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Angered by statue, 20,000 protestors march on Indian parish

August 28, 2013

In the eastern Indian state of Jharkand, 20,000 members of a tribe marched to a parish to protest against a statue of the Virgin Mary in tribal garb, according to a UCA News report.

Police protected the parish from the protestors.

“If the idol of Mother Mary is shown in the outfit of a tribal woman, then 100 years from now people will think that Mother Mary was a tribal from Jharkhand,” said the Sarna tribe’s head priest.

“Christians are also tribals, and we have full rights to tribal traditions,” said Cardinal Telesphore Toppo of Ranchi, Jharkand’s leading prelate. “How can Sarna members exclude us when they speak about tribal culture?”

 


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  • Posted by: ramonantonio3455448 - Aug. 28, 2013 9:48 PM ET USA

    Its curious. We Catholics tend to talk about the future in hopeful terms, that is, may God bless us with a future. Tribal people, on the contrary, talk about future with a "no holds barred" certainty that it is actually going to happen. Maybe we should adopt some kind of that certainty when we talk about our beliefs. In this case, they even marched with absolute certainty about the fact that there will be a future where their beliefs will be affected. Do we think about salvation equally?