Chapter 1 –

1.1. What is Church? - https://www.aboutcatholics.com/beliefs/what-is-the-catholic-church/

The Catholic Church is a global community of believers founded by Jesus Christ over two-thousand
years ago. There are over 1 billion Catholics on earth. The Catholic Church is made up on many
people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Sometimes the Catholic Church is thought of as a big tent
– it encompasses many people within the spectrum of political belief all united by the same central
religious belief or creed.

A Group of Christians

The Catholic Church is Christian. Sometimes people are confused and juxtapose the Catholic Church
with Christianity when in fact they are one in the same. The Catholic Church was the first group of
Christians and is the group from which all other Christian groups have splintered over the centuries.

Servant-Leaders

The Catholic Church is primarily a worldwide group of Christians, but is also an institution. Within the
Catholic Church there is a leadership structure. The leaders of the Catholic Church are not like kings
and queens, but rather servant-leaders following the example of Jesus. Servant-leaders put
themselves at the service of those whom they lead unlike a king who lords himself over the people.
The primary servant-leaders of the Catholic Church are all men who have undergone a ritual called
Holy Orders in which they are ordained or commissioned into the priesthood. Becoming a priest,
while a special privilege, carries much responsibility for priests act in the place of Jesus in a special
way. The exclusive selection of priests as men is a tradition that is rooted in Jesus’ selection of the
original twelve apostles, the twelve men he chose to carry out his mission after Jesus’ death.

One of the most important roles of the priest in the Catholic Church is that he re-presents Jesus’
great sacrifice at each Eucharistic (YOO-ka-rist-ick) liturgy. A Eucharistic liturgy is commonly referred
to as Mass, the time when Catholics gather to worship God by listening to readings of the Bible and
receiving Jesus in the form of bread and wine. Catholics believe that the bread and wine at Mass are
turned into the body and blood of Jesus by the priest (called consecration). The consecrated bread
and wine are then distributed to the worshippers much like Jesus did with his twelve apostles the
night before he was hung on a cross (crucifixion). This ritual is at the center of Catholic belief and
worship.

Mediavine

Carrying Out the Ministry of Jesus

Aside from the special duties of the ordained priesthood, there is also an expectation of all Catholics
to carry out the ministry of Jesus. All Catholics, when initiated into the church through a ritual called
baptism, are baptized as priest, prophet, and king thereby responsible for a share in the work of
Jesus.

Like any institution the Catholic Church is not exempt from having bad leaders, but even with poor
leadership the faith and hope in Jesus Christ remains and it is that which brings the Catholic Church
together.

1.2 The Significance of the vision of the Church -

https://www.catholicity.com/catechism/the_church's_vision.html#:~:text=Every%20institution
%20is%20based%20upon%20a%20vision%20of,and%20invites%20authorities%20to%20adapt
%20a%20similar%20viewpoint.

A Society with God's Vision (2244 – from the Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Every institution is based upon a vision of man. This vision brings about a hierarchy of values in
which most societies recognize the preeminence of man over things. Only divinely revealed religions
recognize God as man's origin and destiny.

The Church sees man in relationship to God and invites authorities to adapt a similar viewpoint.

Many societies claim independence from God and create their own goals or borrow them from an
ideology. Rejecting any objective criterion of good and evil, they claim a totalitarian power over
man.

The Church and the Political Community (2245-2246)

The Church (by her commission and power) is not to be confused with the political community. She
teaches the transcendental value of the human person and encourages every citizen's freedom and
responsibility.

The Church passes moral judgment in political matters when fundamental rights and the salvation of
souls requires. She seeks the good of all by means in accord with the Gospel.

1.3. The Mission of the Church -

https://www.catholicity.com/catechism/the_church_on_mission.html

Sent to the Whole World (849-850)

Because of Jesus' command to make disciples of all nations, the Church has been divinely sent as
"the universal sacrament of salvation" and must preach the Gospel to everyone.

The Church is missionary because (according to the Father's plan) she has her origin in the mission of
Son and Spirit. The Church exists to bring all men into the communion of the Father, Son, and Spirit.

To Save All (851)

God "desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4). Therefore, the
Church must go out to those who are seeking God and bring them the Gospel. The Church must be
missionary because she believes in God's universal plan.

Led by the Spirit (852)

The Holy Spirit is the "protagonist" who guides the Church on her missionary paths leading her to
follow Christ's path of service and self-sacrifice. "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church"
(Tertullian).

Failures and Patience (853-854)

The Church recognizes the great discrepancy between her message and her human weaknesses.
Only by walking the way of the cross can she extend Christ's reign.

This missionary endeavor begins by proclaiming the Gospel to unbelievers, then by establishing
communities of believers, and finally by founding a local church. This involves a process of
enculturation, so that the Gospel takes flesh in each culture. Only by degrees can the Church
penetrate the culture.
The Obstacle of Divisions (855)

The missionary endeavor stimulates efforts to Christian unity because the divisions among Christian
churches is a serious obstacle to missionary activity. Because of division, the Church cannot display
its full Catholic unity.

The Truths in Each Culture (856)

The missionary task must appreciate those elements of truth which God has already given to the
unbelievers. Proclaiming the Good News should raise up this truth, while purifying it from error and
evil.

Chapter 2 – The Challenges of the Church During Covid 19 - https://blog.ipleaders.in/the-plight-of-

migrant-workers/

COVID-19 pandemic and the eventuating loss of life and livelihoods, demonstrates a prodigious
catastrophe- a socio economic calamity that has left all countries of the world in disarray. Countries
across the globe are making headway to tackle this crisis. In pursuance to this the Indian government
has also announced and enforced a nationwide lockdown as a combative measure to prevent the
further transmission of the deadly virus without giving time for people to adjust to these stringent
conditions. Though necessary, this move has unfortunately engendered a reverse exodus of migrant
labourers, the magnitude of which has not been expected and witnessed till date. These migrant
workers are the worst hit during this grave emergency period. “Whether they are international
migrants or internal migrants, such workers are the most disproportionately affected given their
inadequate and crowded living conditions, limited access to health care and basic services and
exploitative labour system.”

2.1. The Cry of the Migrants -

Who are migrant workers?

With the growing pace of economic globalization, the number of migrant workers is also increasing
expeditiously. Unemployment and increasing poverty have prompted many workers to seek work
elsewhere. They often move from villages to cities to look for work as domestic helpers, drivers,
gardeners or as daily wagers on construction sites, building malls, flyovers and homes, or as street
vendors. This virus has not only evinced the selfless contribution of the health workers towards the
common but also enhanced public awareness of the ‘pivotal role of the migrant workers in our
economy.’ Being the most vulnerable part of the “informal sector”, they make up 80% of India’s
workforce. These formal enterprises- the so-called parallel economy-account for around 40% of GDP
and weigh about some 60% of Indian economy.

An unplanned Lockdown

Despite forming the backbone of our country’s economy and struggling so damn hard for survival
these forlorn migrant workers have been ignored badly by the government before announcing the
lockdown. The government pretended that migrant workers did not exist. There wasn’t any
guideline, contingency plans or any coherent response by them. Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance
minister of our country also withdrew her hand by announcing nothing for these globe-trotters
except an unworkable scheme for construction workers. They just became the invisible part of our
ecosystem that never seems to be much of a consideration for politicians. Despite their number they
have no political clout because when Election Day comes they are usually in the city where they
work and thereby do not cast a ballot. Not only this, the nationwide lockdown was also accompanied
by complete suspension of all transport facilities and strict sealing of inter-state borders as a
precaution against the rapid spread of coronavirus disease. In a matter of four hours, the unforeseen
public health catastrophe provoked an even larger humanitarian crisis, the burden of which has to
be carried by the most susceptible section of its population. The decision unleashed such chaos that
India is still struggling to deal with.

Desperation to go home

Thousands of destitute migrant labourers without the availability of basic needs and services such as
food and shelter were compelled to abandon the very cities they have built with their sweat, toil and
hard work.“Many indigent migrant workers with bags perched on their heads and children in their
arms were seen walking down highways in a desperate attempt to return to their villages hundreds
of miles away.” Each of them realised that they could not afford to stay in the city if they had no
income. They are rarely part of a trade union and typically work without any contract or benefits.
They are hired through multiple contractors on casual basis and face precarity of employment, low
pay scales and are deprived of pay hikes, paid leaves etc. and due to the unanticipated crisis of
corona virus the workers are exposed to the exploitative condition. The plight faced by these
workers was revealed through the unjustified treatment that they had to face during this lockdown
at the construction site of metro in Bengaluru.

Over and above it was hard to find and identify the employer or the company that hires them
because they are solely dependent on the petty contractors. The case of “self-employed” migrant
workers was even worse. Such a situation of hopelessness and despair led to continued fleeing of
many migrants from the cities. “They left in huge numbers to their villages on foot, braving hunger
and thirst, the scorching summer sun, police brutalities, forested areas and the threat of disease and
death.” Several people even lost their life in such inhumane conditions.

Starvation

It was very difficult for the poverty-stricken workers who were trying to make it home through the
thin line between possible infection and starvation. “A 12 year old female migrant of Telangana died
on her way while walking to her home during this lockdown. Jamlo Madkam also lost her life when
her frail body succumbed to exhaustion.” There are numerous horrifying instances occurring each
day and still the responsible ones are silent for the loss. The backbone of our country’s development
is on the verge of hunger. Due to lack of proper planning, stringent measures, blatant neglect and
brutalities faced by the workers the persistent hunger has turned into mass starvation.

Migrant workers in cities 

Starvation is not only a threat for the crowd gathered on the highways but also a menace to those
workers who couldn’t leave for their homes. “These stranded labourers can be divided into two
types- one that is visible and the other invisible.” Those who are in government shelter homes,
receiving aids and health care facilities from them are the visible ones forming the front pages of the
media whereas the ones who are living under the flyovers, sleep on footpaths, stuck in workplaces,
labour camps and slums constitute the invisible section who are ignored and neglected by the
authorities and even by the fourth pillar of our country i.e., the media. They have to stand for hours
and hours to get food. The condition and facilities of the shelter homes defer too. Just a single line in
the heart of each worker depicts the truth of the society during this rampant sitch –  “If not by virus,
we will die of hunger.” 
Not only this the centre refuses to grant rations to those who don’t have ration cards and even did
not pay a head to the repeated request of opening community kitchens under the National Food
Security Act. All of these responsibilities were casually delegated to the state government. The effect
of this economic distress is not only limited to the forlorn labourers but also to their innocent
children. Many children are dying on their way to home and others becoming more susceptible to
the viral disease. It is very much possible that this COVID-19 crisis will push millions of vulnerable
children into child labour. Every desperate labourer wants only one question to be answered – “The
government is providing food for three months. But what will happen after that? This is the time we
grow food for the whole year and the government is not letting us to go back to home and do our
part of the work.”

Brutality 

After facing all such alarming levels of vulnerability and extreme indignity, if migrant workers are
demanding to go home then they have to face grievous brutalities and injuries by the police officials.
The government has taken steps to provide rations, shelters and relief to pay rents but it is still not
operationalized in a strict manner and the reality is somewhat different. Thus numerous attempts
are made by these poor migrant workers at various places through various means but still could not
stand against the brutality and nepotism of the central authorities. Many migrant workers and their
children in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh were sprayed with disinfectant under the namesake of
sanitization.

Due to the rumours of train services restarting thousand of migrant workers gathered near a railway
station in Mumbai city. They demanded that authorities should arrange transports to send them
back to their home town but the police, instead used sticks to disperse them. Around the same time,
in Gujarat many textile workers of the Surat city protested demanding passage to home but they had
to face severe consequences by the officials. These incidents are not limited to a single place or to a
definite time. They are a spotlight to the plights of millions of penurious Indian workers who migrate
from villages to cities in search of livelihood. These instances are more than enough to make
everyone realise that living away from home is never easy.

2.2. the Struggle of the Covid 19 Patients - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53304858

Infections were surging in Maharashtra state, where the 934-bed Kasturba Hospital is located in
Sevagram village, some 50 miles south of the city of Nagpur. The busy not-for-profit hospital was
already getting a million patient visits every year.

Most of the Covid beds - including the 30 in critical care - needed piped oxygen supply. Over the next
few weeks, the hospital spent $40,000 (£32,000), to connect a bank of cylinders to the new beds
using copper pipes.

"It was a huge challenge," Dr SP Kalantri, medical superintendent of the hospital, told me. "Ideally
you'd need to plan and execute well ahead to create additional beds with access to piped oxygen.
Oxygen is the key to survival for coronavirus patients."

Some 15% of Covid-19 patients see rapid lung failure and require help with breathing, according to
the World Health Organisation (WHO). Some patients appear in no evident respiratory distress, but
are found to have dangerously low oxygen levels - a condition called silent hypoxia. A fraction of
critically ill patients require a ventilator.
"Demand for high-flow oxygen has shot through the roof after the pandemic," Dr Muzzafal
Lakdawala, who runs a Mumbai-based rock concert venue-turned-600-bed Covid facility with its own
oxygen tank, told me.

The WHO estimates that with a million new Covid-19 infections a week, the world will require some
620,000 cubic meters of oxygen a day, or 88,000 large cylinders. Some 80% of the market is owned
by a handful of companies, and demand in many countries is outstripping supplies, it says.

With more than 800,000 reported infections and rising, demand for oxygen has also risen in India.
Hospitals and care centres are consuming up to 1,300 tonnes of oxygen every day, compared to 900
tonnes before the pandemic.

Covid care centres need ample supplies of oxygen

It has a bunch of gas companies that extract and purify oxygen from the air at 500 factories spread
across the country. Oxygen for medical use typically accounts for some 15% of overall supplies. The
rest - industrial oxygen - is mainly supplied to steel and automobile industries for running blast
furnaces and welding.

These companies ship oxygen in liquid form to hospitals with tankers, which are then piped directly
to beds. Oxygen is also supplied through steel and aluminium cylinders. Portable machines called
concentrators can also filter oxygen from the air. All of these are being used to treat Covid-19
patients now.

But when the pandemic struck India - the first case was detected in January, and infections began
climbing in April - there was scant data available for medical oxygen supplies.

"We didn't know how much oxygen was being supplied through cylinders and tanks. We didn't even
know many cylinders we had," says Saket Tikku, president of the All India Industrial Gases
Manufacturers Association.

Sometime in early April, officials sat down with gas companies. They found that the state of Jammu
and Kashmir did not have a single liquid oxygen factory, and there were no medical oxygen makers
on the island of Andamans, where cylinders were shipped from the mainland. In remote north-
eastern states, supplies were scarce.

The government swiftly decided to use industrial oxygen for medical use - there is little difference
between the two, but medical oxygen is purer, supplied under stricter regulations and has to be
properly dispensed. The gas makers also moved to set up a control room where they could receive
calls from hospitals and care centres around the country and make sure supplies reached them in
time.

But problems persist.

2.3. Breaking our Comfort zones - https://christianconcern.com/comment/how-has-the-lockdown-

affected-peoples-spiritual-habits/

Carys Moseley comments on the recent Tearfund survey which found that people’s spiritual habits
during the lockdown have changed significantly.

Savanta ComRes has recently published the results of a survey commissioned by Tearfund on British
people’s spiritual habits in relation to the lockdown. This survey helps give a detailed picture of how
people of different religious affiliation have responded, and of their interaction with churches. The
survey is a random representative sample of the adult population of the United Kingdom and was
conducted between 24 and 27 April this year.

Although the survey has been briefly reported on in some of the press, mainly the Christian press, it
has not so far received very thorough analysis. This is needed as it is looking at a watershed moment
in history and running to 210 pages, it furnishes very important and thorough evidence that
churches need to understand in order to be better at reaching people.

Relationship between prayer and being in lockdown

The survey asked when at all did respondents engage in certain spiritual activities. What this meant
was whether they had started since lockdown, continued from before the lockdown, used to do so
but stopped since lockdown, or have never engaged in such activities.

These include prayer, watching a religious service, listening to a religious service, listening to
religious music, contact with a religious worker, asking someone to say a prayer, meditating or doing
a mindfulness activity, and reading a religious text.

How often do people normally pray?

Perhaps the most astonishing of the findings is that adults aged 18-34 are more likely to pray than
those older than them. The percentage of adults of all age groups who never pray did not differ
significantly. This suggests that adults under 35 who do pray are more intense in their approach to
prayer. Of those who pray, 19% do so several times a day.

Muslims were much more likely than Christians to pray several times a day, no doubt because of the
requirement in Islam for formal prayer five times a day. This may explain why men were slightly
more likely to pray several times a day than women. However, anybody using this survey should
realise that the total number of Muslims captured by this sample was only 76. This is a problem as
statisticians tend to agree that sample sizes must be at least 100 in order for results to be
meaningful. Likewise, the samples for other non-Christian religions were under 100. If what is
wanted is a meaningful comparison between people of different religious affiliation, there would
need to be changes to the sampling.

People who prayed for the first time

Much has been made in the press of the fact that a small but significant minority of people (5%)
have started to pray for the first time since lockdown. However, what has not been so widely
reported is the fact that another 6% of people say they stopped praying since lockdown. Likewise,
whilst 5% of people said they had read a religious text for the first time since lockdown, 6% say they
have not done this since the lockdown started. Finally, whilst 7% of people said they had watched a
religious service on tv or online for the first time ever since lockdown, this was offset by the fact that
another 5% said they had not done this since the lockdown.

The gains are therefore smaller than many people have imagined. Of those who say they pray
several times a day, 13% say they only started praying at all since the lockdown. Particularly
fascinating is that out of those who attend church once a week, 7% only started praying during
lockdown. How can churches encourage these people?

People who stopped praying or Bible reading since the lockdown

The survey furnishes some sobering evidence of people ceasing to pray since the lockdown. Younger
adults were the most likely age group to say that they had stopped praying since the lockdown
began: 9% of those aged 18-24, 8% of those aged 25-34, and 9% of those aged 35-44. One in twenty
of those who attend church every week say they have not prayed since the lockdown started. Are
these people who have given up their faith?

Nearly one in seven (14%) have not read a religious text such as the Bible since then either. It is
frustrating that the survey did not give respondents a choice as to which religious text they were
reading, whether it was the Bible or something else. This is especially the case given that the survey
distinguishes between people with affiliation to different religions.

Has watching services online made up for church attendance?

Much has been made in recent weeks of the fact that whilst church buildings have had to close,
congregations have been able to move their services online. To what extent have churchgoers
followed up on this? The survey helps illuminate what has happened.

Nearly one third (31%) of weekly churchgoers started watching services online since lockdown, but
4% of weekly churchgoers stopped doing this since lockdown, and nearly a quarter (23%) have never
done this.

Likewise, if churches think that moving worship online is the answer to so many of their problems,
they need to consider the fact that 20% of adults aged 18-24 stopped watching worship online since
the lockdown. This is significant because younger adults are more likely to have internet access.

What the survey has not asked is how many respondents have internet access, and also how many
attend churches that have online provisions for worship. Not all churchgoers have internet access,
and not all churches were providing online worship before the lockdown. The survey did not ask
whether people lived in rural or urban areas, a factor which can make a difference here.

Has online worship attracted new people?

Many Christians have been excited about the possibility that online worship would reach new
people. To what extent has this really happened?

The truth is that the more frequently people attend church, the more likely they have been to start
watching worship since the lockdown began. Only 1% of those who never attend church have
started to watch online worship. Where is the change most marked? Over one fifth (22%) of those
who attend once a fortnight started to watch worship online, whereas the figure dropped to only 8%
of monthly attenders. For every level of commitment, there were many more people who were
already watching online worship before the lockdown than had begun to do so since then.

We must therefore conclude that the fact that churches have gone online due to being shut down by
the central government has not led to a rise in ‘attendance’ at online worship. Online worship has
not only not made up for church attendance, it has not really attracted that many new people.

Loss of contact with religious workers

The survey asked whether respondents had been in contact with a religious worker (whether such a
worker had visited, called or messaged them, or whether respondents had contacted such workers).
Over all of the UK, whilst 1 in 20 (5%) started doing this during lockdown, more (7%) had the
experience of this stopping since lockdown. Only among those aged 65 and over was the reverse
true. This general decline in contact was true over England apart from London, and Northern Ireland,
whereas the opposite scenario was found in Scotland and Wales.
Again, it is frustrating that the survey did not give respondents the choice to indicate the religion of
the worker in question. The difference between a non-religious person contacting a Christian
minister and a regular churchgoer doing so is important.

What things have respondents prayed about

The survey did provide several choices regarding topics for prayer. Respondents who did pray were
most likely to have prayed for family (53%) and friends (34%) or to thank God (34%). Older people
were more likely than younger people to pray for frontline staff such as NHS workers, and men more
likely than women to pray for someone who was unwell with Covid-19. Among the least popular
prayer topics were the government’s response to Covid-19 (18%) and confession of sins and asking
forgiveness (17%).

Who prays for the government?

Those who attend church weekly were more likely to pray for the government’s response than those
who never attend (32% versus 5%). This may indicate the importance of churches teaching people
and leading by example through intercessory prayer. The fact that only a minority among even the
most committed churchgoers have prayed for the government is surely important. Is this the effect
of the lockdown forcing people to be stuck at home? Or is this already a problem? We can’t tell from
this survey.

Levels of trust in society

Given that the response to the crisis has been led by central government it is important that the
survey measured levels of trust in the following: faith leaders, government leaders, friends, family
members, news, and social media. Adults aged 18-34 were the least likely of all age groups to trust
government leaders or the news to provide information and guidance in relation to the Covid-19
crisis. Trust in these institutions went up with age.

This correlates with the fact that young adults under 35 were the most likely to pray during this
period. This is highly significant given that all other surveys show that this is the least religious
demographic. What is going on here? Is it that younger people who have a religious faith are less
trusting of government and news than their parents, and so more likely to pray in response to a
major crisis? Has society reached a turning point?

The importance of bringing hope

These survey findings are in some ways encouraging for Christians, as they do show a small but
significant increase in prayer, watching online services and in some places contact with clergy. At the
same time, those outlets that have covered the survey so far did not investigate the equally
important and indeed rather troubling findings regarding stopping prayer and losing contact with
religious workers. The survey itself could have been more fine-grained as regards providing options
for distinguishing clearly between different religions, for example, indicating Bible reading rather
than Qu’ran reading.

Churches can indeed take heart from these findings in that they show a small surge in spiritual
interest. Whilst probably motivated in the first instance by fear of the pandemic, this signals an
important opportunity for Christians to reach out to people and introduce them to the gospel. At the
same time, there is clearly work to do in understanding those people who have not prayed or
worshipped since the lockdown, as they may well have undergone a crisis of faith. This shouldn’t be
surprising and indeed if Christians are to be people who bring hope, we must not allow such a crisis
to have the last word in people’s lives. Once we start emerging from the lockdown measures, these
will be major challenges to face together. Until then, churches must start thinking about how best to
reach those who have not been involved since lockdown or have no access to online services, and
encourage more prayer for our leaders as they make important decisions that will affect how
churches are able to function.

2.4. Smelling the Sheep - https://mattersindia.com/2020/04/handmaids-of-mary-nuns-help-

lockdown-affected-in-odisha/

The Handmaids of Mary, an indigenous religious congregation of Odisha, has received applause from
the local administration for helping those affected by the nationwide lockdown in the eastern Indian
state.

“I appreciate your genuine work. I am happy that you could come out and help the needy, poor,
daily laborers and downtrodden,” Nihil Pavan Kalyan, Sundargarh District Collector, told the nuns.
“You are honest and trustworthy people,” the collector added.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who imposed the 21-day lockdown on March 25, wants
people to stay home, stay safe and stay alive.

Sister P Selvi, principal of St. Teresa English Medium School who leads the relief works in Sundargarh
district, says they strictly follow the government lockdown norms while engaged in humanitarian
works. “We do keep self-distance while distributing cooked food, rice, onion, potatoes, milk, and
mask kits to the daily laborers,” she told Matters India on April 13.

Sister Selvi said their St Teresa’s provincial community members, nuns working in the school and
Fathers Emmanuel Toppo, Ignatius Soreng, and Andreas Kerketta have reached out to some 30
villages in the district so far.

“We have restricted our movements for common safety,” the nun added. I am not worried about
myself, but at the same time abide by the rules and guidelines of the government,” Sister Selvi said.

“We could distribute 2,200 liters of milk per day. Milk distribution will continue until April 15, but
other activities will go on,” the nun explained.

The Church team and their welfare centers also prepare mask kits for their beneficiaries.

Sister Selvi’s companion, Sister Manjula Bara, who directs the congregation’s social service wing
Samagra Vikas (Holistic Development), said they take “utmost care” to remain safe from the
coronavirus.

Their provincial Sister Bernadette Kerketta says reaching out to people taking risks has been a great
“faith experience” for them.

Chapter 3 – The Response of the Church

3.1. To reach out to the Periphery -

https://www.globalsistersreport.org/news/coronavirus/news/indian-nuns-aid-migrant-laborers-
stranded-way-home-during-lockdown
NEW DELHI — Sr. Sujata Jena could not sleep after seeing a picture of a young girl with a heavy load
on her head in a WhatsApp message. "Her stained face, wet with tears, haunted me," the member
of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary told Global Sisters Report.

The photo was being circulated to illustrate the plight of hundreds of thousands of people who hit
India's highways following a nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

As Jena saw on social media platforms pictures and videos from around India, the 38-year-old lawyer
and nun set out to help migrants reach home. One video clip showed 10 workers crammed into a
room in Kerala, a southwestern Indian state. The men said their employer had locked them up and
that they desperately needed help to reach their villages in Odisha, more than 1,000 miles
northeast.

As the lockdown confined her to her convent in the Odisha capital of Bhubaneswar, Jena on May 17
joined a social media network that helps the stranded migrants.

By June 24, more than 300 migrants, including the 10, stranded in southern Indian states reached
their native villages in states such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal in eastern India,
thanks to Jena's efforts.

Jena is among hundreds of Catholic nuns who are on the front lines as the church reaches out to
migrant laborers affected by the initial 21-day lockdown Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed on
India's 1.3 billion people from midnight of March 25 with only four hours' notice.

The lockdown, considered the world's largest and toughest attempt to contain the pandemic, has
been extended five times with varying degrees of relaxation until July 31.

The lockdown suddenly rendered jobless millions of migrant laborers in cities.

"As they lost the job, they had no place to stay, no income and no security," says Salesian Fr. Joe
Mannath, national secretary of the Conference of Religious India, the association of men and women
religious major superiors in the country.

As the lockdown halted India's public transport system, migrant laborers in cities swarmed highways
and roads within a few days. Most walked and some cycled to their native villages, hundreds of miles
away.

Mannath says the fear of starvation and contracting the coronavirus led to a "chaotic exodus" of
workers from cities.

Church groups are among those trying to help these workers.

On June 6, Caritas India, the Indian bishops' aid agency, informed a webinar that the church reached
more than 11 million people during the lockdown period, including many migrant workers.

Mannath, who coordinates India's more than 130,000 religious, including nearly 100,000 women,
claims the bulk of that service was carried out by the religious.

Sacred Heart Sr. Celine George Kanattu, far right, asks migrant workers to use social distancing.
Catholic youth Sona Viji, dressed in blue and black, and Sr. Lucy Kizhakedath assist Kanattu to
distribute clothes. (Jessy Joseph)
Religious women and men met the stranded workers on roads, in shelter homes and slum clusters in
various parts of the country. With diocesan, congregation and aid agency donations, they provided
the workers shelter, food and money to reach their homes.

Mannath claims the Catholic religious have done "a fantastic work for the neediest all through the
lockdown." The Salesian priest also says what the religious have done is "far more" than what
appears in any report.

"When I asked the major superiors for a quick report on what was being done, we received more
than 750 reports. It shows the extensive service the religious are rendering," he told GSR in late
June.

Mannath explains that the Catholic religious of India decided to not have a centrally coordinated
plan to help the workers, but fund individuals and congregations serving them.

3.2. Online Liturgy –

https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/pandemic-and-the-dilemma-of-catholic-
liturgy/12154

As a monastic community, liturgy is very important in our life. In fact, it forms the structure of our
daily lives.

We firmly endorse the words Anton Baumstark (1872-1948) used to open his work Comparative
Liturgy.

"In liturgy we become aware of the living heart of the Church," he wrote, thus highlighting the
importance of the public prayer of the People of God.

To watch live-streamed Mass or not

So when we heard England was to go into lockdown, churches were to be closed and there were to
be no more public services for the foreseeable future, we began asking ourselves some searching
questions.

Perhaps the most pressing one was: "Were we, like so many others, going to watch Eucharistic
services being streamed online from various churches?"

Having talked about this at some length in community we decided that to do this was to regress to a
pre-Vatican II style of liturgy.

Rather than being the People of God gathered around the table in union with the Christ to praise
and thank the Father for his goodness, the congregation was reduced to being a collection of
invisible and silent spectators.

Or, as a dear friend of mine put it succinctly: "It seems to miss the entire meaning of the Eucharist
and...

COVID-19 has prompted many different liturgical and ritual responses.

It has revealed the dilemma of modern of liturgy, namely the place of the baptized in worship. It has
shown that the default setting of many Church members (clergy and laity) is the ritual of saying
Mass, not so much the experience of doing liturgy.
Many correspondents have identified the nature of home prayer, the task of the domestic Church
and the impact of clericalism in our general response to this huge liturgical crisis.

In this reflection I wish to focus on three areas: home or bubble prayers, online Masses and the
domestic Church of the clergy, and the liturgical place of the baptized lay faithful in public worship.

As the pastor of three parishes in a small rural diocese in a small, secular country the key experience
has been the realization that Church is deemed a "non-essential service" in terms of the economy,
our politics and our social structure.

Thus, the context of my contribution is as important as the contribution itself.

Home or Bubble Prayers

Our current situation presents us with the opportunity to develop prayers for people in their home,
in their bubbles. Wherever parishioners are gathered in their bubbles, Christ is there, present in
their midst.

New "bubble prayers" focus on brevity. They are aware of a variety of surroundings, while others are
longer and more formal. Both rely on the tradition of worship and reach back to the earliest tradition
of Christian household prayer.

The purpose of the bubble prayers is to get the domestic Church praying as part of the universal
Church.

Some colleagues argue well for brevity in these prayers, based on the distinction between the
churchgoers who are accustomed to Church language and ritual and the majority who are not.

One colleague reminded me: "I know that many Catholics will find praying out loud at home very
difficult and many will only do it when the kids are NOT there."

3.3.. Accompanying the Migrants - https://scroll.in/article/966123/forcing-migrants-to-stay-back-in-

cities-during-lockdown-worsened-spread-of-coronavirus-study-shows

On March 25, India went into a nationwide lockdown that had been imposed with only four hours
notice. The clampdown on travel resulted in millions of migrant workers being trapped in cities that,
even at best of times, are hostile to their needs.

Faced with starvation and separation from families, lakhs of workers started walking or cycling
hundreds of kilometres back home. Hundreds perished on the way – of exhaustion, run over by
vehicles or after they were assaulted by the police. Many who made it home states faced police
action and were stigmatised by local authorities and communities.

The restrictions on movement were justified on the grounds that this was necessary to limit the
spread of the epidemic. We examine this assumption and, using a case study of Rajasthan and a
Primary Health Centre area within it, argue that the reverse holds true: holding migrants back in
cities was actually responsible for the spread of the coronavirus in rural areas.

The first phase of the movement of migrant workers, which started from the evening of March 24,
lasted till the mid-April. During this time, lakhs of migrant workers travelled across the country – the
visuals have been compared to those of Partition. After some time, police action and stricter
lockdown enforcement restricted the migrants. By then, many city administrations, aided by non-
governmental organisations, had put systems in place to provide them some food, preventing
extreme starvation.

After extending the lockdown twice, the government of India on May 4 finally allowed inter-state
movement. Special trains and buses started carrying thousands of migrant workers home, albeit not
without further misery. While the movement back is still continuing, most of the workers returned
home in the fortnight from May 4.

Two waves

This means that there were two periods during which an enormous exodus of migrants occurred
from urban to rural areas. The first was in the initial days of the lockdown and lasted two weeks. The
second started around May 4 and also lasted two weeks.

Colleagues at Aajeevika Bureau, which assists migrant workers, earlier estimated that about 5.7
million people from Rajasthan migrate seasonally to cities within the state and outside. About 40%
of these – about two million people – migrate to cities outside Rajasthan. Their main destinations
are Ahmedabad, Surat, the National Capital Region, Mumbai and Indore.

Though there are no official estimates of how many people returned to Rajasthan during the
lockdown, newspaper reports suggest that by April 26, about 60,000 to 70,000 migrants had left
Ahmedabad. It can be safely assumed that by the end of the first week of April, at least 100,000
migrants had returned to Rajasthan from Ahmedabad alone. Since other cities are further off, the
numbers who returned during this period from three other major destination – Surat, Mumbai and
Indore – could be half of this number. This means about 50,000 each or 150,000 lakh total. Adding
an additional 50,000 for return from other cities – such as Delhi, Rajkot, Himmatnagar among them–
we estimate about 300,000 migrants would have returned to Rajasthan during this period

For the second wave of return, again, there are no official estimates in the public domain. On May
15, official sources said that about 300,000 migrants had returned to Rajasthan since the interstate
movement of migrants had been allowed. Assuming that another 50,000 to 100,000 people returned
to Rajasthan over the next few days, the total numbers would be about 350,000 to 400,000, slightly
higher than those who returned during the first wave.

3.4. Extending the Compassion of Jesus - https://mattersindia.com/2020/04/catholic-nuns-ngo-

helps-lockdown-victims-in-bihar/

Patna, April 30, 2020: An NGO launched two decades ago by a Catholic nun in Patna to campaign for
the shelter rights of poor is currently busy helping those affected by the nationwide lockdown.

Presentation Sister Dorothy Fernandes, founder director of Aashray Abhiyan (AA, Campaigning for
Shelter Rights), says they joined the relief works after receiving “innumerable calls” from the poor
for food other essentials.

During the early days of the lockdown, they used phone to coordinate relief works. They also set up
community kitchens with the help of the municipal commissioner to provide fresh meals to the
hungry.

“With the collaboration of lawyers and other networks we ensured that no one in our knowledge
remained hungry. We raised money through crowd funding that helped us provide food grains to
some 100 families,” Sister Fernandes told Matters India.
India_MattersIndia_Sr Dorothy Fernandes (left)She termed the global pandemic as “a very disturbing
phenomenon” that has left billions to grapple with its consequences. “We have also begun to realize
how the leaders of our world have misgoverned our nations” on the pandemic.

According to her, the pandemic and subsequent lockdown have affected the most the homeless
living on roadsides and slums. It has not spared rickshaw pullers, construction workers, domestic
helpers, small vendors, and cleaners, although they have contributed to the city’s economy with
their hard work.

As the lockdown continued and the situation became grave, the AA team managed to get passes for
various types of vehicles they use. “This helped us move freely and assess people’s situation. Our
friends, family members, two provincials in Patna and well wishers began to send contributions to
us. We used the money to procure food grains, rice, flour and lentils. It used to worry us when
people called to say they were hungry,” Sister Fernandes elaborated.

The nun’s NGO has so far provided food grains to some 1,100 families in Patna and Bhagalpur,
another town in Bihar. The team brought the rations to people’s doorsteps while strictly maintaining
social distancing. They have reached out to daily wage earners, construction workers, vendors
among others.

“Our target is to reach out to some 100,000 families in Bihar. A fundraising drive has been set up,”
Sister Fernandes said.

The NGO has also written to the Chief Justice of Patna about “the pathetic situation” of the Public
Distribution System in the state.

“Food grains were not available and dealers functioned without supervision. The chief justice
accepted our letter and forwarded it to the state chief secretary,” the nun added.

Now, all those with ration card can fill the form and avail rations. “Our team is also engaged in
monitoring these procedures, contacting officers and sharing information with our people,” Sister
Fernandes said.

Sister Fernandes said their “committed team of women and men of all faiths” has advocated and
liaisoned with various government department in the past 20 years for the rights of the urban poor
in Bihar.

“Unfortunately the city goers look upon them as parasites, not even being aware of their
contribution to make life easier for them,” she pointed out.

She said she watched with abhorrence “insensitive and callous administration” used bulldozers to
destroy the huts of the poor.

“We at Aashray Abhiyan have organized our people and have fought tooth and nail to save their
dwellings, their livelihoods and their food sovereignty,” she explained.

She says their work caused a stir in many government departments. “One thing they know for
certain is that once Aashray Abhiyan takes up an issue, it does not give up easily as it speaks the
truth with conviction,” the nun claimed.

One impact of their campaign was Anupam Kumar Suman, a former Patna Municipal Corporation
commissioner, began projects to provide toilets and water connections in slums. “He requested us
to identify two women preferably from the units to be city ambassadors,” Sister Fernandes said.
The city managers of the corporation’s six zones worked with the ‘city ambassadors’ to identify
places. He held two meetings in his chamber with some 70 “city ambassadors” and ensured that the
slums were clean, with street lights and e-rickshaws to pick up the garbage.

“At one meeting he promised that he would not demolish any of their dwellings. When the chief
minister ordered him to demolish the slums he refused saying he could not in conscience do it.”

As pressure mounted Suman resigned and took six months off for reflection. “We met him on
several occasions and he confessed that he was inspired by our work,” Sister Fernandes recalled.

The Ngo invited Suman join them. “After much reflection, he accepted our invitation to be the
president of our organization from February 16. We are now committed to spread our work in entire
Bihar under his leadership,” the nun explained.

By then, the coronavirus had arrived in India and giving the nun’s NGO more than a handful of tasks.

Chapter 4 – The Relevance of the ChurchAmidst the Post Pandemic Milieu

4.1 – TO be with the People of God - https://www.vermontcatholic.org/uncategorized/staying-

faithful-during-the-pandemic/

The coronavirus pandemic poses many new challenges to us and our faith.

People are asking: How can we be Catholic if we don’t even have Mass? How can we remain Catholic
and yet comply with Governor Scott’s executive order to remain at home? Aren’t we supposed to
keep holy the Lord’s Day? Since I have had those questions from two people today, I share my
response.

First, we can and must continue to worship God; the obligation to worship God is absolute.  That
does not end because of a pandemic. On the other hand, the obligation to attend Sunday Mass
comes from a Precept of the Church.  That obligation can be dispensed (suspended) by the Church
(i.e. by the bishop.)

Yet, two other important obligations arise. Under the Fifth Commandment and the law of charity, we
have an obligation to take good care of our own physical, mental health and that of our neighbors.
To clarify the law of charity: Perhaps the law of charity was most clearly and succinctly stated by
Jesus, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” None of us would want someone to
infect a vulnerable member of our family with a deadly disease.

Since those obligations under charity and the Fifth Commandment flow directly from divine law,
they are absolute and always in force. In a pandemic we must avoid gathering to keep ourselves and
our neighbors safe. Gathering  people together during a pandemic would impose excessive risk to
all, especially since someone carrying the virus can infect others before knowing that they are
carrying the virus.

Bishop Christopher Coyne made the right call. the law of charity and the Fifth commandment are
greater obligations than the obligation to participate in the Mass.
But we can and must continue to worship at home.  We can read the scriptures, pray the rosary or
other prayers. We can watch and participate in the TV Mass from the Diocese or on EWTN or other
sources. Since most of us now have ample time to do these acts of worship, and since the Mass is
not available to us otherwise, there is no excuse for not worshiping God. Although right now we
are not able to receive Holy Communion, we can make a Spiritual Communion, especially during
those TV Masses. In doing so we will grow in devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and be enriched
even more once we can receive again.

4.2. Evangelization - https://catholic-link.org/catholic-evangelization-tips/

Let’s face it, 2020 has been a year like no other. If you’re anything like me, sometimes you wake up
in the morning with a real “what the heck is going on” attitude. But, if you’re anything like me, you
might also wake up in the morning knowing there is a great need for evangelization, perhaps now
more than ever! However, maybe you’re facing a few roadblocks: Churches are closed, you can’t
gather for group discussions or speaker nights, and honestly some people are just downright scared
of you! 

Here’s the good news: as a full-time missionary on a college campus, I’m here to tell you that
there is a need to evangelize, and it is possible to do – especially if you’re not working full-time for
the Church! In fact, there are actually a lot of ways we have seen even more fruit in the midst of
COVID. 

A quick success story: 

By the grace of God, I was able to see this firsthand with two of my students when COVID shut down
our campus completely after spring break. I could see that both of these men had a desire to
authentically love The Lord and also had enormous potential to be evangelical machines on campus,
but previous to COVID, they struggled to find the time to commit themselves more to their faith.
When COVID took away some of the distractions and other commitments they prioritized over their
faith, we suddenly had time to dive deeper in conversation and prayer. Now 6 months later, both
men have committed to regular prayer and are starting new bible studies even as school is kicking
back into gear. So don’t let Satan fool you into thinking God can’t use every scenario to save souls! 

That being said, here are 2 Tips for evangelizing during COVID, that we, as FOCUS missionaries, are
following on 171 campuses this fall. Even during the Spring, despite the shutdown, the Holy Spirit
continued to open the hearts of students. We are following these tips now as we work closely with
the campus ministry to ensure our outreach plans follow state and local laws and the regulations of
the local dioceses.

2 Tips For Evangelizing During COVID

1. Pray, Pray, Pray, Pray, & Pray.

If you want to take more time to evangelize during COVID, that’s great! This is a beautiful desire The
Lord has placed on your heart. But, if you haven’t also made more time to pray, you need to do that
ASAP. We don’t convert hearts – Jesus does. When we pray, we give ourselves a greater capacity to
receive The Lord’s grace, so if we’re not praying more, then we’re not allowing Jesus to do
more  through us either. After all, there’s a reason St. Therese of Lisieux is the Patroness of Missions
even though she never went on one. It was her unceasing prayer and fasting that produced a lot of
the fruit from the Church’s missions. 
2. Literally, just be friends with people.

This is the best advice I’ve ever received as a missionary, and if you’re reading this, this is the most
important thing for you to remember about evangelizing during COVID: Literally, just be friends
with people. That’s it. That’s how we evangelize. Why? Because that’s how Jesus evangelized. 

How is it that Christians make up the greatest percentage of the world’s religious population today?
Was it Christ’s sermon on the mount? Was it one of the numerous miracles Christ performed? Well,
based on the minuscule number of disciples present at Calvary, that’s probably not it. Put simply, it
was Christ’s friendship with His disciples that really took root in their hearts. And when you combine
that with Jesus’s gift of salvation and the gift of The Holy Spirit at Pentecost, this became the context
of how the faith was passed down through generations of Christians. When Jesus says “Go,
therefore, and make disciples of all nations,” He means disciple the way that He discipled,
and evangelize the way that He evangelized. Keep in mind the people He is speaking to just spent 3
years camping with Him in the desert. If that ain’t true friendship, then I don’t know what is! 

So, you don’t need a rabid, 500-word Facebook Post, or a YouTube channel with millions of
followers, or a Doctorate in Theology to share the Gospel. Heck you don’t even have to be in a huge
evangelical ministry! You just need to be a friend like Andrew was to Simon Peter when “He first
found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41) and then
brought him to Jesus. 

This is how we are called to evangelize. 

So, how do I “Just be friends with people” in the context of evangelization?

1. Pray – Ask The Holy Spirit to reveal who God wants you to minister to through authentic
friendship.

2. Brainstorm names – It’s usually best to start with the people that you’re the closest to.
After all, why start building from the bottom when you already have 6 floors built? Do you
have a family member who no longer practices their faith? Do you have a close friend from
High School or College who may identify as a Catholic, but may have never been presented
with the actual Good News of Christ? I’m sure most of us know someone already who falls
into one of these categories, but when that fails you can always start going through your
texts or your contact list.

3. Start with a simple call or text –  A real friend doesn’t mind stopping in to say “Hi” with no
motive other than just to hear about your life. Christians with a desire to evangelize
should be no different. The difference is that this is just the starting-point, not the peak of
our friendships. 

4. Continue regular conversation – Follow-up! Just don’t be weird, don’t be forceful, and pay
attention to basic social cues if you’re getting a little over-zealous. But don’t allow yourself
to get complacent either. Be vulnerable with what’s going on in your life and invite your
friend into it, and give them opportunities to share their life with you too! This is the
beginning of a real friendship. 

5. Pray. Again! – Pray by name for the friends you are talking to. Bear their burdens in your
prayer, like Jesus did on The Cross, and pray for Jesus to bring about a conversion in their
heart. And don’t forget to pray for yourself! Ask for the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that you
know how and when to share the gospel with your friends. 
 6. Share the gospel! – When the time comes, take the chance to share how a relationship
with Jesus has changed your life for the better. Jesus tells us that “The truth will set you
free”, and everyone has a desire for freedom in their heart. Watch and pray, and savor the
moment when you may finally be like John The Baptist and point out “The Christ” and
watch him set your best friend free. 

Don’t let the news keep you down. There are souls thirsting for Christ, waiting for the Gospel to be
proclaimed to them and it could be someone right in your backyard! The challenges from COVID
might seem daunting at first, but like all things, it could really be an opportunity for God to bestow
more graces upon us. 

Don’t just take my word for it, get out and try evangelizing the way that Christ did! And if you have
questions or want examples for a good digital model of this, feel free to check out FOCUS Digital
Campus and contact our team for more information.

4.3. Taking the side of the Poor - https://countercurrents.org/2020/10/pandemic-and-the-plight-of-

the-indian-poor/

Escalating Poverty and the Extermination of the Poor

In the second week of April 2020, UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) claimed that about
400 million workers from India’s informal sector are likely to be pushed deeper into poverty due to
Covid-19. There is no dispute that poverty in the country will worsen, but the question is, by how
much? The Government of India has categorically stated that it does not have the necessary data
about poverty or about the migrants. What this statement implies is that in the absence of ‘reliable
data’ nothing can be done or nothing has been done.

Shweta Saini writing in Financial Express on 30 th April, 2020 had argued that COVID-19 may double
poverty in India. She went on to argue that even a 25% fall in their incomes due to the lockdown will
make 354 million more people poor. Based on the data provided by the National Sample Survey
Organization (NSSO) and Planning Commission of India, if one estimates the monthly per capita
consumption expenditure (MPCE) of households in the country, the number in the last six months
would have gone up.

Shweta Saini illustrates her argument by taking the example of Uttar Pradesh. In 2011-12, poverty
threshold levels for the state (per person per month) were Rs 768 and Rs 941 for rural and urban
areas, respectively. Based on this, the state’s poverty ratio was estimated to be 29.4%. If we
introduce an income shock of 25%, then, measuring against the same poverty threshold levels, UP’s
poverty ratio comes to be 57.7%. Upon applying this new ratio to UP’s 2019-20 population estimate,
we find that about 71 million more poor people would be impoverished in the state.

Uttar Pradesh had a population of 199.8 million as per 2011 census. If we take the national average
of those below poverty line, that is, 21.9% then there were around 43.7 million poor in Uttar
Pradesh. If we add 71 million who are estimated to be pushed below poverty line from the time the
pandemic and the lockdown were imposed, then there are an estimated 114.7 million are poor and
are on the verge of starvation. If this is the case of Uttar Pradesh, the number of the poor driven to
poverty mounts to hundreds of million in this country.

It is becoming clear like day light that poverty is deadlier than the coronavirus. The plight of India’s
migrant workers has drawn global attention, with thousands forced to walk miles to reach home
since the lockdown began, many aid workers said the millions of homeless in India face a bigger
risk. Most of the estimated four million plus homeless people in India have had no way of making a
living since the lockdown began on March, 24 th 2020. With streets deserted, they now even have no
place for begging. This scene can be seen near the Ravidas Gate in Varanasi town. This is the case in
all the other cities of India.

Right from the beginning of the onslaught of COVID-19, health experts have been warning that the
homeless are at greater risk from the virus as many already suffer from illnesses such as
tuberculosis, and their morbidity rates are higher than for the general population. It is this segment
of the population which has lost the livelihood they had and now do not have any income. Lack of
regular income denies them the possibility of having food which would enable them to fight
sickness. Procuring medicine is a far cry, even having the purchasing power to buy food has become
impossible for millions of Indians.

The government announcements to the public from March 24 th onwards has been, “Follow Social
Distance, Wear Mask, and Stay at Home”. The Prime Minister of the country, kept on demanding
from the people to follow the restrictions imposed on them ‘for the sake of the country’. But the
same Prime Minister had no answer for the question, how can a family 5 members living in one
single room rented house can maintain social distance. Similarly, he had no response when asked
how can a daily wage earner remain at home without going to earn a living. Only a handful of the
elite can ‘work from home’ enjoying all the benefits.

It is reported that Dr. Zarir Udwadia, an infectious diseases specialist in Mumbai, who has been
treating coronavirus patients stated, “How does one quarantine someone who has no home, or
someone who lives cheek to jowl with 10 others in a small room? Poverty and overcrowding like
ours are likely catalysts for the COVID-19 explosion we anticipate with trepidation”. While
individuals like this have been showing greater sensitivity to the poor and the vulnerable and
addressing their needs, the ruling elite of this country has been involved in petty politics.

The Indian mind set, its attitude and behaviour in terms of treating labour and labourers stand
exposed at this time. It was observed that during the lockdown, apartments and residential
townships did not allow domestic workers into their premises saying, “These are staying in slums
and shanty towns and they would be transmitting the virus”. Many families chose not to pay their
domestic workers their monthly salaries. Already, they were paying pittance and now they refused
to pay.

Now, with no signs of the pandemic abating, they have flung their gates open, but few are trickling
in. WhatsApp groups of gated communities are flooded with messages seeking domestic workers.
This was reported from Bangalore, “Our domestic help was from West Bengal and has returned
home. There is no guarantee she will return. The search for a new help has been unsuccessful till
now”. In a country where labour in the name of menial labour has been considered lower and not
paying even minimum wages is not considered to be illegal, the poor labourers are the ones who
suffer the most.

Endemic Poverty and Health Hazards

Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Head of Emergencies as early as March 23 rd,
2020 had predicted, “The future of this pandemic will be determined by what happens to densely-
populated countries. It’s important that India takes aggressive action at the public health level, and
at the level of society to control and suppress this disease”. This prediction should have been taken
by the government as a warning. But that was not the case. While India seems to have done well in
controlling the number of confirmed cases compared to other countries in the early phase of the
pandemic, scientists warned that the country is critically missing a key component in this
assessment, that is, the number of truly affected cases.

Let us make a comparison of the size of the population, people affected by COVID-19 and the
number of tests undertaken in few countries. According to Worldometer, an international
organisation, among all the countries, the United States of America has the highest number of
persons affected by this virus, that is, over 7.8 million. Around 2 lakh people have died of this virus
so far there. In a total population of 33.1 million population, over 11.6 million population has been
tested. This amounts to 35.15% of the population have been tested for being positive or negative to
the virus.

People wearing protective gear attend a protest demanding better treatment for people infected
with COVID-19

India is closely following at the heals of the USA in highest number of cases. There are over 6.9
million Corona Virus positive cases in India. Over 1.07 lakh Indians have died due to this virus. But
these numbers only inform us of the cases reported as being affected or dead. There are
unconfirmed reports that there are many more positive cases and deaths than this figure that is
reported. Similarly, out of the 1,383 million population of the country at present, only 85.7 million
citizens have been tested. That is, only 6.2% of the total population tested. There are state
governments who are not doing testing and reporting numbers but claiming to have controlled the
spread of virus. Lie and falsehood has become our way of life.

In contrast to this, let us examine the state of affairs in Spain. Spain has a population of only 46.7
million population, which is about 29 times less than India. Out of these, 13.6 million population has
been tested to check if they are infected by the virus. That is, over 29.28% of the population has
been tested. Spain was one of the countries that was affected by COVID-19 in the month of April,
2020. But the government there proactively responded to the situation and brought the virus under
control. Due to this the citizens cooperated with their government and this resulted in less positive
cases of the virus and also much less deaths. Further, Spain announced as early as April relief and
growth measures in favour of the citizens, especially those who need these badly.

Indian rulers keep claiming that under their regime, India is poised to become Vishwaguru, that is,
world leader and teacher. But its performance has been abysmally lower than any of the countries in
the world. It is an utter shame that a country that boasts of ‘Make in India’ and wants to be the first
one to reach other planets cannot even undertake testing of its population to save them from
COVID-19.

As early as in April 2020, a COVID-19 study group composed of an interdisciplinary team of

researchers said in a report that it is common knowledge that the number of truly affected cases
depends on the extent of testing, the accuracy of the test results, and the frequency and scale of
testing of people who may have been exposed, but do not show symptoms. Lacking testing kits and
protective gear for medical workers, India’s testing rate is abysmally low.

“So far, the number of people tested in India has been relatively small. In the absence of widespread
testing, it is impossible to quantify the magnitude of ‘community transmission’, in other words,
estimate how many are infected outside hospitals and health care facilities,” the scientists wrote in
the report. This situation has though improved a bit but the testing is not up to the level it should be
done. There are also unconfirmed reports that in Bihar for example due to the impending elections,
testing is not done and even if it is done the persons who undergo the test are told that they are
negative. This leaves lots of doubts in the minds of the people about the validity of the tests and the
results.

With the festival season approaching and winter setting in what would be the state of affairs with
regard to the spread or control of the virus is a worrying factor for all the citizens. Luckily, the
government announced that there would not be too much of public display during the festivals. But
who will enforce it and how will it be enforced. Now all of a sudden, the government is restricting
the use of roads for the installation of statues or organising music shows. But these have become
part of the lives and celebrations of people over the years. Now all of a sudden to stop these
practices would need collective sense from the citizens and strong political will from the rulers.

Medical experts have been warning that the positive cases of Corona virus would peak in October,
2020 in India. This warning should be taken seriously by all the citizens of the country so as to thwart
any escalation of the virus. But even if this is done, there is the other worrying factor. That is the
overstretched health care system of the country. With the number of confirmed cases mounting
crossing over 7 million , concerns are growing with the capacity of India’s fragile health care system
in handling the potential threat.

According to the government, India has about one doctor per 1,500 citizens. The WHO recommends
one doctor per 1,000. In rural areas, where two-thirds of Indians live, the ratio is one doctor to more
than 10,000 people. It is in the rural areas that the country’s most poverty stricken, marginalised,
vulnerable and high risk persons and families live. They do not have the facilities and economic
power to adhere to the restrictions imposed by the government like, “Stay at Home, Maintain Social
Distance, Wear Mask, Wash your Hands”, etc. From the government announcements it is becoming
clear that the people are now asked to fend for themselves. As stated in Hindi well, “Bhagwan
Bharose”, that is, “Only God can Save”.

Downtrodden Driven to Despair

The omission and commission of the government of India has flung the country into irreparable loss.
It would take a long time for the citizens and the country to return to pre-COVID-19 state which itself
was deplorable. While this is the case of the citizens in general, the despair of the poor and the
downtrodden is even more frustrating. Among these, women headed households, widows, single
women households, orphans, dependent children, people with disabilities, adolescent girls,
domestic workers, daily wage earners, migrant labourers, etc. are facing huge crisis to survive.
Starvation and death are starring at them. In the absence of any substantial relief measures for food,
alternative employment, wage availability and cash for work or cash for survival from the
government, many are at the verge of committing suicide.

Jose Maria Vera, The Executive Director of Oxfam International writing on the lessons from the
pandemic argued that there is the need to tackle inequality. He goes on to state that to avert more
death, hunger and destitution, governments around the world should commit to reducing inequality.
Like many others who are concerned about the debilitating inequality and the need to address this
serious issue he argues, “It is time to ask: just how ready were each of our governments for this
crisis? And what could they be doing to avert more death, hunger and destitution? How can they rise
out of this pandemic stronger?” After 6 months, the government should be better placed to make
positive and proactive response.
Development Finance International and Oxfam recently published  “Commitment to Reducing
Inequality Index”, which ranks 158 countries on labour rights, taxation, and spending on health,
education and social protection, provide the data one needs to answer these crucial questions
scientifically. The headlines of the report presents this worrying picture:

 Heading into the pandemic, only one in six countries were spending the internationally
accepted basic level on healthcare, that is, 15% of the total budget.

 Only 22% of the global workforce had adequate social protection, leaving billions
unprotected.

 In more than 100 countries at least one in three workers had no labour protections,
such as sick pay.

 Nearly half of all countries do not have adequate legislation on sexual assault and 10
countries, such as Singapore, have no laws on equal pay or gender discrimination.

The report goes on to argue that it is increasingly hard to find a leader who does not say they care
about inequality. Yet, the data show that such concern is not translating into policies and programs.
With notable exceptions, inaction on inequality has left most countries catastrophically unprepared
to weather the pandemic. That is, millions of people have died, and hundreds of millions are falling
into poverty, unnecessarily.

This report presents the instance of India. “Consider India, which currently has the fastest growing
coronavirus caseload of any country in the world. India’s leaders would do well to read the index
carefully. The country is among the world’s worst performing countries in tackling inequality. Only
half of India’s people have access to the most basic health services, with its health spending
proportionally the world’s fourth lowest. Rather than strengthen policies during the pandemic,
several states in India have used COVID-19 as a pretext to increase daily working hours and suspend
minimum pay legislation”.

What is even worst is that at this crucial and critical time, the government of India instead of
formulating and implementing pro-citizens and pro-poor policies and programs have taken to
regressive policies and programs. For instance, in a hurried manner it has come out with ‘National
Education Policy 2020’. There was not much discussion and deliberations but it simply enforced its
autocratic stand and have made all the state governments to implement this policy. For more than 6
months, there has not been any teaching and learning, especially for the rural, dalit, tribal, Muslim
and other deprived communities. The so-called private schools have done some online teaching,
which both the students and teachers consider extremely inadequate.

The government of India has framed 3 farm bills claiming that it wants to change the manner in
which the agricultural produce is marketed, sold and stored across the country. This was initially
issued in the form of ordinances in June. They were then passed by voice-vote in both the Lok Sabha
and the Rajya Sabha during the delayed monsoon session.  Protests have erupted in Punjab, Haryana
and other parts of India. Even if these are progressive bills, what is the need of rushing through with
the promulgation of these into acts. Without agriculture being on the right track all of us will starve
to death. Hence, the government should have taken into consideration many aspects before
embarking on this move.

The Economic Times reported on 25 th September, 2020, “Parliament passes Labour Bills, making it
easier for employers to hire and fire”. The three bills 1) Code on Occupational Safety, 2) Health and
Working Conditions, Industrial Relations Code, 3) Social Security Code, were passed. The Minister of
Labour, Government of India claimed that ‘the purpose of labour reforms is to provide a transparent
system to suit the changed business environment’. However, as reported, all trade unions, including
the RSS affiliated Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), have objected to sweeping powers given under the
Codes to bureaucrats to make changes. The BMS also said it is an overt attempt to monopolise single
union and eliminate all other unions.

What is even more deplorable is that the government of India did not even spare the Non-
Governmental Organisations (NGOs) from its autocratic, undemocratic attitude and behaviour. It
brought out sweeping amendments in the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2020 (FCRA),
denying the poor the benefit of the welfare, relief and rehabilitation works so well undertaken by
the NGOs at normal and during disasters.

The Indian Express on its 9th June edition reported, “NGOs deserve all appreciation for helping
migrants during COVID-19 pandemic: Supreme Court”. The Supreme Court went on to declare,
“Although it is the responsibility and duty of the States and Union Territories to take care of all the
needs of migrant labourers but in this difficult time non-governmental organisations and individuals
have also contributed and played an important role in extending helping hand to the migrants”. But
now the NGOs and voluntary sector cutting across religion, region and area of focus are not sure as
to how to proceed and what to do. Instead of working out with the people alternative livelihood
they are busy getting legal and financial opinions from experts to understand these amendments
and respond.

India’s Rich Prosper while the Poor Perish

Bansari Kamdar, writing in The Diplomat on 10 th September, 2020 stated that on August 8, 2020,
Mukesh Ambani became the fourth richest man in the world. The same day, a labourer in Madhya
Pradesh who had lost his job after the coronavirus-induced lockdown killed himself and his three
daughters by tying the girls to his waist and jumping into a well. This is a tale of two Indias and the
broadening economic inequality between them. In the last two decades, inequality in India has
grown faster than in any other country except Russia.

Bansari further stated that Oxfam’s 2019 “Time to Care” report found that the richest 1% of Indians
held more than four times the wealth held by the bottom 70% of the country,  that is, four times the
wealth of 953 million people. In the last five months during the coronavirus pandemic, Mukesh
Ambani, Asia’s richest man and the chairman of the Reliance group, amassed over $48 billion (more
than 288 crore rupees) in net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.  His net worth
has doubled to over $80 billion  (more than 480 crore rupees) in just the past year. Naturally a
fundamental question arises how come Reliance company earn crores of rupees while the vast
segment of Indian population is forced to misery and poverty.

The Business Standard in its 19th August, 2020 edition quoting, the Centre for Monitoring Indian
Economy (CMIE) stated that the number of salaried people losing their jobs amid the
coronavirus pandemic has surged to 18.9 million since April, with around 5 million jobs lost last
month. The report further stated that while salaried jobs are not lost easily, once lost, they are also
far more difficult to retrieve. Therefore, their ballooning numbers are a source of worry. This is the
case of gainfully employed and monthly salaried workers.

Migrant workers crowd up outside a bus station as they wait to board buses to return to their
villages on March 28, 2020.
The state of affairs of the labourers of informal sector who do not have regular salaried jobs and
often have to search for work is pathetic. The Economic Times quoting the International Labor
Organization (ILO) estimated that nearly 400 million, that is, 40 crore workers in India’s informal
economy are at risk of falling deeper into poverty. This is more than half of the working population
of the country. This also means that 40 crores of families are subject to lack of income resulting in
hunger, starvation and death.

On August 31st the Indian government reported that the economy has contracted by 23.9% in the
first quarter, marking the beginning of a deep recession. Defying its long-term accelerating trend,
the economy was already slowing in India, a situation exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Real
GDP growth in India had fallen from 7.0% in 2017-18 to 6.1% in 2018-19 and 4.2% in 2019-20. But
what the government does not state is that the cumulative wealth of just 63 rich people in India was
greater than the entire Union government budget for 2018-2019.

Unplanned, abrupt and brutal lockdown restrictions to curtail the spread of the coronavirus in March
and April led to countless job losses. Not just unplanned and abrupt but cruel decision to force the
distress migrant labourers to return back to their villages without any transport facilities and food
provisions to an unprecedented internal migration crisis. But this is only one side of the story. Only
the poor and the marginalised were victimised by this unplanned and abrupt lockdown. But the
business houses which were millionaires and billionaires already made huge amount of profit. The
only ‘charity’ work they undertook was to deposit some money in the ‘Prime Minister Cares Fund”.

Lessons from Other Countries

First, the government of India has to refrain from making false statements about testing and number
of the COVID-19 affected population and realistically address the impact of this virus. In the month
of February and March, it was understandable that not having proper information about the virus
the government was unprepared and unplanned. In a knee jerk reaction, the government imposed
lockdown. Now there are sufficient information and data based on which proper response can be
planed and implanted.

Secondly, the government needs to address the issue of inequality. We saw in the foregoing pages
how the poor are becoming extremely vulnerable and the rich multiplying their wealth. The
government needs to garner enough political will to address the issue of inequality by formulating
policies and programs that address those below the poverty line and those just above the poverty
line. Knowing well that the lower middle class to the upper class will manage their lives with their
resources, the government needs to tackle the starvation situation of the poor. Indian government
should consider the example of South Korea, which responded to the pandemic by instituting
universal emergency relief payments for 22 million households. It needs to get the support of all
political parties to engage in this most important response.

Thirdly, the government has to put its acts together to provide health care for the poorest of the
poor for general ailments and COVID-19 related illness. But just lip service will not do any good.
Indian government can learn from Thailand, where the official COVID-19 death toll remains very low.
The country provides universal healthcare. It also does so by spending only $277 per capita on
health. The US, in comparison, spends $11,000 per capita on its famously privatised system but
millions of its citizens are affected. This is due to total governance irresponsibility. Indian
government should accept this painful fact that the Indian health care system was extremely
inadequate and insufficient and now plan to provide health care.
Fourthly, the government of India need to address the issue of education of the marginalised and
rural population. Though there is still time for the reopening of schools, it is important that the
government should engage in preparedness with all the stakeholders of education. This is not the
luxury of the so-called private schools only but especially of the government schools in which over
90% of the rural and poor children study. The Indian government should have the humility to learn
from Sierra Leone,  a poor nation which has taken bold reform steps to make secondary education
free and clamp down on tax evasion by mining companies. For this the government has to have the
political will which also means that it has to go against the interests of Ambanis and Adanis.

Fifthly, instead of destroying the country by anti-citizen and anti-poor policies and programs it is high
time the government should work out progressive and proactive policies and programs for the high
risk persons and families. New Zealand, another success story in handling the pandemic, has centred
its entire budget on “wellbeing” to tackle issues like child poverty, challenging the old and stubborn
obsession with the gross domestic product (GDP). Vietnam another poor country is considering
reducing inequality core to its upcoming 10-year plan.

Further, in a country where women have been historically subjected to the rank of second class
citizens and are exploited, Indian government has failed to respond to this. Now the pandemic has
further heightened gender inequality. Women headed households, single women households,
widows and households where the husband is a drunkard etc., force women to suffer the most.  The
government of India needs to urgently formulate gender-sensitive policies and programs so as to
address the issues of exclusion and exploitation of women.

Finally, instead of pretending to be Vishwaguru and making the country a laughing stock at the
international level, the government of India has to put its act together and engage in governance. As
time is running out, it is urgent that the government of India plan and implement pro-citizen and
pro-poor policies and programs.

Dr Prakash Louis is a researcher, writer, activist and coordinator of Catholic Church Covid Response
Team, Varanasi.

4.4. Joyfully witnessing Christ - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53055220

This coronavirus crisis is affecting us all, rich and poor alike, and putting a spotlight on hypocrisy. I
am worried by the hypocrisy of certain political personalities who speak of facing up to the crisis, of
the problem of hunger in the world, but who in the meantime manufacture weapons.

This is a time to be converted from this kind of functional hypocrisy. It's a time for integrity. Either
we are coherent with our beliefs or we lose everything.

Every crisis contains both danger and opportunity. Today I believe we have to slow down our rate of
production and consumption and to learn to understand and contemplate the natural world. We
need to reconnect with our real surroundings. This is the opportunity for conversion.

I see early signs of an economy that is more human. But let us not lose our memory once all this is
past, let us not file it away and go back to where we were. This is the time to take the decisive step,
to move from using and misusing nature to contemplating it. We have lost the contemplative
dimension; we have to get it back.

And speaking of contemplation, I'd like to dwell on one point.

This is the moment to see the poor. Jesus says we will have the poor with us always, and it's true.
They are a reality we cannot deny. But the poor are hidden, because poverty is bashful.
In Rome recently, in the midst of the quarantine, a policeman said to a man: "You can't be on the
street, go home." The response was: "I have no home. I live in the street."

There is such a large number of people who are on the margins. And we don't see them, because
poverty is bashful. They have become part of the landscape; they are things.

Mother Teresa saw them and had the courage to embark on a journey of conversion. To "see" the
poor means to restore their humanity. They are not things, not garbage; they are people.

We can't settle for a welfare policy such as we have for rescued animals. which is how the poor are
often treated.

We need to tell ourselves this often: the poor person had a mother who raised him lovingly

Pope Francis

I'm going to dare to offer some advice. This is the time to go to the underground. I'm thinking of
Dostoyevsky's short novel, Notes from Underground.

The employees of that prison hospital had become so inured they treated their poor prisoners like
things. And seeing the way they treated one who had just died, the one on the bed alongside tells
them: "Enough! He too had a mother!"

We need to tell ourselves this often: that poor person had a mother who raised him lovingly. Later in
life we don't know what happened. But it helps to think of that love he once received through his
mother's hope.

We disempower the poor. We don't give them the right to dream of their mothers. They don't know
what affection is; many live on drugs. And to see them can help us to discover the piety, which
points towards God and towards our neighbour.

Go down into the underground, and pass from the hyper-virtual, fleshless world to the suffering
flesh of the poor. This is the conversion we have to undergo. And if we don't start there, then there
will be no conversion.