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The Secular Citizen Weekly

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Page 1: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

123 September 2013

Page 2: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

2 23 September 20132 23 September 2013

Kochi: Kerala’s Catholic Church is compiling a data on bigfamilies with couples who married after 1990 and have morethan three children.

The move comes as part of a program launched by theFamily Commission of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council(KCBC) two years ago to honor such families.

According to the preliminary reports, there would bemore than 9,000 couples who have decided not to limit thenumber of children to two or three.

Since the number of children is more than five in a goodnumber of families from the older generation, the church isfocusing on those couples who have been married for 20-odd years.

The church's 30 dioceses across the state have beenorganizing programs to felicitate them in a bid to encouragebig families.

While 450 families attended the event in Pala, therewere 500 couples in Thrissur. Idukki also saw 400-oddfamilies.

Our aim is to encourage responsible parenting andfamily welfare.

“But when we started this program, there were ques-tions from many quarters on why we are doing it. We do notwant to create any disturbances to other communities," saidFr Jose Kottayil, secretary of the family commission.

"We discussed the matter at the KCBC meeting re-cently too. What we want to highlight is the development offamilies, not the extension of the community," said Fr Jose.

While the Catholics are taught to condemn artificialcontraception, the '70s and '80s saw considerable decreasein the number. Now the concept of big families is re-emerg-ing, feel church officials.

"The church has always stood for the protection andpromotion of life. And that is one reason why we honored bigfamilies. Nothing concrete has been decided about thepromotion, but we might hold some awareness programs,"said Fr Stephen Alathara, deputy secretary general of KCBC.

The recent National Food Security Bill passed inLok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have earned thegoodwill of millions of Indians. The popularity of

this measure augurs well the poorest citizens of ourown country, the UPA Government as it is only afterthoughtful and result-oriented approach that such apopular measure has taken effect even after a lots ofhue and cry among the different political parties at theparliament house as well as the Rajya Sabha . Thisrighteousness of the Bill has been further confirmed byour Hon’ble President Shri Pranab Mukherjee, givinghis assent to the Bill.

Irrespective of what critics might opine, UnionMinister for Food & Civil Supplies Mr K V Thomas andthe Cabinet can take legitimate pride from the fact thatunder the Bill, Government will empower communitiesto feed themselves, making food more accessible.That a minimum 5 kgs of food grains rice for Rs. 3 perkg, wheat for Rs. 2 per kg and pays. for Rs. 1 per kg willbe available at highly subsidized rates to the ruralpopulation, literally and figuratively means that half ofthe urban population will benefit. This is also an answerto the threat posed by malnutrition and hunger whichstares at our country’s growing population. The high-light of this piece of legislation is the fact that it meansthat apart from fulfillment of Congress Party’s 2009promise to the electorate, the enactment will plugloopholes in the present Public Distribution System.Not only that, India’s Food Security Bill could possiblybe one of the world’s largest food security programmes.

Mr. Johnson Therattil as its Consultative memberFCI from state of Maharashtra had an opportunity inone of the meeting held connected with Food SecurityBill together with Hon’ble Shri K.V Thomas at NewDelhi.

Kerala Church CompilingData On Big Families

Enactment of National Food SecurityBill in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha

Page 3: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

323 September 2013

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‘Thought for the week’A bump in the road is either an obstacle to be thought or anopportunity to be enjoyed…it is all up to you.

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Cover : Democracy Is Farther AwayThan Ever, For South Asia

(Article on pg.8)

Working For Social Change In India:Issues And Challenges

by Annie Fraser:You’re walking. You see a child. From only a single glance, you can tell

that the child is poor. You allow yourself a few moments to look at the child,to really observe her, and to feel for her. And you keep on walking.

No nation or society is without its problems, least of all India. We look atIndia’s problems, we think about India’s problems, and sometimes wecontemplate about the solutions. But the action, or lack thereof, stops there.We simply think. Thinking is good and necessary. Thinking, contemplatingand considering, these are all strong words, but they lead to immeasurableresults. India cannot afford immeasurable.

With support from the Leaders Accelerating Development Program,Alisha Shiledar, an engineering student from Belgaum, Karnataka, is anexample of one such girl who thought, contemplated, considered and then,acted. Alisha’s journey began with one little girl named Fatima. Fatima,around 8 years old, desperately wanted to go to school. Her family being poor,Fatima had to help her mother every day, who worked as a maid. Alisha wouldsee Fatima and seriously worried about the girl’s condition. Alisha says,“[Fatima] was innocent, but I could see her innocence diminishing”. Alishasoon understood that Fatima was not alone, and that there were many othergirls in Fatima’s situation, or even worse.

Alisha went to the government school near Fatima’s home in a Belgaumslum area and learned that most of the children were only attending school twoweeks every month, at the most. Alisha decided to take action. At first sheapproached the parents of the children and tried to explain to them theimportance of education, but she was greeted with opposition. Many of theparents shouted at her and slammed the door in her face.

Not wanting to give up, Alisha went to the school. On Saturdays andSundays for three months, Alisha volunteered at the school and devised funways to teach the children the basic skills that they were lacking, which alsohelped generate an interest for school within the children.

But Alisha knew that helping the children wasn’t enough. She realizedthat ultimately, she had to convince the parents to let their children come toschool. For this, the parents themselves needed to learn and appreciate thevalue of education. For one month, Alisha taught the parents, mostly the

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(Contd.. on p. 4)

Contentspg. 3 - Working For Social ...pg. 6 - Kolkata Christian Schools

Observed 'Black Day'pg. 5 - Views on Newspg. 6 - Most People Singing Na-

tional Anthempg. 7 - Reader's Viewspg 8 - Democracy Is Farther Away

Than Ever, For South Asiapg 10 - When to Keep a Child ...pg 15 - God Or Riches :

Lesson In Pragmatismpg 16 - World Wide Marriage En-

counter: ...pg 14 - Be A More Productive ...pg 19 - Inspirationpg 20 - Matrimonialspg 21 - Health Benefits of Curry

Leaves

Page 4: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

4 23 September 2013

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Kolkata: More than 1,000 Christian-runschools observed Sep 19 as a 'blackday' and remained shut in protestagainst police "inaction" during the van-dalism of a West Bengal school follow-ing the death of a minor girl student, thearchbishop of Calcutta said.

These schools comprised thosethe purview of the West Bengal Asso-ciation of Christian Schools (WBACS),the Association of Anglo-Indian schools(more than 700) and those schoolsaffiliated to the Indian Council for Sec-ondary Education (ICSE) board(amounting to near about 300).

"All these schools in English me-dium and vernacular medium in all thedistricts of West Bengal to observedSep 19 Thursday as 'Black Day' andremained closed," Archbishop ThomasD'Souza told media persons here.

"Schools will remained shut to pro-test against total police inaction to con-trol the unruly mob, to condemn therampant vandalism and hooliganism ina girls' school for hours on end causingtrauma to the head mistress and somany lady teachers," said D'Souza, whoofficiates as the president of WBACS.

Oindrila Das, a class 5 student ofChrist Church School in Dum Dum,died Sep 11, a week after she wasallegedly locked up inside the schooltoilet by some of her seniors who de-manded money from her.

A day later, the 131-year old insti-tution witnessed unprecedented

scenes as hundreds of people - mostlyparents - ransacked the institution,holed up the principal and other teach-ers inside a dark room and eventuallyforced principal Helen Sarkar to re-sign.

Condoling the death of the stu-dent, WBACS demanded the identifi-cation and immediate arrest of thoseresponsible for "the criminal act of sabo-tage, destruction of school property,including valuable documents and thetrauma caused by all".

The Association also demanded"immediate and unconditional release"

Kolkata Christian SchoolsObserved 'Black Day'

of Sarkar who was arrested Thursdaynight and subsequently remanded tothree days' police custody followingprotests by parents who blamed her forthe death of 10-year-old Oindrila.

"We demand the immediate andunconditional release of Helen Sarkar,the headmistress, who was made totender her resignation under pressure,"said D'Souza.

A court Monday granted bail to theschool principal who was booked un-der several non-bailable charges fol-lowing a police complaint by the deadgirl's family. (IANS)

mothers, basic literacy skills. In time, the parents started sending theirchildren back to school. Now, 50 children, including Fatima, are attendingschool regularly.

We might feel overwhelmed and powerless when India’s problems staredirectly into our eyes. We may just don’t know where to start. But Alisha’s storymakes us realize that we do, in fact, possess the power to do something. Thereality of the situation is that Alisha is just a normal girl. What sets her apart,though, is that she realized her potential to be part of the solution.

You’re walking. You’re thinking about Alisha and the impact she created.You’re thinking about that poor child that you saw earlier, and how you couldhelp her.

The time for thinking is up. It’s time to act.

(Contd.. from p. 3)

Working For Social Change In India: Issues And Challenges

Page 5: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

523 September 2013

What Appeasement?The opposition parties, particu-

larly the Hindutwa based ones, havebeen constantly blaming the govern-ment of appeasing the minority com-munity. This is their favourite punchline which they are not tired of parrotingat every little opportunity. But whatthey forget to realize is that while try-ing to please one particular commu-nity, assuming that it is true, the gov-ernment is actually taking some hard/ unpleasant decisions like increasingpetrol / diesel prices at regular inter-vals keeping in mind the internationalcrude oil prices and the weakeningRupee. These decisions, actually hitevery body very hard across the boardwhich also include the minorities. It isnot easy to take decisions which im-pact the common man especially soclose to general elections.

When you sit in the opposition,you have the freedom to pontificateand sermonize with zero risk and yet,you ingratiate yourselves to the publicand pretend to be the sole guardiansof public good. Once, and if, theycome to power, their punch line willchange to – ‘the UPA has made amess of things and we do not have amagic wand to remedy the situationovernight. It will take years [a subtlereminder that they are eligible for an-other term] to clear the mess’. Unfor-tunately, Congress and other partiesdo not have any shadow groups totake care of their hidden agenda.Whatever they want to do, even if it isseen as appeasement, they have todo themselves. On the other hand, theBJP has many organizations underthe umbrella - Sangh Parivar, to dothat like the VHP, Bajrang Dal et el.They are proxy groups which have,time and again, tried to bring thehindutwa issues to the forefront be-fore every election that matters. TheBJP does not directly do it but knowsfor itself that the positive fall-out ofsuch an agenda benefits the party in abig way. If it backfires, they can al-ways say ‘We have nothing to do withit’ – a classic case of eating the cakeand having it too. Other parties are notas lucky.

The BJP rightly says they do

not play the temple card. They makesomeone else to do the job. To put itin proper perspective, the BJP pre-fers to ‘out-source’ its hidden agendaand pretend to be ‘holier-than-thou’.That is a dangerous scenario.

*****

Na Mo Waiting ForPM-ship

Friday, the 13th proved to be luckyfor one of the most controversial yetpowerful leaders – Narendra Modi. Tothink that a man, who, the whole coun-try [so the BJP claims] wants as thenext PM, should create so much ofinner dissensions is surprising. Theysay a guardian [L.K.] has the right todiscipline. Yet, they brushed him asidein Goa and now in Delhi. Actually, it isan insult to say that he is a tall leader,mentor, guide, father figure and yetignore him. Advani is a wounded tigerand BJP knows it. They are mortallyscared of his moves from now on. Hecould make their lives uncomfortable.He did not bother about RSS in theJinnah case. Does Rajnath think he willtoe the line now when he has nothing tolose. He will give the BJP leadershipsleepless nights.

Advani, may lie low for the timebeing and wait for things to unfold. Heknows that there are quite few in theparty who are not actually happy withthe meteoric rise of Modi. SushmaSwaraj being one of them has her fu-ture ahead of her. Who knows, in theevent Modi failing to drum up the re-quired support, she could emerge asan alternative with Advaniji’s blessings?If she goes vocal she would incur thewrath of the Sangh Parivar and thatcould spoil her chances, if any. The 75plus group can afford to be vocal.

If selection of PM candidatetakes dozens of meetings per day,one wonders how much time will berequired to get other parties on boardto make up that magic figure of 273and that too for Modi. They may aswell begin the process now.

*****

WED-LEASEAn American lawyer, who spe-

cializes in pre-nup contracts, has asolution for ugly and expensive di-vorce proceedings. Since roughly 51%of marriages land in courts for di-vorce, this unique alternative hascaught the imagination of at least afew people. He says couples couldenter into a ‘wed-lease’ which meansa man can take a woman on lease andvice versa for a pre-determined pe-riod – somewhat on the lines of Leaveand Licence agreement prevalent inIndia. He goes on to say that bothparties will have the option to ‘renew’the agreement if it works to their ad-vantage.

This new concept is supposedto give, either party, unfettered free-dom to go his/her way once the leaseperiod expires. No legal hassles andno litigation. It sounds like you vacatethe premises which you have takenon say an 11 month lease. No love lost- literally. If this succeeds, a lot oflawyers will be out of business.

In the past, pre-nup agreementwas viewed as a panacea for alldivorce ills but the very fact that anew option had to be thought oftells a different story. Incidentally,the author of this innovative con-cept did not say what would be thestatus of children are born out ofthis unique arrangement. Neitherdoes he say as to what happens tothem once the lease expires. Dothey become virtual orphans in thisarrangement which only concen-trates on the two contracting par-ties? The author needs to come outwith a more comprehensive andviable alternative.

VIEWS on NEWSVIEWS on NEWSVIEWS on NEWSVIEWS on NEWSVIEWS on NEWS

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Page 6: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

6 23 September 2013

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A private business house inLucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India,had attempted to create a new

world record with over 100,000 of itsemployees singing the country's na-tional anthem together at one point inone uniform on Monday, 6th May 2013.

As a special and commemorativegift to the Nobel laureate RabindranathTagore, as 1,21,653 staff and workersof Sahara India Pariwar recited theNational Anthem 'Jana Gana Mana' inunison at a place, eclipsing the currentGuinness record of 42,813 personsheld by Pakistan. The occasion was toattempt a place in the Guinness WorldRecord. The patriotic fervour did notstop here, as more than one million

staff at 4,512 offices of Sahara alsosang the National Anthem together.

Chairman of the Sahara Group,Subrata Roy, while addressing the gath-ering at a stadium in Lucknow, ex-pressed his delight as his company'sattempt to create a new worldrecord.Roy says he espouses a phi-losophy of "collective materialism" andaccording to Sahara's website, thegroup shares its profits between staff,its internal fund and social develop-ment activities and has never declareda dividend.

Written in Sanskritised Bangla,'Jana Gana Mana' was first sung at theCalcutta session of the Indian NationalCongress on December 27, 1911. Itwas officially adopted by the Constitu-ent Assembly as the National Anthemof India on January 24, 1950.

There were hundreds of onlook-ers -- men, women and youngstersfrom various cities of the state - whohad congregated at RamabaiAmbedkar Rally Sthal, giving it a look ofmini-Kumbh, as they settled down totake their final position for the recordbreaking attempt. Another interestingaspect of the event was the use of air-borne camera to capture the images ofthe participants, and helping the third

Most People Singing National Anthem

party auditors in the counting and veri-fication process.

When asked what prompted themto undertake this activity, Subrata Roy,managing worker and chairman, Sa-hara India Pariwar, said, "When I firstcame to know that Pakistan is holdingthe current world record, I thought thatit should be India, which must have it.And with a dedicated team, we facedno challenges in accomplishing thisgoal."

Before the start of the event,Subrata Roy motivated the participants.During the event, the participants paidtributes to the martyrs, who laid downtheir lives for the country, by observinga two-minute silence. The male work-ers of Sahara were wearing a uniformof white shirt, black pants and blackties, while the women sported red saris(traditional wear).

Speaking to reporters before theevent started, adjudicator Pravin Patelof Guinness World Records said, "Forevery 50 members of the crowd, athird-party auditor is on the job to comeout with the accurate number of partici-pants." After the record was officiallyconfirmed, Patel said that it is one of themost disciplined performances he hasseen so far.

Page 7: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

723 September 2013

Justice At Last9 months is a pretty long and

agonizing wait for speedy justice froma fast-track court involving heinouscrimes committed in our country, suchas the brutal rape and murder of the 23year old woman in a Delhi bus by 5men, which the judge rightly describedas “brutal, grotesque, and the rarest ofrare cases.” Kudos to the Delhi police, investigating agencies and the Pros-ecution for putting up crucial and in-criminating evidence to nail the cul-prits. It is also a victory for the people ofIndia who rallied in support of the vic-tim in large numbers, demandingspeedy justice by the court, amend-ment of rape laws of the country, andstringent punishment to the guilty, evento the extent of the death sentence. It isnow hoped that the death sentenceawarded to the 4 persons will serve asa future deterrent and safeguard forwomen, given the alarming 300% in-crease in rape cases in recent months.

—A.F. Nazareth,Alto Porvorim

Empty Promises

The Congress may be a seculargovernment, but how good is the party?The Christians and the Muslims, whohave been voting for the Congress sincethe time of Independence should realisethis. Under the Congress the countrybecame weak since the last 67 years. Itis a government full of corruption, scan-dals and scams, unlike the BJP and theShiv Sena. In 2014, The Catholic Churchshould also advice its parishioners to

vote for the rightlya in the coming 2014elections. According to me, the BJPand the Shiv Sena are also good. Some parties made false promisesbefore elections and did not fulfil themonce they won and came into power. Alot of promises before elections, butthey were all empty --- not one of theirpromises has been fulfilled so far. In-stead, things have become worse.Manmohan Singh should retire.

—Jubel D’Cruz, Dombivili

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New Vatican HeadSays Priestly

Celibacy Is "OpenTo Discussion"

Venezuela: Archbishop PietroParolin, the new Secretary of State ofthe Vatican, made some surprisinglyfrank remarks about priestly celibacythat may indicate a new openness to"the democratic spirit of the times."Pope Francis' plans to reform theVatican and "shake up the church"have received a lot of attention, buthe has not yet publicly addressedthe issue of mandatory celibacy forpriests.

Parolin said in an interview withVenezuelan newspaper El Universalthat the tradition of priestly celibacyis not dogma, or a law of divineorigin, and is therefore open to dis-cussion. He went on to note thatwhile the church is not a democraticinstitution, it needs to "reflect thedemocratic spirit of the times andadopt a collegial way of governing."

While previous popes have de-clared some topics closed off fromdiscussion, Parolin's remarks maybe indicative of the possibility of agreater conversation about an an-cient Church tradition.

Though it's not clear exactlywhen celibacy became mandatoryfor priests, the first written mandatefor chastity dates back to 304 C.E.,when Canon 33 of the Council ofElvira stated that all "bishops, pres-byters, and deacons and all otherclerics" should "abstain completelyfrom their wives and not to havechildren." A definitive ruling washanded down at the Second LateranCouncil of 1139, which ruled thatpriests were forbidden to marry.

Parolin said, "it is possible todiscuss and reflect on these topicsthat are not defined faith, and con-sider some modifications, but alwaysin the service of unity and accordingto God’s will.”

Source: Huffington Post Religion

Terms used in Business•. Income Tax - A tax paid by

individuals to the government,the amount of which is depen-dent on how much a person earnsfrom their salary and/or othersources of income.

•. Inflation - Normally referring tothe economy of a country. Infla-tion is the gradual increase in theprice of goods and/or services,and the consequential devaluingof the national currency.

•. Labour Law - Also know asEmployment Law. Legislationwhich defines the legal rights andobligations of employees in theworkplace.

•. Market - The commercial activityof buying and selling goods andservices. The customers who buygoods and services.

•. Net Profit Margin - Usually ex-pressed as a percentage, in busi-ness, the money earned aftercosts, expenses, taxes, etc. havebeen deducted.

Page 8: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

8 23 September 2013

As we mark the UN InternationalDay of Democracy on September 15, the good news is that

South Asia’s colonial past is fast dim-ming as a memory. More than 80 per-cent of the population was born afterthe British pulled out of India in 1947.

The bad news is that feudalism,hunger and increasing marginalizationof poor, ethnic and indigenous groups,along with the targeting of religiousgroups, has blurred the vision of de-mocracy that was shared by the eightnations who constitute the South AsianAssociation of Regional Cooperation(SAARC): Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lankaand the recently admitted Afghanistan.

In this first quarter of the 21stc e n t u r y ,SAARC na-tions scrapethe bottom ofalmost everyhuman de-ve lopmentindex, keep-ing companywith the leastfortunate of Africa and Oceania.

Many things go to make a whole-some democracy and the West is notalways a good example. Race is still anissue in the US, while migrants and agrowing Islamic population rouse un-democratic passions in the UK, France,Germany and Norway.

Democracy is normally judged bythe quality of freedom of belief, regularelections and political stability. Otherimportant indicators are civil controlover the military and the police, a freeand vigorous press and judiciary, anda genuine devolution of power andresources to the most remote areasand people.

Each of the South Asian nationshas taken its own highly disparate pathto democracy in these 65 years or so.The smaller ones have had the most

turbulent history. But the big ones havenot been without their own travails.

Afghanistan perhaps presents theworst case scenario, with daily deathsat the hands of the Taliban, tribal chief-tains engaged in multiple civil wars,subjugation of women’s rights and sus-tained violence against religious mi-norities. Not that other small countriessuch as the Maldives, Nepal, Bhutanand Sri Lanka can lay claim to vibrantdemocracies and happy people.

The people of the Maldives en-dure dictatorships and coups. Nepal, aformer monarchy, has not yet learnt therudiments of democracy.

Sri Lanka’s government, eggedon by the Buddhist hierarchy, gloatsover the vanquished Tamils and prac-tices brutal intolerance of civil society

and human rights defenders. Bhutanterrorizes ethnic and religious minori-ties behind an official policy of preserv-ing the tiny nation’s culture.

But it is in the three large countriesof Bangladesh, Pakistan and India thatone sees how democracy gets per-verted.

Of course, the three were parti-tioned from British India in a mostbloody, two-step process. The firstpartition of the subcontinent in 1947saw the massacre of an estimated500,000 Hindus in what is now Paki-stan, and an equal number of Muslimsin North India. Ten million fled theirhomes.

Then in 1971, Bangladesh sepa-rated from a militarized Pakistan in anequally macabre manner.

Democracy Is Farther AwayThan Ever, For South Asia

John Dayal

Security remains a prominent issue in most countries in the region.Pakistan has often been called the world's most dangerous place(Economist), with numerous homegrown and foreign militant groupsensconced in its tribal areas along the Afghan border. Althoughelections were hailed as a triumph of democracy after eight years ofmilitary rule, the parties returning to power earned venal reputationsduring previous stints in power. And since then, serious politicaldifferences have divided the main parties in the coalition. Lisa Curtisof the Heritage Foundation believes the political maneuvering inIslamabad is distracting the Pakistani government from dealing withgrowing militancy in the tribal areas.

India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh each have long historiesof multiparty electoral democracy; however, a few families havedominated political life in all of them. Boston Globe columnist H. D.S. Greenway writes that political parties in the region "often come tobe seen as reflecting the will of one powerful personality whosesuccessors view the party as their personal property."

Relations between South Asia's democracies also remain strained.India, the largest country in the region and its longest functioningdemocracy, has ethnic populations that overlap with most of itsneighbors. This has led to disputes over borders, frustrations overillegal immigration, and allegations of fueling terrorism in eachother's countries.

Page 9: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

923 September 2013

Memories of their traumatic birthscontinue to haunt the destiny of thesenations and mar the nature of theirdemocracies.

Though it just marked its first everdemocratically elected governmentcompleting its full five-year term in of-fice, Pakistan is never more than atrigger away from military rule. Themilitary remains the real ruler, evenwhen the president and prime ministerare elected civilians. Its political fragil-ity and nuclear arsenal pose a threat toregional and perhaps even world secu-rity and peace.

In Bangladesh, the party and gov-ernment of Sheikh Hasina remain some-what democratic. But it needs be re-membered that the two other contend-ing political entities bank heavily on analliance between the military and Is-lamic groups. Christians, Hindus andBuddhist minorities cower in fear, withalmost daily reports of coercion, ab-duction and murder.

India, on one level, is a democ-racy success story. Elections have beenregular, there have been no coups andthe military is kept firmly under control.Over the years, some sort of a security

net has been created for the poorthrough cash transfers, partial employ-ment guarantees and the recently en-acted Right to Food. The press is free,even if some do complain that televi-sion and print media champion thecause of the corporate sector whichowns them, rather than the poor.

But there are serious systemicaberrations. In 1975, Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi imposed an internalemergency after she lost a court caseagainst her election to parliament. Last-ing 22 months, it was a grim reminderthat democracies remain fragile andhave to be nurtured. The current thrustfor power by the Bharatiya Janata Partyhas roused fears of massive erosion indemocratic values once again, impact-ing on Muslims, Christians and tribals ifits leader, Narendra Modi, becomesprime minister.

Many would, however, argue thatMr. Modi can hardly add to the plethoraof laws and governance practices thathave impacted on freedom of faith andthe situation of minorities.

Religion remains a major fault linein India. In the past year, there havebeen over 100 acts of violence by Hindu

groups against Muslims in UttarPradesh alone. Over the last 60 years,there have been more than 20,000 suchacts of violence against Muslims. Vio-lence against Christians by Hindu na-tionalists has been going on for about20 years now, with the police oftenpassive spectators.

The anti-Christian violence inmany areas is almost directly traced tothe existence of anti-conversion laws,and a belief even in the police thatevangelization is illegal.

For the Muslims, the crisis is theirmicroscopic presence in police, bu-reaucracy, judiciary and legislaturesdespite an almost 15 percent presencein the population.

The feeling among these commu-nities is one of being targeted, of beingdenied participation in governance, ofnot being real beneficiaries of the fruitsof development. It poses serious ques-tions to a country that boasts of beinga socialist and secular democracy.

John Dayal is the general secretary ofthe All India Christian Council and amember of the Indian government’sNational Integration Council.

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10 23 September 2013

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Although it may seem obvious,children should not go to schoolwhen they're contagious to oth-

ers, when they have a fever, or whenthey're too sick to learn. Childhoodillnesses are spread easily when chil-dren are in close contact in the schoolsetting.

How do you know if your child is conta-gious? Colds are a bit tricky, since yourchild can transmit it to others for one ortwo days before his symptoms appear,and up to four or five days after firstbeing exposed to the virus. Accordingto the National Institutes of Health (NIH),colds are most contagious two to fourdays after original exposure (whetheror not symptoms have developed),when there is plenty of the virus presentin nasal secretions. The contagiousperiod for a cold only lasts about threeto four days into the illness. Similarly,people infected with the flu are conta-gious from a day before they feel sickuntil their symptoms have resolved.For children, the contagious period forthe flu can last up to two weeks afterthey start feeling sick, even if they startfeeling better before that.

Most schools will send a child home ifthey think he or she is showing symp-toms of the following conditions:

Fever Chicken pox Strep throat Vomiting and/or diarrhea

Skin infections Eye infections Parasitic infections such as lice orscabies

A child with a runny nose or persistentcough, on the other hand, doesn't nec-essarily pose a health threat to otherstudents, particularly if he's careful towash his hands frequently. Childrenrecovering from a cold should be ableto go to school, as long as they'refeeling okay. Note that the FDA dis-courages the use of cold and coughremedies in school-age children, since

they are only 6% effective at relievingsymptoms.

Experts agree that the best method ofinfection control is simply washing thehands with ordinary soap and water.Additionally, they recommend thatschools institute the following infec-tion-control measures: faucets that turnon automatically, bathroom doors thatopen when you approach them, andwall-mounted dispensers of hand sani-tizer.

You can help your kids stay healthy byteaching them these rules:

Don't share food. Don't share drinks. Don't share clothing. Throw away used tissues. Wash hands frequently with soapand water.

When to Keep a Child at Home

Page 11: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

1123 September 2013 1123 September 2013

‘Monthi Fest’ Celebrations In Mumbai

Vasai : Konkani Welfare Association

Dahisar : St. Louis Church

Bhayandar : Our Lady of Nazareth

Logon To Our New Website

www.royalchristianfamily.comChristian Matrimonial Web Portal

Chakala : Holy Family Church

Andheri East: Sacred Heart Church

Bandra : St. Theresa's Church

Amboli : Maharashtra Konkan Association

Page 12: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

12 23 September 201312 23 September 2013

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1323 September 2013 1323 September 2013

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14 23 September 201314 23 September 2013

The early Sunday morning air (15 Sep-tember) had the fragrance of freshflowers circling the parish church ofSt. Mary’s, Calcutta. The bell rang toannounce the feast day of the parishdedicated to the Virgin Mary. Soon therush to complete the last minute prepa-rations; after all, the Archbishop wasto arrive for the Trilingual Mass at 9a.m. It would be a concelebrated high

Mass.The Catholic spirit of love showed

itself in the unlikeliest of places. Aninfirm lady was carried up to the firstfloor for the Mass. A gentleman told hiswife on the steps of the church as theywaited for the Bishop’s arrival: “Let’shave a simple breakfast when we gohome.” He then turned around and puta fifty-rupee note in the hand of a des-

St. Mary’s Parish Feast DayWas Breathtaking

titute woman with a child.It was a sentiment the catholic

parish could endorse. Crowds of pa-rishioners filled the pews. The churchlooked beautiful with colors adorningthe altar and with women and girlsturning out in multicolored saries,dresses, jeans and kurties along thepolished pews, while the men worestrong sprays of musk and deodor-ant. Surprisingly, the catholic com-munities were very noticed in theirrespective places – all prepared tojoin in the Bengali, Hindi and Englishhymns.

The entrance hymn was followedby the welcome address given byFather John Mohandas, the parishpriest. The Archbishop, ThomasD’Souza spoke a few words in his softand serene voice. He was happy, hesaid, to be at the parish Feast Day.(See pictures).

Symbolic offerings were givento the archbishop from the variousparish groups: the altar-servers, theparish council, the catholic women,the Sunday-school children, the S.V.Pand the C.A.B. among others. It was awelcome surprise when the first par-ish newsletter was released by theBishop.

At the end of the High Mass aspecial gift on behalf of the parish waspresented to His Grace by MelvynBrown, founder of the AmbassadorsFor Jesus.

This year’s parish Feast Day wasan awesome gesture of pastoral spiri-tuality.

‘Monthi Fest’ Celebrations In Mumbai

Vasai West Barampur : St. Gonsalves Gracsia church

Mr. Melvyn Brown and Archbishop, Thomas D’Souza

Thanksgiving

I have won the litigationof our property, thanks toOur Lady of Vailankani forthe favours

—A Devotee

Page 15: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

1523 September 2013

In our Sunday’s liturgy (22 Sept) we aretold, “ No one can serve two masters;for either he will hate the one and lovethe other, or he will be devoted to theone and despise the other. You cannotserve God and mammon.” (Matthew6:24).

This generation has for decades con-fronted a technological revolution in itsfast- paced progress, effecting finance,medicine, culture and religious com-fort in many ways. Distribution of wealthand the accumulation of it have seendark patches to the laws of justice,fairness of choices, and the privilegesof equality and care of souls. The cut-ting edge to all this may implode, orteach us a lesson in prag-matism.

This should remind us ofthe effectiveness of goodparenting which is obviousand common knowledge inunderstanding precepts,and finally in makingchoices: God or riches?

In the Book of Amos, the prophet, con-demned the injustice and exploitationof the poor. Fibres of the Mystical Bodyweaves a wealth of spiritual life forcharity, sympathy and human respect.Amos was right, we should not ma-nipulate the needy or make undue useof them. The psalmist in his turn, asksus to Praise the Lord “ who raises thepoor from the dust, and lifts the needyfrom the ash heap…” (Pa.113). Be pooror serve God?

The vision of wealth blazed a trail ofworship for money. The desire to reachgoals in rich possessions, pride in selfand a luxury life raced into every homeand heart. The individual quest fordreams beyond the bounds of his so-cial and economic conditions grew outof all proportions in the new millen-nium. Under this canopy of wantingownership, custody, property and con-

trol, the evil chant “Be rich and richer”was bearded in silence, as crime turneda deaf ear wrapped in its make-believeworld of the mundane. Justice was nolonger a victory to many, assets andholdings became an absolute must, forpeople. It grows today, possessed by a

demented demon.

A young seminarian whohad been orphaned earlywas in his second year ofpriestly training to launchhis life in the service ofChrist. Throughout themonths of learning valuesof the Catholic Church, the

expectations and the mission – thefledgling youth had been in a state ofmental and spiritual conflict. His spiri-tual guide and confessor at the semi-nary came to realize that the scholasticwas in need of closure. But, on whatissue?

A few weeks passed and the youngman was willing to talk about his con-tention. “ I was an orphan and had nofamily experience, not of marriage,children, employment, domestic re-sponsibility, fatherhood…” he blurted,adding, “at the same time I want toserve God, His Church and the fellow-ship.”

This was an opportunity and a mile-stone for the seminarian to resolve hisburning desires. The answer would notbe an easy one. It was now, out in theopen. It was like having been for con-fession and coming away with relief.

His sympathetic spiritual mentor had aquery. In a cordial manner he said,“now that your honesty to discover thetruth has purified your soul for a resolu-tion, remember the words in the gospelof Matthew: you cannot serve bothGod and mammon”

Pray. Reflect. Decide.

Problems are never devoid of solu-tions. The heart has its reasons. Thespirit, inspires and supports with itsfirmness and resolve. The scholasticsreligious studies made him flexible andpragmatic. His mentor’s solicitous andearnest appeal to make a choice be-tween service in the Lord’s vineyard ora life in the concrete jungle of the laityin a pastoral network and of marriage,children and domestic strife. Whatwould it be?

Three months later the young man hadmade a decision. He left the seminary,went out into the world, secured em-ployment, married, and had two chil-dren. The years passed and the chil-dren grew up, went abroad and gotsettled.

Little needs to be said of thatdecision….It took courage for the youthto over-come frustration and indeci-sion to eventually pave his path forfulfillment. For the remaining years ofhis life he became a strong and faithfulmember of his parish church. His self-apostolate became an advantage tohis parish ministry. He visited the sick,those in prisons and bravely spreadthe Word of God.

In a remarkable way the choices wemake in life when good, become a giftfrom the Lord; when bad, lives becomebrutally truncated. Jesus said, “ Hewho is faithful in a very little is faithfulalso in much ; and he who is dishonestin a very little is dishonest also in much.“ (St. Luke 16: 1-13).

God Or Riches :

Lesson In Pragmatism

Melvyn Brown

Page 16: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

16 23 September 2013

World Wide Marriage Encounter:Fathers in Love, Mothers in Love, Families in Love

Dick and Patricia Alexandro came toIndia 40 years ago to share their couplelove and transforming experience ofthe WWME weekend. They sold every-thing they owned in the US and cameover to India listening to the voice ofGod as did Abraham in the past. Whatan adventurous journey of faith theyembarked upon beckoning to the callof Jesus to share his unconditional loveand covenantal relationship withcouples, priests and religious. Fr. Pe-ter writes “Dick and Pat spent 10 monthshere and I think their lives were trulyblessed (even with the cross) becauseof their generosity towards God. Theyleft on Valentine’s Day Feb10th 1973because they wanted to give God aValentine gift of their coupleness.” Howcan we ever thank God for the greatand daring step taken by Dick andPatricia, supported by the founder Fa-ther WWME India, Fr. Peter D’Souza?On this occasion we salute them andplace on record our deep indebted-ness for what they are to all of us and forwhat they have done to light the lamp ofWWME India burning so brightly tilltoday. “We are only channels of Hislove and presence to each other everyday through the way we communicateHis love and concern” says Fr. PeterD’souza.

It is befitting that the Worldwide Mar-riage Encounter – India, is holding aNational Convention to celebrate 40Years of WWME in India from October13-16, 2013. The event would be con-ducted at Sarvodaya, St Pius X CollegeCampus, Goregaon, Mumbai. Thetheme is ‘Go, Grow, Glow, - Faith andLove in Action’. His Eminence CardinalOswald Gracias will inaugurate theConvention. The overwhelming re-sponse from encountered couples,Priests and Religious to be part of thegreat event is indeed heartwarmingand this would provide much neededimpetus to once again to cast out intothe deep. We are deeply indebted toour NET, Errol, Madhulika and Fr.

Melvyn for their dynamic and visionaryleadership which made all of us to bepart of this great event and our specialthanks to ME Mumbai for translatingthe vision into reality. I do remember somany of our Team Couples and Priestswho have generously contributed theirlove, time, talents and treasure withoutcounting the cost to make WWME whatit is today. The same legacy is contin-

ued by all our team members all overthe country. I have been always in-spired by the team couples all theseyears as they have been leading WWMEthrough their relationship and theCatholic Church is lucky to have suchdedicated lay leaders who have showntheir love for the church in action. Theencountered Couples, Priests and Re-ligious have kept the weekend experi-ence growing and glowing through theirdialoging way of life and widening thecircle of influence by recruiting manymore couples and Priests to experi-ence the weekend.

We live in a world of great scientific andtechnological advancement. We canspeak to the person on the moon eas-ily, but we find it difficult to speak to theperson under the same roof. We be-come strangers in the middle of acrowd. We have witnessed today asteady increase in divorce, brokenmarriages, broken relationships, bro-ken dreams resulting in broken fami-lies, wounded humanity and orphanedchildren. Pope Francis said that Chris-tians should be messengers of hopeand joy in today’s world. And that iswhat marriage encounter weekendexperience can offer to the world. Weneed to focus on the domestic Church,couple relationship, commitment inPriesthood and Religious life- in goodtimes and bad, in sickness and in health,in prosperity and in adversity, until deathdo us part.

Pope John Paul II said, ‘I place much ofmy hope for the future in MarriageEncounter.’ Later he wrote, “Love thenis not a utopia: it is given to mankind asa task to be carried out with the help ofdivine grace. It is entrusted to man andwoman, in the sacrament of matrimony,as the basic principle of their ‘duty,’and it becomes the foundation of theirmutual responsibility: first as spouses,then as father and mother. In the cel-ebration of the sacrament, the spousesgive and receive each other, declaringtheir willingness to welcome children

Dr. Fr. Davis George,Former NET and AET, WWME.

Vision:“Love one another as I have lovedyou.” – It is indeed a challengeand opportunity.

Mission:Worldwide Marriage Encounter’sMission of renewal in the churchand change in the world is to as-sist couples and priests to livefully intimate and responsible re-lationships by providing them witha Catholic “experience” and on-going community support for sucha lifestyle.

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and to educate them. On this hingeshuman civilization, which cannot bedefined as anything other than a ‘civili-zation of love’.” – Letter to Families, no.15

Pope Benedict XVI speaking at an au-dience with Worldwide Marriage En-counter leaders from across the worldmade strong comments in support ofthe movement. “Marriage Encounter,yes! You are doing such important workin our church, especially in this worldwe live in,” Pope Benedict said as hespoke with David & Bronny Lea and Fr.John Rate, Worldwide Marriage En-counter International CoordinatingTeam. The pope went on to say, “I willpray for you and your movement.”

Over 75,000 people experienced thelife-giving Weekends in almost 90 coun-tries around the world. This year World-wide Marriage Encounter is celebrat-ing 40 years of ministry in India andEurope. It is indeed a matter of greatpride that WWME is having weekendsin China and Russia. Our IET Tony &Cathy and Fr. Emile, expressed thehope that Worldwide Marriage Encoun-ter would reach even more countries inthe years ahead. “The need tostrengthen marriage and familythroughout the world has never beengreater,” they stated.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter hasbeen offering weekend experiencesfor over 43years and is considered theoriginal faith-based marriage enrich-ment program. The programs are con-tinually updated to keep abreast ofchanges in society, and WWME nowoffers evening and half-day programsthat are presented at parishes and otherchurch facilities. The weekend pro-gram, traditionally presented as anovernight experience at a hotel or re-treat center, can also be presented atthe parish where the couples return totheir homes in the evenings. WWMEhas a presence in over 90 countries,which makes it the largest pro-mar-riage movement in the world. Todaythe WWME programs are presented inLocal languages all over the world.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter offersmarried couples the opportunity to

spend time together away from thebusyness of the world to focus on eachother. Fathers in love, Mothers in love,families in love. It offers tools for build-ing and maintaining a strong, Christianmarriage in today’s world. It also offerssimilar skills of building and maintain-ing a strong Priesthood and ReligiousLife.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter week-ends start on a Friday evening and endon Sunday afternoon. Participants hearpresentations by a couple and a priestand later write their thoughts and feel-ings to share in the privacy of theirroom. There is no group discussion.Weekends are held in various loca-tions, including hotels and retreat cen-ters. Worldwide Marriage Encounter isa non-profit organization and all dona-tions from the weekend are used tocontinue offering additional weekendsthroughout the country and the world.

Married couples, who want to learnmore about making their “good mar-riages, better” can find WorldwideMarriage Encounter weekends that arepresented all over the world. Marriageencounter weekend can make a goodmarriage into a great marriage and agood Priesthood into a great Priest-hood. Always two sacraments on ajourney to build up a better world basedon better relationships to build a civili-zation of love. This is the only way-Love, the way shown by Jesus.

Let us revisit Worldwide Marriage En-counter Vision & Mission Statementsand take proactive steps to translatethem into reality of our relationships.

Vision: “Love one another as I haveloved you.” – It is indeed a challengeand opportunity.

Mission: Worldwide MarriageEncounter’s Mission of renewal in thechurch and change in the world is toassist couples and priests to live fullyintimate and responsible relationshipsby providing them with a Catholic “ex-perience” and ongoing communitysupport for such a lifestyle.

ThanksgivingThanksgivingThanksgivingThanksgivingThanksgiving

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus beadored, loved, glorified & praisedthroughout the world now and for-ever. Sacred Heart of Jesus, havemercy on us. Sacred Heart of Jesus,Thy kingdom come. St. Jude workerof miracles pray for us. St. Judehelper of the hopeless pray for us.Amen, Say this prayer nine times a dayfor nine days.

— Ross Family, Bandra

Thanks to Sacred Heart of Jesus& St. Jude for the favours granted

Business Termsand Meanings

•. Economic Union - Also know asa Common Market. An agreementbetween a group of countrieswhich allows the free flow ofgoods, services, labour, etc., be-tween the member countries andusually has a common currency.

•. Factory price - The price chargedfor goods direct from the factory,not including transport costs, etc.Factory Price is often quoted byretailers or in advertisements toshow that products are for sale ata very low price.

•. Fat cat - A wealthy person livingoff investments or dividends, or achief executive of a large com-pany who is on a very large sal-ary, pension plan, etc.

•. Gatekeeper - A person in anorganisation who controls accessto the people in the organisation,and/or controls access to infor-mation or goods, or even a mar-ket.

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18 23 September 2013

1. Pick a fixed day every two weeksor every month and protect it.

Frequent confession brings manygraces to the sinner and creates a

greater desire to grow in virtue.2. Daily examination of conscience

helps to remember sins in a moresystematic way. Make a list of all thesins you have committed.

3. See this Sacrament through theperspective of friendship with JesusChrist; even the small sins you havecommitted can affect the quality ofthis friendship.

4. Be attentive to the counsel of thepriest. The Holy Spirit is usually veryactive in this Sacrament.

5. Spend a little time in prayer afteryour confession to make a concreteresolution to improve yourself.

6. Before making your confession,examine your conscience thor-oughly.

7. Be sincerely sorry for all the sins youhave committed.

8. Confess your sins only to a priest. Donot confess them to a lay person.

9. Resolve to amend your life.10. After your confession, do the pen-

ance the priest assigns you.—Jubel D'Cruz, Dombivili

Productivity is something whichdecides the future of the employee inan office. There are umpteen numbersof little things which minimize yourproductivity. They really can steal yourtime without making you realize whatthey do. If you carefully observe youractivities in office, you can find out a setof activities which steal your time on alarge scale. Read on to know how to bemore productive at work.

•. Turn off the instant messenger pro-grams, mobile phones and socialnetworking sites when you workwith a deadline. Don't try to answercalls while you work on a hecticwork schedule.

•. Try to limit the distractions and inter-ruption which stop the flow of yourwork. If you get disturbed by peoplechatting, tell them politely to talk ina low voice. You shouldn't get intoan argument with them. It wouldwaste more of your time and en-ergy.

•. Plan and execute a smart workingpattern to start and complete thegiven task in a certain time. You canincrease the speed of your workgradually and can maximize theamount of your work and can evenmake the schedule tight.

•. Write your presentation points forbeing very brief and effective in

Be A MoreProductive Employee

conferences and always try to staywithin the allotted time. You shouldalways be punctual and prepared.Learn your points thoroughly formaking the right impact in the con-ference.

•. You should take little breaks from thework. Working continuously bringsmonotory and adversely affects pro-ductivity.

Short breaks help you to remainfocused. A short walk or a chat with afriend in your office will minimize thestress and you will be working withmore energy after that.

Fear of FailureWhen attempting somethingfor the first time, the fear offailure can hold us back. How-ever, if we have all the pre-requisite knowledge, it mightbe a good idea to just go for it.And be open to making a mis-take. For it is through actionand feedback that we canlearn. And it is by learningthat we can get better.

How To Make aGood Confession

Confession is a sacrament instituted byJesus Christ in His love and mercy tooffer sinners forgiveness for offensescommitted against God. Many Catholicsavoid the Sacrament of Reconciliationsimply because we don't remember howto confess our sins. We simply don'tknow what to say, and are too embar-rassed to ask.

Page 19: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

1923 September 2013

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Winning is a word that is excitingto hear and great to be associatedwith but only a few people ever tasteit. Every person want to be associatedwith a winner.

People like stars are celebratedin society because they have emerged'winners' in there respective field.Loosers are shuned and most timesloosing is associated with shame. nowonder most people when they loosethey cant withold tears.

There isnt any big differencetherefor between a winner and alooser. Lets look at two football teams.They all have equal number of play-ers, had the same period in which toprepare, have same chances of scor-ing but only one team will be crowned.

This shows that life displays thesame opportunity to a winner as itdoes to a looser. The bible says inproverbs that the poor and the richhave one thing in common: God. thismeans God equips every person with'equipment' for making it in your lifeand how far you will go in bring thispotential out to be a victor in life isentirely dependant on you.Look at aclassroom set up.

The same teacher delivers thetopic to all students. they have thesame books to study, same durationin which to write the exam and yetthey score different marks. Some settlefor 40,50 and other get 90,100percent.The difference is with the waythe minds are employed to yield.

Everyone sitted here is a poten-tial winner, potential millionare, po-tential successful bussinessman, po-tential proffessor.

The solution is in your handsand not in any one else's. Your back-ground is not an issue. hey! Checkout some of the most successfulbussiness giants in the world, theydont have a formal educational back-ground and yet they feed graduates.This leaves you and me with an inter-esting thought.

Educational qualification doesntequal to success. We have people withdegrees and yet they are not success-ful. What counts is how wide you en-gage your mental faculties to advan-tage you in your pursuit of life.

So the answer you have beenlooking for is not far fetched. its rightabove your neck. You have what ittakes to make a difference in your life,family and country. Once you begin tothink beyond your current level, beginto see beyond your nose then you willbecome a force to reckon with.

Someone said 'opportunity is usu-ally missed by most people because itcomes dressed in an overose and lookslike work'. Opportunities are lying idleevery where waiting for men to openthere eyes, engage their minds andexplore them. Dont wait for a 100mil-lion loan to get you started in bussiness,you can start where you are and withwhat you have. Starting small is notwrong but staying small is not good.Some people started small and todayown airlines, others also started smalland today they are even smaller.

You have ideas in your head thatare begging to be released and ex-plored. You have potential inside youthat is wailing to be unveiled to thisgeneration.

God bless you and SEE YOU ATTHE TOP.

Exploring The Potential Inside You

Santa: I'm trying to become a veg-etarian like Bengali's

Banta: What all do you eat?Santa: Right now, I'm only eating

seafood, like prawn, lobster anddrowned chicken!

***

A 54 year old woman had a heartattack and was taken to the hospi-tal. While on the operating table shehad a near death experience. See-ing God she asked, "Is my time up?"God said, "No, you have another 34years to live."Upon recovery, the woman decidedto stay in the hospital and have aface-lift and tummy tuck. She evenchanged her hair colour. Finally shewas released from the hospital.While crossing the road on her wayhome, she was killed by a truck.Arriving in front of God, she asked,"You said I had another 34 years tolive. Why didn't you save me fromthe truck?"God replied. "I couldn't recogniseyou!"

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in Ship. Seeks a Goan girl below 32years. Contact email :[email protected] OR26671289 / 9969488673(Regd. No.5949)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Bachelor, age 29 years, Ht.5’ 9”, Wt. 72 kgs, Wheatish Complex-ion, Edn.B.Com., MBA, LLB., workingwith I.T. Co., in HR Legal. Loving, car-ing, sober with good manners seekssuitable match. Mangalorean, simpleworking in Mumbai / Navi Mumbai.Contact : 9820545508 OR email :[email protected] (Regd.No. 5943)BANGALORE : Mangalorean Catho-lic parents settled in Bangalore, seekalliance for son 31/5’8”, slim, B.E.Bangalore, double Masters USA,working in USA, from God fearing,good looking, slim, MangaloreanCatholic spinster, preferably workingin USA, age below 29. Contact email :[email protected] Or Mob.:9845417838. (Regd. No. 5940)GOA : Goan Roman Catholic Bach-elor, aged 29 years, Ht. 5’ 9”, Wt. 73kgs, Fair Complexion, Edn.B.B.A.,working as a HR. Executive, workingin Kuwait. Contact email :g r e t a f e r n @ g m a i l . c o m . O R9890656294 (Regd. No. 5936)MUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicBachelor, aged 38 years, Ht. 5’ 5”, Wt.80 kgs, Wheatish Complexion, Edn.MBA, Having own Business. Contactemail : [email protected] OR28928350 (Regd. No. 5931)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Bachelor, aged 33 years, Ht.5’ 8”, Wt. 60 kgs, Fair Complexion,Edn. Diploma in Hotel Manage-ment, working on the ship. Contactemail : marshall-

[email protected] OR9769775073 / 9819442577. (Regd.No. 5928)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Bachelor, aged 29 years, Ht.5’ 5”, Wt. 64 kgs, Wheatish Complex-ion, Edn. MBA., M.Com., working asa Sr. Associate. Contact email :[email protected] OR9833687379 (Regd. No. 5924)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Bachelor, aged 32 years, Ht.183 cms, Wt. 80 kgs, Fair Complex-ion, Edn. B. Com., work-ing as a Manager in MNC. Seeks agraduate working Mangalore Girl.Contact email :[email protected] OR9967873644 (Regd. No. 5922)MUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicBachelor, aged 29 years, Ht. 5’ 9”, Wt.75 kgs, Wheatish Complexion, Edn.B.Sc., working as a Manager. Contactemail : [email protected] OR9850044561 (Regd. No. 5921)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Bachelor, aged 33 years, Ht.6’, fair complexion, Edn. B.Com.,working as a Sr. Officer. Seeks a goodcatholic family background girl. Con-tact Email :[email protected] OR9819420120 (Regd. No. 5920)DUBAI : Mangalorean RC Divorcee,aged 42 years Ht. 5’11”, Wt. 82 kgs,Fair Complexion, Edn. B.E. (Mech.),Working as an Engineer.Seeks a suitable match. Contact email: [email protected] OR7259846735 (Regd. No. 5482)

Page 21: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

2123 September 2013

MATRIMONIALSMUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicSpinster, aged 25 years, Ht. 156 cms.,Wt. 56 kgs, Fair Complexion, beauti-ful, Edn. T.Y.B.A., working a Cabin-Crew. (Regd. No. 5967)DUBAI : Goan Roman Catholic Spin-ster, aged 29 years, Ht. 5’ 1”, Wt. 55kgs, Wheatish Complexion, Edn. MA.,HR, working in Dubai well settled.Seeks a suitable match. Contact email: [email protected] OR9822487408 / 0832-2444390 (Regd.No. 5966)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Spinster, aged 25 years, Ht.5’ 2”, Wt. 45 kgs, Fair Complexion,Edn. B.Com., working for TravelAgency. Seeks a tall, graduateMangalorean boy below 29 years.Contact email :[email protected] OR9773669764 (Red. No. 5965)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic Divorcee, aged 43 years, Ht.5’, Wt. 42 kgs, Wheatsih Complexion,Edn. B.Com., working as a Office As-sistant. Seeks a suitable match. Con-tact : 25948048 (Regd. No. 5899)MUMBAI : Mangalorean JacobiteSyrian Catholic Spinster, aged 31years, Ht. 5’ 4”, Wt. 62 kgs, Fair Com-plexion, Edn. B.Com., MBA (Fin) work-ing as a Customers Service. Seeks asuitable match. Contact email :[email protected] OR28954976 (Regd. No. 5891)MUMBAI : Goan Roman CatholicSpinster, aged 26 years, Ht. 5’, Wt. 46kgs, Wheatish Complexion, Edn.B.Com., working as a Customers Ser-vice. Seeks a suitable match. Con-tact : 9820251612 (Regd. No. 5890)MUMBAI : Keralite Divorcee (Mar-riage null & void) aged 30 years, Ht.155 cms, slim, fair, good looking, Edn.M.S.W. working as a Sociel Worker.Seeks a suitable match. Contact Mob:

Address your replies to :

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Royal Christian FamilyHelps In Choosing

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9819316338 (Regd. No. 5889)MUMBAI : Goan R. C. Spinster, 26yrs., 5’ 2”, Wt. 55 kgs, Wheatish Com-plexion, Edn. B.Com., working as a EAto Director. Contact email :[email protected] OR28963423 (Regd. No. 5888)U.K : Goan R. C. Spinster, 30 yrs., 5’4”, Wt. 50 kgs, Fair and goodlooking,Edn. B.Sc., M.Sc., M.B.A., studied inU.K. and working as a IT Analasist.Contact email :[email protected] /[email protected] OR9096690309 / 91-95-27261969 (Regd.No. 5887)MUMBAI : Goan R. C. Spinster, 25yrs., 4’ 11”, Wt. 53 kgs, Wheatish Com-plexion, Edn. B.Com., LL.B., Advocateby profession. Contact email :[email protected] OR98205 07447 (Regd. No. 5886)MUMBAI : Mangalorean RomanCatholic parents staying at Vasai invitealliance for their spinster daughter, 26yrs, 53 kg, 5’ 3” tall, simple, slim andgood looking, holding a double postgraduate degree in chemistry and work-ing as a lecturer in an Engineering Col-lege. Alliance is sought from suitablyqualified Mangalorean RC bachelorsupto 30 yrs, with good family back-ground kindly reply with details and arecent full size photograph [email protected] orContact 9421428286 between 4 - 9 pm.(Regd. No. 5885)MUMBAI : Mangalorean R. C. Spin-ster, 33 yrs., 5’ 4”, Wheatish Complex-ion, Edn. HSC., working with MNC hasan Executive Assistant to MD, Seeksa suitable well settled match. Contact :Email : [email protected] OR9820661181 (Regd. No. 5884)NASIK : Goan R. C. Spinster, 25 yrs.,5’ 6”, Wt. 55 kgs, Fair Complexion, Edn.B.Com., MBA, working as a MarketingExecutive. Contact email :[email protected] OR9860082311 (Regd. NO. 5883)MUMBAI : Goan R. C. Spinster, 38yrs., 5’, 3”, Wt. 55 kgs, Wheatish Com-plexion, Edn. B.Com., working as a

Crew Logistic. Contact Email :[email protected] OR9820059399 (Regd. No. 5882)MUMBAI : Goan R. C. Spinster, 36yrs., 5’, Wt. 53 kgs, Wheatish Com-plexion, Edn. HSC, working as a CrewLogistic Contact : email :[email protected] OR9819220429 (Regd. No. 5881)MUMBAI : Mangalorean R. C. Spin-ster, 36 yrs., 5’ 6”, Fair Complexion,Edn. Post Graduate, working for aForeign Bank Seeks a suitable match.Contact Email :[email protected](Regd. No. 5879)MUMBAI : Mangalorean R. C. Spin-ster, 26 yrs., 5’ 4”, Wheatish Complex-ion, Edn. M.Sc., Micro, working as aOfficer in Nationalised Bank. Seeks asuitable match. Contact Email :[email protected] OR9769485550 (Regd. No. 5878)UDUPI : Mangalorean R. C. Spinster,27 yrs., 5’ 4”, Fair Complexion, Edn.BDS, Lecturer by profession. Seeks asuitable match. Contact Email :[email protected] or9448480469 (Regd. No. 5876)MUMBAI : Mangalorean R. C. Spin-ster, 30 yrs., 5’ 6”, within average buildand fair complexioned, Edn. PG andMBA (HR) working as a Manager inan MNC in Mumbai, seeks a suitablematch who is well educated, tall and acheerful disposition. We are open togrooms from other denomination(East Indian, Goan, South Indian etc.,)Contact : 9892191359 / 65721172 andsend details [email protected] (Regd. No.5873)

Page 22: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

22 23 September 2013

As varied as Indian cuisine is, thecurry leaf is as indispensableingredient whether it is in the

dals of the North or in the sambars ofthe South.

Curry leaves are believed to helphair growth. So next time, don’t pickthem out of the gravy, eat them. Theyare yummy!.

Health Benefits100 gm of fresh curry leaves con-

tains around 110 calories. Clearly, noone eats the leaves for their calorificvalue. However, curry leaves are amongthe richest sources of micro nutrients,antioxidants and carotene with lots ofhealth benefits. In fact, their carotenecontent is so high, that one of the stategovernments in southern India orderedthe inclusion of curry leaf powder in themidday meal provided to children inanganwadis seeing the special ben-efits on health of children and adults.

Curry leaf is used in ayurveda asa digestive. It increases the appetite ofconvalescents. Mixed juice it is a folkremedy for morning sickness, keepinghealth fit.

Curry leaves lose much of theirfragrance within days and should beused fresh otherwise the health ben-efiting factors are reduced. Pick shinyleaves that show no signs of yellowingor writing. A good idea is to keep asmall plant in your home and pluck asyou need. If you must store them, wrapthe leaves in paper towels, place in aplastic bag and refrigerate. Use withintwo weeks.

Quick Home Remedies

Mix equal quantities of dried curryleaves, lime peel, shikakai, fenugreek

Apply curry leaves as poulticeson burns.

To control blood pressure, drinka glass of the juice of curry leavesthrice a day on an empty stomach(after a month, just once a day). Toobtain the juice, fill mixer with washedcurry leaves, add 3/4 glass water. Churnwell and sieve. To this liquid, add thejuice of a lemon and drink fresh.

Against diarrhea, drink the juiceof 15 to 20 tender curry leaves mixedwith one teaspoon honey.

It is said that those who are he-reditary prone to diabetes should eat10 fresh fully grown curry leaves everymorning for three months as a preven-tive measure.

Health Benefits of Curry Leaves

The botanical name of curry leaves(Kadi patta) is Murraya keonigi. Curryleaf (Kari patta) is derived from theTamil word ‘Kari’ or ‘a spicy sauce’.The curry plant is a deciduous shrubthat can grow up to a height of sixmetres. These plants are found in thewarm tropical climates of the Indiansubcontinent. These leaves are usedfor reating various illnesses inAyurveda.

The various benefits of the leavesinclude:•. It is iron, calcium and phospho-

rous. It contains significantamounts of fibres, proteins andcarbohydrates.

•. Curry leaves aid digestion. It is

extensively used in Ayurvedicmedicine for treating nausea,vomiting and diarrhoea.

•. Curry leaves help to flush out fatsfrom our bodies. It reduces thelevel of bad cholesterol.

•. Skin care: The extract of thse leavescould cure irriatations from insetctbite and minor burns.

•. Hair Care: It plays important role inhair care also as it retains theblack colour of the har.

•. Mother care: Handful of curry leaveswhen taken immediately in-creases lactation after delivery.

•. Regular intake of curry leaves ei-ther raw or as juice or in mealsbenefits us a healthy lifestyle.

The amazing Curry Leaves

seeds and green gram. Grind finely.Store and use as a substitute for soapor shampoo.

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Located on the way to International Airport, Nr Cigarette FactoryConvenient for the Passengers carrying the stocks abroad.

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Attorney: Do you recall the time thatyou examined the body in ques-tion?

Witness: The autopsy started around8.30 p.m. on Thursday.

Attorney: And are you sure that Mr.Denton was dead at the time?

Witness: If he was not, he was deadby the time I finished!

Page 23: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

2323 September 2013 2323 September 2013

Vatican City: Pope Francis has stopped conferring the title“monsignor” on priests.

The Italian daily Il Messagero has reported that shortlyafter his election, the Pope instructed the Secretariat ofState to stop approving requests for priests to be given therank of monsignor. The Pope said that the moratorium ongranting the title should continue at least until October; itis not clear whether he will continue the new policy beyondthat time.

The moratorium does not apply to members of theVatican diplomatic corps who are given the title “monsi-gnor” in connection with their assignments as representa-tives of the Holy See.

A priest is ordinarily raised to the status of “monsi-gnor” on the recommendation of his diocesan bishop.However, all such honorary titles require the approval ofthe Holy See.

Source: CatholicCulture

Pope Calls A Halt To Conferring'Monsignor' Title On Priests

Picking up thetelephone andcalling people

out of the blue is nobig deal for PopeFrancis, a Vatican offi-cial has said.

Mgr DarioViganò, director of theVatican TelevisionCentre, said the Popetold him that the many calls the journalists had broughtto light are just the tip of the iceberg: “Good thing theydon’t know about all the ones I have made!” the Popereportedly said.

In an interview with Famiglia Cristiana, an ItalianCatholic magazine, Mgr Viganò said that during arecent meeting with the Pope, he asked the Pontiffabout the media frenzy over reports of papal cold calls.

The monsignor said the Pope looked at him amazedand said: “Tell the journalists that my calls are notnews.”

According to Mgr Viganò, the Pope said: “That’sthe way I am; I’ve always done this, even in BuenosAires,” where he served first as auxiliary bishop begin-ning in 1992 and archbishop from 1998 until his elec-tion as Pope in March.

He said the Pope explained how any time he got “acard or a letter from a priest having difficulties, from afamily or a prisoner, I would respond”.

The Pope said: “For me, it’s much easier to call, toask about the problem and suggest a solution, if thereis one. Some people I call, others I write to instead,”according to Mgr Viganò.

The monsignor told the magazine he had receivedseveral calls from the Pope and not all of them werework-related. “Once he called me at the office to wishme happy birthday.”

The head of the Vatican’s television productioncentre said the constant stream of papal calls signalleda kind of telephonic pastoral care.

Being able to hear someone’s voice allows thecaller to understand the feelings of the person on theother line and get “in tune with” the person’s problemsand needs, he said.

Getting a call from the Pope sends a strong signalthat God cares, he said.

If the Pope “takes it upon himself to call me, itmeans I am special to him and above all in God’s heart”,he said.

Pope Phones People All TheTime, Says Vatican Official

Mgr Dario Edoardo Vigano

Rickshaw Pullers Keep Faith Year

Kolkata: In a rare Year of Faith activity, a Kolkata cityparish organized a unique public rally and liturgicalprogram for some 70 rickshaw pullers, all Catholics, tohelp them celebrate their faith.

Page 24: Secular Citizen Vol. 22 No. 38 dated 23 September 2013

24 23 September 2013

Published on every Monday & Posted on Monday & Tuesday of every weekPosted at Mumbai Patrika Channel Sorting Office, Mumbai - 400001.RNI No. 56987/92 Registered No. MH/MR/South-139/2012-14

24 23 September 2013

Printed and Published by Lawrence Coelho at The Secular Citizen, 99, Perin Nariman Street, 1st Floor, Harihar Nivas, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001. Tel.: 2269 3578, 2265 4924Printers: The Secular Citizen, Fort, Mumbai 400001. Editor : Philip Myaboo