in its constitution.

(5) All major decisions should be taken following the procedures, preceded by the required resolutions from the board (decisions such as buying or selling properties, starting or closing down something, making a new policy decision, any expense involving a big amount of money, major administrative acts like construction, legal action on employees, etc.).

(6) FC funds, FC bank accounts and their accounts have to be kept separately and not mixed up with the local funds.

(7) It is better to keep the business account separately.

(8) Similarly attention may be given that we keep the TDS records, IT returns, FC returns, GST returns, PF and PT records in their respective files

(9) We should periodically monitor the expenses against the income to ensure 85% utilization by the end of the financial year.

As we know from experience, it is a great blessing to have 12A. We have to take all steps necessary to preserve it, for, if we do not have or lose the 12A exemption, we will end up paying income tax like any business entity on all the income of the trust.  That would be a huge loss, indeed.

 

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2 October: International Day of Non-Violence

The United Nations observes this Day annually on the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most influential political activists of all time. He was born in India in 1869 and through his efforts, India gained its freedom on 15 August 1947. He was assassinated on 30 January 1948.

Gandhi put forward the notion of “non-violence” and the tremendous impact of this form of social response as a tool for the peaceful resolution of differences and “to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence“. He saw the use of violence to achieve peace as completely irrational.

Rejecting the idea that forgiveness is a sign of weakness, Gandhiji would say, “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

Can’t we hate those who do us harm? No, he insisted, “hatred can only be overcome by love.”

We cannot expect others to change, while we refuse to. Hence his famous saying: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

This world has had its share of bloody wars that ended countless innocent lives and led to widespread destruction. Non-violence is not pacifism.  It rejects the use of physical violence and advocates other means like protests and persuasion, marches and vigils, multi-faith prayer meetings, candle-light ceremonies, civil disobedience to unjust laws, non-cooperation and non-violent intervention, such as blockades, occupations and sit-ins, to achieve social or political change.

There are people in this world who have made the changes they thought necessary, without the use of violence or brute force. To name but a few – Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, John Lennon, Nelson Mandela.

These are the type of people that the International Day of Non-Violence celebrates. Read or enact their biographies. Spread their message of non-violence. Find out what motivated them to act as they did, what helped keep them strong even when they saw terrible things happening all around them. These stories are fascinating and inspiring. They teach us the virtues of bravery, compassion, and perseverance. Spreading hatred and violence may look clever, and is easier, but it is self-destructive. No lasting solutions are found through violence.

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11 October: International Day of the Girl Child

The International Day of Girls is declared by the United Nations to raise awareness of gender inequality faced by girls internationally, especially regarding education, nutrition, child marriage, protection from discrimination, violence against women, legal and medical rights.

Statistics: The world’s 1.1 billion girls are a formidable source of power, energy, and creativity. But

• More than 62 million girls around the world have no access to education.
• Many global development plans do not include or consider Girls.
• Globally, one in four Girls are married before age 18.
• Girls, ages 5 to 14, spend more than 160 million hours more on household chores than boys of the same age do.
• Girls around the world are vulnerable to acts of sexual violence and the perpetrators often go unpunished.

The Day of Girls helps raise awareness not only of the issues that Girls face, but also what is likely to happen when those problems are solved. For example, educating Girls helps reduce the rate of child marriage and disease. It helps strengthen the economy by helping Girls to have access to higher-paying jobs.

The empowerment of and investment in girls are critical for:

• breaking the cycle of discrimination and violence
• economic growth, the eradication of poverty and extreme poverty
• promoting and protecting the full and effective enjoyment of their human rights, their active participation in decision-making processes and the active support and engagement of their parents, legal guardians, families and care providers, as well as boys, men and the wider community.

In India, there are a number of things we need to attend to urgently: the killing of female fetuses and of newly born girls (which causes the terrible male-female ration in several states in India); child marriages; the lack of educational opportunities for girls; lower wages paid to women workers; domestic violence; the financial and sexual exploitation of domestic workers, most of whom are women; the lack of toilets in homes and in schools, which puts the women and girls to great inconvenience and causes health problems.

The celebration of the day also “reflects the successful emergence of Girls and young women as a distinct force in development policy, programming, campaigning and research.”

 

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Sr. Esme da Cunha fdcc

How the Young and the Old Learn from Each Other

CRYSTAL

As a regular reader of the Catholic magazine Magnificat, I have appreciated many aspects of the monthly publication, including summaries of the lives of little known saints, daily mass readings, as well as reflections relating to the Scriptures from both lay and religious contributors. This month, I was surprised and amused by a different type of introduction to the monthly edition, as presented by Rev. Peter John Cameron, O.P. He shared an anecdote that he found online:

 “A kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of kids while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child’s work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, “I’m drawing God.”  The teacher paused and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.”  Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, “They will in a minute.”

No Good Bye

This story of a little girl’s confidence delighted me! It may be that her response resonated with me in a particular way because Kevin and I currently have the joy of living under the same roof with our three grandchildren ages 6, 4 and 2. As we daily experience the world from their perspective and hear their questions and responses to matters of faith, I have come to better appreciate that in their simplicity of thought, they may well have as much or more appreciation for the things of faith than I do.

For example, about a year ago, I was leaving daily mass with our young grandson and encouraged him to genuflect to say ‘good-bye’ to Jesus. He responded simply that he didn’t need to say good-bye because Jesus is always with him. Indeed! I stood corrected.

Why Mosquitoes?

On another occasion, I sat in the bedroom with our granddaughter during a violent thunderstorm that had frightened her. As we whiled away the time, she started asking questions about what I did every morning as I sat in my chair in my prayer room. When I answered that I was talking to God, she asked if He ever talked back. I responded that He did, but not in a physical voice, but in ways that came up in the different things that I would read about in my reflection book, or in thoughts that I had.  She then asked me to please take a question to God that had been troubling her: “Why did God make mosquitoes?”  I promised her to ask Him and after I quietly assured her that it was safe to go to sleep I snuck downstairs and googled all the possible good things there were about mosquitoes. J

I am trying to convey through both of these examples how absolutely privileged I am to be reminded of some basics of the faith from our young grandchildren. I am delighted by Joe’s absolute conviction of Jesus’ ubiquitous presence, and Grace’s trust that God has a purpose for all things in His creation. In fact, not only am I delighted; I am challenged to enter into my relationship with the Divine in a more child-like manner, with great confidence and trust.

Learning from a Child

Child-like trust has been a virtue for which I have been praying for a few years. It seems that God is answering my prayers by sending down that grace through the lives of our young grandchildren. When I see our little ones exhibit characteristics of faithfulness, such as humility or trust, it makes it easier for me to imitate those virtues. As an adult, it can be easy to fall into complacency in spiritual matters and take for granted the power of God alive in the world.  For example, we can routinely enter into the marvelous happening of the Mass we attend, and rather than worshipping in awe, we yawn our way through the celebration. We might participate by sitting, standing and parroting back the appropriate responses, but then leave the church with no appreciation for what is arguably the most remarkable event that takes place in the world today.

A contrast to that type of detached experience is one I had just this last month as I attended a daily Mass with our four-year-old granddaughter. Sitting in the front row, she had a clear view of the priest during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. As she watched and listened to the priest saying the prayers at the altar, she started whispering, “Is that bread Jesus yet?”  “No, not yet” I responded. She asked several more time and each time received the same reply. Finally, when the altar bells were rung, she asked again, “Is it Jesus now?” “Yes! It is Jesus!” I answered, and felt an incredible surge of love and gratitude well up in my heart.

Yes, I have ‘believed’ in transubstantiation for years. Yes, I have prayed for greater faith to bolster my belief in the Eucharist. But on this day, as my little one was in awe that NOW Jesus was really truly present, it was an even greater understanding. Four-year-old Grace has unwittingly taught me that I should never take for granted the incredible gift of the supernatural presence of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist. She trusts in what she cannot see or understand.  I will continue to pray that I will have that same childlike trust and to see that God is leading me to greater faithfulness through the people he places in my life, including its youngest members.

What Children Learn from Us

Of course, as adults we should be open to both learning valuable lessons from children as well as passing along the wisdom we have gleaned over the years. For example, our little Joey would not have known that God is always with him had he not been told this again and again by his mother.  Grace would not have had the inclination to ask God about mosquitos had she not seen me every morning, sitting in my ‘prayer chair’ and conversing with God.  And as much as our words have an impact on how others come to know the faith, our actions will inevitably speak even clearer. How many people have come to associate Christian faithfulness with Mother Teresa, perhaps not reading about or understanding her motivation for her selfless actions in ministering to the poor, but being drawn to the good will and love inherent in her actions?

When I read news reports about the decline of morals in young people, or hear people lament how self-absorbed and materialistic the young generation is, I wonder if there are simply not enough good examples of people who are living differently from the values of the secular world. And of course, we must always begin evaluating the answer to this question by examining our own lives.  How do my actions demonstrate an awareness of God’s presence and love and my desire to bring that love into the world?

Pure acts of holiness are hard to ignore.  They shine brightly all on their own. Perhaps for most of us they are only observed in venues like our own homes or workplace, but sometimes they even make it to the world stage.  Mother Teresa’s exhortation to “do small things with great love” is perhaps the best means to live the faith and teach the faith to others. The beauty of her advice is that we can all put it into practice. We don’t need a degree or a title or money. Whether we are adults or children, we can accept her challenge and put it into practice, learning from each other and encouraging each other and thereby making the world a better place for future generations.

 

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