Bethany Sister Cecilia Mendonca, who recently took over as president of the Mangalore unit of Conference of Religious India, says her people need to pay more attention in areas where fanatic groups are active.

The sister, who replaced Apostolic Carmel Sister Shalini, said that the biggest challenge before the Religious unit now is to maintain peace and harmony “wherever we are” in the state.

Karnataka witnessed unprecedented violence against Christians in 2008 soon after Bharatiya Janata Party came to power. In a series of attack in September that year more than 20 churches were attacked in Mangalore and around.

Expressing concern over the Hindu fanatic groups working to reduce the influence of the church in the state, Sister Cecilia said that the unit needs to “spread awareness among all the Religious” on fanatics’ aims.

“We will have to make our people aware about what to do and where to go if any kind of disturbance occurs in the state,” she said, adding that the Mangalore unit has a legal cell to deal with such problems.

She said they plan to share information, especially about our legal cell with all our members. The members should also know the laws and policies of the nation, she said.

Sister Cecilia was elected president on July 4 during the annual general body meeting. Six other members were also elected as executives to guide the unit’s collective activities for the next 3 years.

Ursuline Franciscan Sister Angeline replaced Sister Severine as secretary of the Mangalore CRI.

The meeting also discussed ill-effects of Special Economic Zone the government plans near Manglaore. The meeting made an unusual action of taking an on-the-spot collection to help people displaced by the project.

Source: By Ritu Sharma

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