LOL... more than 44 cents to Jam!

Appeal for the St. Paul Miki School in India

Dear Ed,

This is to inform you that a check for $50 came in for the work of John Deeney in the name of Jesuit Missions in response to an apppeal sent out by Thomas F Brzozowski/44. Reading through that appeal made by Thomas, I find there is much for me to learn in the way an appeal is to be framed.

Fr. Jerry Cutinha has agreed to acknowledge and thank the donor while I was requested to keep you informed. As I did the last time as per your advice , I will send the check (s) to .

I will wait for some more time so that in case there are similar checks coming to Jamshedpur I could put them together and send them in one envelope to . I will wait until 25 March to despatch this check(s).

With kind regards,

Eric

Socius

Jamshedpur Jesuit Province
LOYOLA NIWAS,
15 Straight Mile Road,
Sakchi, Jamshedpur 831001, INDIA

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Tom,

Thanks for your mail and all the lovely photos. I know the kind soul couldn't just wait .... money straight came to Jamshedpur !!

The last photo of John Deeney saying mass (above) could have been somewhere in a village saying mass. Often mass is offered in the courtyard of a house where the villagers could gather. Often houses are small - may not be big enough for a crowd of 20-25.

Well, that is the style we offer mass in the villages here in Jamshedpur. Sometimes we may also have to chase off chickens or cows / bulls while saying mass !!! They too want to join the eucharist !! How religious our animals are !!

Today our Martin came to Jamshedpur for some work. He had a "facelift", looked very young with his short haircut, though he said that he had more grey hair than I had.

I am happy that you got the DVD and enjoyed watching it. Our Donald and Amit Tigga worked on it. Donald is doing his PhD in Communications in Chennai.

I am in Jamshedpur, provincial's office. For any postal mails, the address below should be fine.

Thanks Tom,

Jerry Cutinha, SJ

----------------------------------------------------------------------

In related news...

Several Christians including three Catholic bishops were Friday, March 5, arrested and later released during a march for reservation status to Dalit Christians and Muslims.

Bishops, priests arrested at dalit rally Cathnews India

Police arrested hundreds including Catholic bishops and priests today in Chennai as thousands gathered for the culmination of a month-long dalit rally, a Church official said.

Police have detained Archbishops A. M. Chinnappa of Madra Mylapore, several bishops and some thousand people, said Father G. Cosmon Arokiaraj, secretary of Indian bishops’ commission for dalit Christians.

“They are kept inside marriage hall as police cannot take the large number of people to jail,” he added.

Thousands of Christians gathered in Chennai today to conclude a “long march” that Catholics and Protestants together organized demanding quota for dalit Christians.

The “long march,” began Feb. 10 in Kanniakumari with some 50 people walking to state capital. They reached Chennai yesterday as planed.

The organizers planned to end the march with massive public meeting and presenting a memorandum demanding reservation for dalit Christians.

The 50 people began a march through the streets of Chennai. “But police objected and arrested morning Bishop Anthonisamy Neethinathan” of Chingelpet who joined the team in Chennai, Father Arokiaraj said.

The bishop’s arrest made “more bishops, priests, nuns and join the marchers’ team, which soon swelled into some thousand people. The police blocked all of them took them inside a kalyana-mandampam (marriage hall). The police have not released them yet. We are in contact with the officials,” the priest said in the evening.

The chief minister was also not prepared to meet the delegation of Bishops and leaders, the priest said.

Christian leaders are demanding the central and state governments to implement the Ranganath Misra report to grant Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims quota meant for socially poor groups.

Archbishop Chinnappa, president of the Tamil Nadu Bishops Council, yesterday told media that Dalit Christians and Muslims are upset by the inordinate delay in implementing the Misra report.

He said the Misra Commission report clearly states that non- inclusion of SC Christians and Muslims in the SC list is discrimination based on religion that goes against the Constitution of India.

The Indian Constitution allows quota in education and jobs for dalit or oppressed castes to help their socio-economic advancement. However, dalit among Christians and Muslims are excluded for the past 60 years on the ground their religions do not follow the caste system.

The marchers have demanded the federal government to implement the Ranganath Misra Commission report that recommends extending the quota to all dalit regardless of religion.

They also demand the repeal of the Constitutional Order 1950, which limited the quota only to Hindus. The order was amended twice later to include Sikhs and Buddhists, but continued to exclude Muslims and Christians.