Rome, 28 January (ENI)--For the first time, a general secretary of the World Council of Churches has taken part with a pope in a Rome service to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and together they have remembered the centenary of this initiative born in the United States in 1908. "I want to assure you of our commitment to continue our co-operation in the best possible way," said WCC general secretary the Rev. Samuel Kobia, a Methodist from Kenya, at the service on 25 January at the ancient basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, where, according to tradition, the bones are kept of the apostle, who was executed nearby by the rulers of ancient Rome.

Underlining that "the world needs a church that is one and united in its witness," Kobia referred to the unrest in his home country which has led to more than 800 deaths. "The common witness of the churches for reconciliation and healing of the nation is crucial for peace in Kenya," the WCC general secretary stated. The Geneva-based WCC has 347 mainly Anglican, Protestant and Orthodox churches in its membership. Although the Catholic Church does not belong to the WCC, it has members on some of its bodies, including the Commission on Faith and Order.

The service gathered about thirty leaders of Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches and marked the conclusion of the 18-25 January week of prayer for unity described by the National Catholic Reporter's John Allen as a "week-long ecumenical festival". Allen pointed not only to the concluding service attended by Pope Benedict and Kobia but also to the award on 24 January of the Paul Wattson Christian Unity Award to the WCC's Commission on Faith and Order and the Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The two bodies have since 1968 jointly prepared the Week of Prayer.

The award takes its name from one of the initiators of what was then called the "Octave of Prayer for Church Unity" held for the first time in January 1908 in Graymoor, New York, by the Society of the Atonement. The official Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano also carried an interview with Kobia, and articles penned by theologians of various denominations.

Benedict referred several times to Christian unity in his speeches and messages during the week. At the service on 25 January he thanked Kobia and the other ecumenical representatives for their presence at the event. "Your participation to this prayer is an evident expression of the links which unite us in Christ," the pontiff stated.

Christians, said the Pope, must pray "indefatigably" for God to obtain the "gift" of their full unity. Before going to the Basilica of St Paul, Kobia met leaders of Italy's Protestant churches, who account for a small minority in predominantly Catholic Italy. [482 words]

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Daringabadi, India, 17 January (ENI)--In a corner of the town where charred metal remains of a van, motorbikes, computers and other office equipment dot the main road in Daringabadi town in Orissa's Kandhamal district, residents says it is hard not to be afraid. The ash heaps and metal frames are all that remain of the contents of the two-storied office of World Vision, a Christian relief and development organization. It was emptied by a frenzied group of local business people and others said to be Hindu extremists who broke into the premises on Christmas day. Victims told Ecumenical News International they are being targeted because they are Christians.

"They wanted to set the building on fire. But, when the owner told the mob that he was a Hindu and pleaded them not to destroy his property, they obliged him," Michael Pradhan, director of the World Vision office at Daringabadi, told ENI. So the attackers removed everything, including files, from the rented office, carried the contents across the road, before setting them fire to them so that the smoke would not blemish the recently painted building.

"This is not mere arson. There is a vicious mind-set and careful planning behind all these. It really worries us," said Pradhan who estimates the value of the World Vision vehicles and equipment that went up in flames at more than 1.2 million rupees (about US$30 000). The value of the documents cannot be measured in money terms, he stated. At Pobingia village, 90 kilometres from Daringabadi, Pentecostal Pastor Lothra Digal rues that he has no clue as to the whereabouts of his 17-year old son who has been missing since a 24 December attack on the churches in the neighbourhood.

As about 500 armed people converged on the village, Pastor Digal fled to the jungle along with others. He returned to the village five days later after the violence stopped. "I thought he would be safe and would return. But, nobody has seen my son yet," said Pastor Digal wiping tears from his eyes. Asked whether he had filed a missing person complaint with the police, Digal paused and said, "No. I will not do it. They [extremists] have threatened to kill me if I dared to register a complaint."

Five Christians have been confirmed dead after the violent attacks, which Christians say were instigated by Hindu extremists in the Kandhamal district of Orissa. Church officials said, however, the death-toll among Christians could be much higher as many are missing after they fled because of the attacks on villages scattered across the jungle region.

More than 70 churches and 12 major Christian centres were destroyed or damaged in the wave of violence. About 2500 Christians are temporarily housed at a refugee camp at Barakhama where they shelter in a dilapidated school building after many were rendered homeless when their houses were set on fire. "My house has not been destroyed but I cannot still think of going back and sleeping in it," said Thadias Digal, a member of the Baptist church. Digal recounted that extremists threatened to kill the Christians unless they give up their faith.

"We want the police to stay here until all of us can go back to our village together," said Digal. He said the homeless Christians were seeking assistance from the government to rebuild their torched houses. "What happened here was thoroughly planned," pointed out Rama Nayak, coordinator of the diocesan board of social service of the Phulbani diocese of the Church of North India, pointing to giant trees lying on the roadside. He said these had been cut down with saws and placed on road bends to block the movement of the security forces while violence was carried out.

"I'm scared of living here. But seeing the condition of these people, I do not want to leave them," said Roman Catholic Sister Christa at the Mount Carmel convent in Balliguda. The convent premises with hostel facilities for 120 poor girls, an advanced computer training centre for 50 students and a free medical dispensary had been virtually reduced to ashes by the attackers who tried to molest nuns, said some of those who had fled.

"There is a tragedy waiting to happen," Christian investigators said in a document they prepared after visiting the area. They described the attacks as orchestrated anti-Christian violence. John Dayal, the secretary general of the All India Christian Council, who led the investigation team told ENI, "Until the vicious propaganda against Christians is stopped, Christians will remain vulnerable in Kandhamal."

The investigation document cites Swami Loknananda Saraswati, who the Christians say spearheads the anti-Christian campaign in the Kandhamal jungles. It quotes him as saying, "Whosoever converts to Christianity becomes an enemy. Christians will not be tolerated." Christians in Kandhamal accounts for one fifth of the district's 500 000 people. [819 words]

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Pobingia, India, 10 January (ENI)–Pastor Sidheswar Digal was making Christmas preparations on 24 December when he heard a mob howling anti-Christian slogans outside his house. "When I came out, I saw our people running away into the jungle. They urged me, 'run', and I joined them," said Pastor Digal who said his Assembly of God church was destroyed by a 600-strong mob. He said the mob destroyed all three churches in Pobingia, his, a Baptist and a Roman Catholic place of worship.

In the Orissa state capital of Bhubaneswar on 10 January almost 10 000 people protested against the Christmas attacks on Christians. Rally speakers called on the Orissa state government to stop making allegations purporting that Christians are linked to an outlawed Maoist rebel movement. They also demanded that Christian churches and groups be allowed to provide direct relief to victims.

"Some people have characterised the violence as a Hindu-Christian clash. This is wrong. Dalit Christians were clearly the targets and innocent victims. The state government has also made baseless accusations that some Christian NGOs are aligned with Naxalites [the Maoists]," said Udit Raj, a speaker at the rally. Naxalites are Maoist rebels who often attack government installations throughout central India. Most are disenfranchised Dalits or Tribals.

Christians leaders also said the authorities were preventing their relief bodies from distributing aid in the area affected by the violence "Orissa's government should allow direct relief projects by churches and Christian NGOs. Currently, we are being told we can only distribute blankets, food and other supplies through the District Collectors," said Joseph D'souza, president of the All India Christian Council at the protest rally at which Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists also spoke in support of the Christians

Back near the jungle area, Pastor Digal said: "This is the first time I could not conduct a Christmas service." After the attack he stayed in the jungle for four days until the violence subsided. Returning to his church he found the gates had been uprooted, tall trees in front of the church cut down, a 6 metres high concrete cross on top of the church had been toppled and everything in the church, the pastor's residence and a student hostel reduced to ashes. Pastor Gurubandhu Sanseth who heads the Baptist congregation at Balliguda, 40 kilometres further into the jungle suffered a similar fate. As church members started coming in for the Christmas service on 24 December, mobs gathered outside the church in the centre of Balliguda town.

"First they asked Christians to switch off the lights and go home," said the pastor. However, the Christians switched off the lights and shut the doors but remained inside. Soon a mob of more than 300 attacked and broke the doors. [838 words] Pastor Sanseth said the mob was angered by the defiance of the Christians and some thugs "molested the young girls and chased every one out". The pastor said, "Since I knew I was their target, I fled." He said that as his panicked congregants scurried for safety, the attackers gathered everything inside the church, including musical instruments, and set them on fire.

Besides the Baptist church, three Catholic institutions were targeted at Balliguda, St Paul's Church, St Paul's Seminary as well as the Mount Carmel training centre and hostel. They were all reduced to ashes during a five hour rampage. "I'm really scared of living here after this nightmare," said Sister Christa, principal of the computer training centre attached to the Mount Carmel convent. "See the damage they have done," she said, pointing to a pile of ash that had been computers and other training material.

The nuns said they had to flee for their lives when some of the assailants tried to molest them. The Christians who live at Barakhama, 15 kilometres from Balliguda, did not run away when the mob came to destroy their place of worship belonging to the Church of North India. Instead they ended up fighting pitched battles with the assailants, one of whom died in the clash with the Christians.

This resistance drew more even more extremists to Barakhama, said a local Baptist, who requested anonymity. Two Christians died in the violence, and 300 Christian houses were torched. The Church of North India church and nearby houses of Christians were razed to the ground. Residents quoted mob leaders as saying, "We don't want to see any Christians in Kandhamal. Next time, you will be our targets."

Bishop Bijay Kumar Nayak, who heads the Church of North India's Phulbani diocese, which covers the Kandhamal district, described the attacks as the culmination of a series of anti-Christian rallies organized by Hindu extremist groups, which threatened to remove Christians from the area. The 100 000 strong Christian community account for one fifth of the population of Kandhamal district, with the Catholic Church being the largest denomination, making up half of the Christians there. More than 70 churches were destroyed or damaged in the violence.

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Bhubaneswar, India, 8 January (ENI)--National church bodies in India have demanded access to the troubled Kandhamal region of Orissa state to distribute relief and visit the families affected by a recent outbreak of violence said to be aimed at Christians. "We are established and credible national bodies and have every right to distribute relief to the victims of violence," Church of North India Bishop Dinesh Kumar Sahu, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in India, told journalists in Bhubaneswar, the Orissa capital.

The press conference, at the city sometimes called the Temple city of India, on 7 January was jointly convened by the NCCI, a grouping of 29 Orthodox and Protestant churches in India ,along with the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India. The church leaders said the authorities were preventing their relief bodies from distributing aid in the area affected by the violence, that began on Christmas eve, 24 December, at Bamunigam in the Kandhamal forests more that 200 kilometres from the capital.

"Why is the government not allowing NGOs to carry out relief work when hundreds of people suffering?" asked Bishop Sahu. He said that churches are ready to distribute relief to affected people irrespective of creed, in the presence of government officials. "We never discriminate when we distribute relief to affected people," said the Rev. Babu Joseph, spokesperson for the Roman Catholic bishops at the press conference. He noted that more than 90 percent of the 14 000 houses that the Catholic church had built for victims of the massive tsunami in 2004 were given to Hindus.

A report distributed at the conference said that more than 50 churches had been damaged or destroyed, and several hundred Christian families displaced in anti-Christian violence. Following clashes between Christians and Hindus over the construction of a traditional Christmas arcade in a market, more than 80 Hindu homes and 31 Christian homes were set on fire in the jungle village, the report stated. This was followed by a wave of anti-Christian violence that Christian leaders said resulted in churches other institutions and houses being destroyed and looted by Hindu extremists.

Police did nothing to stop the violence that continued for four days, Catholic spokesperson Joseph said. "This is diabolic violence," said Joseph, who had visited major Christian centres affected by the violence. "It was systematically planned and clinically executed," he asserted. Joseph told Ecumenical News International January that police did nothing to stop the violence that went on for four days.

"We cannot understand why the government wants to deny permission for us to distribute relief to the victims," said CNI Bishop Samson Das of Cuttack. We have every right to meet the people to express our solidarity with them." The chief minister of Orissa state, Navin Patnaik, had pleaded with a delegation of members of the national parliament and senior politicians not to visit the troubled area in a fact finding mission.

"This shows the inefficiency and failure of the government to protect the threatened people," Sitaram Yechury, secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist told Ecumenical News International. "The government is trying to hide its gross failures." [535 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

Bhubaneswar, India, 3 January (ENI)--Christian groups and churches are demanding urgent protection, saying they have been hounded by Hindu extremists in Indian's eastern state of Orissa, with reports of nine people being killed in attacks since Christmas. "Christians are brutally attacked by the fundamentalists and law and order is fully missing especially in Kandhamal where the fundamentalists have taken charge of the whole district," said Christian groups and churches in an appeal to India's National Human Rights Commission on 2 January.

The Roman Catholic Church, the ecumenical All India Christian Council and other church groups submitted a joint memorandum to the human rights body. In it they pointed out that more than 60 churches have been torched, 600 Christians’ houses burnt down and more over 5000 Christians have been displaced due to the orchestrated anti-Christian violence in and around Kandhmal in Orissa state. The Christians were killed in violence that was sparked by Hindu groups destroying Christmas decorations on 24 December in the Kandhamal district.

"The plight of the Christians is really pitiable," John Dayal, AICC secretary general who has been visiting troubled-torn villages in recent days, told Ecumenical News International. Dayal said following assaults on Christians by armed Hindu extremists, pastors as well as members of congregations fled to the jungles. Police officials offered assistance to the harassed Christians, but advised pastors not to go near their churches as they said they were are not in a position to provide protection for the Christians.

"A series of well planned attacks on innocent Christians and their leaders have completely shocked us," noted Catholic Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cattuck-Bhubaneshwar, which is the capital of Orissa, in the memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "What is more worrying and disheartening to note is the manner in which the unruly mob went on rampaging in villages," the archbishop said in document he presented to the prime minister on 31 December after making a special trip to New Delhi.

Later addressing a press conference after calling on the Indian prime minister and other top government officials, Cheenath said the state administration did virtually nothing to curb the violence over four days in which extremists attacked at will. [375 words]

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