Image Courtesy:aicu.in
The All India Catholic Union (AICU), the largest Laity movement in Asia, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling upon his government to device a comprehensive social security plan that ensures protection and support to the weakest and most marginalized sections of society.
In the letter, AICU President, Lancy D Cunha says, “We call upon the government to evolve a comprehensive Social Security Network for the poorest of the poor, the migrant labour, landless and unemployed youth. It was heart rending to see people on the verge of starvation, reduced to beggary, and some dying even as they trudged hundreds of kilometres home. We hope you will soon announce employment guarantees and relief for the jobless.”
AICU also demands universal healthcare saying, “AICU calls upon the government to build a national Health Service and Health Insurance and medical infrastructure covering every citizen. We noticed that other than hospitals run by church and similar NGOs, it was the government medical infrastructure that led the fight against Covid.”
Highlighting the targeting of clergy across the country the letter says, “The AICU was distressed to note that the Lockdown situation has been abused by some governments, and non-state groups, to demonise and defame communities, and to target clergy and others. Christians, and people of some other faiths, pray as a Congregation and community. As it is, Covid has closed churches across the world. Pope Francis himself celebrates the Holy Mass by himself, and we share in it through the internet. We pray for being able to celebrate the Eucharist Mass in our parishes as soon as circumstances permit. But meanwhile, harassment of clergy and others must end wherever it happens.”
The AICU also took the opportunity to highlight the neglect of upkeep of Christian heritage sites saying, “The AICU Working Committee was alarmed to see the neglect and callousness on the part of the Archaeological Survey of India in maintaining the 424-year old Basilica of Bom Jesus, an A-Grade National Monument and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in which the relics of St. Francis Xavier (Goencho Saib) is preserved. After the historic sites connected with St Thomas in Kerala and Mount Thomas, Chennai, this is one of the most important shrines for the Catholic Church, not just for Indians but in the world. The Parish Priest has said that the Archaeological Survey of India has left the ceilings of the Bom Jesu church open to the vagaries weather, and no steps have been taken to protect the five century old monument from damage on account of impending rains on the lame excuse that there are ‘no funds’. Very urgent action needs to be taken so that there is no threat to the Relics and the Basilica. AICU volunteers to be involved in the process of saving preserving the Basilica of Bom Jesu as an integral part of the religious and cultural heritage of India.”
Related: