Parishes in India celebrated Dalit Liberation Sunday last weekend, with Christians renewing their commitment to those of Dalit origin who still suffer from the traditional practice of untouchability.<\/p>\n
The annual day is marked on the nearest Sunday to International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10. The theme this year was \u201cOur God With the Struggling People.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of India and the National Council of Churches in India support the celebration; special liturgical guidelines were sent to all the dioceses and the religious congregations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndian society is still under the grip of caste culture that perpetuates ethos, attitudes, structures of inequality and dehumanizing untouchable practices,\u201d a statement at the bishops\u2019 Web site noted. \u201cContrary to the Gospel vision of Christ, \u2018caste mentality\u2019 prevails within the Christian community. \u2018It violates the God-given dignity and equality of the human person. Human dignity and respect are due to the human person and any denial of this is a sin against God and humans. (See Statement on Caste by Catholic Bishops Conference of India, Tiruchirappalli, January, 4-14, 1982).\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here\u2019s an issue we in the West don\u2019t hear about very much. Details: Parishes in India celebrated Dalit Liberation Sunday last weekend, with Christians renewing their commitment to those of Dalit origin who still suffer from the traditional practice of untouchability. The annual day is marked on the nearest Sunday to International Human Rights Day, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,45],"tags":[1000,440],"class_list":["post-9386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interfaith-news","category-ripped-from-the-headlines","tag-dalit","tag-india"],"yoast_head":"\n
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