By Sujata Jena, SS.CC.
Bhubaneswar: Odisha Catholic Bishops have urged the faithful to live in communion and in solidarity with all during the pandemic at a webinar organized on September 19, 2020.
Bishop Niranjan Sualsingh, the organizer of the webinar said, “Coming together on this platform may help us journey a new normal way of life that God wants us to journey together.”
The prelate who is also the chairperson of the Regional Commission for Priests, Religious and Brothers explained that the objectives of the webinar is to live in communion and in solidarity with people. It is to re-live the tragic moments with faith and fortitude and move forward to recognize the human spirit of witness and support.
More than 300 participants including Archbishop, Bishops, Clergy, Religious and Seminarians in Odisha joined the webinar.
Fr. Joe Mannath, General Secretary of CRI, Policy researcher Sandeep Patnaik, Divine Word priest S.M. Michael and Dr. Sheena Durairaj, a professor of psychology were the key speakers of the webinar on COVID-19 and beyond: A Christian reflection.
While addressing on the impact of COVID-19 and its challenges Sandeep Patnaik told that the poor migrants who are mostly dalits and tribal are hit directly by the pandemic. Dalits often suffer discrimination in access to resources and relief when disaster strikes.
Patnaik who works for federal government on alternative public policy said, “Therefore the call is to empower the most marginalized and migrant communities to assert their fundamental rights in health, education, social protection, financial inclusion, food security, livelihood rights and control over local natural resources through bargaining power of the unorganized workers.”
Professor Sheena Durairaj said, “Covid- 19 has not only brought physical health crisis but also mental health crisis. “
Durairaj advised everyone to have a positive mental health which allows people to cope up with the stresses of life and bounce back from adversity. She said, “Have a sense of contentment, zest for living and the ability to laugh and have fun and also the ability to build and maintain fulfilling relationships.”
Divine Word priest S M Michael while speaking about the Christian approach to COVID-19 said, “Pandemic is not new to humanity. The world has witnessed numerous plagues and pandemic at different times. But the Christians always stood out in their service to the infirm”.
The priest said, because the Christians believed that God was sovereign over death, they were willing to minister to the sick even at the cost of their lives. Should we not follow their example and re-live the tragic moments with faith and fortitude, while nurturing ourselves and reaching out to others with love and compassion?
Archbishop John Barwa, Bishops Sarat Chandra Nayak, Aplinar Senapati, Kishore Kumar Kujur, Msgr. Isaac Puthenangady and provincials of different religious communities were also shared their feedback and reflections.
Archbishop John Barwa said, “When human beings behave differently God intervenes and brings us back. Therefore, we need to be always united with God, our neighbors and the whole of creation.”
Bishop Sarat Chandra Nayak while explaining about the plight of the migrants and Government’s apathy towards them told, “We need to keep data. A data-less community is destiny-less community. Because the choices we make today will directly affect the way this crisis unfolds and the lives of millions of poor people in the rural villages in future.”
Holy Spirit sister Sophia Arockia, Fr. Paul Koonampara, JMJ sister Puja and Bro. Abrahaham shared their ground experience during COVID-19 at the webinar.
The webinar encouraged to build solidarity for collective action with shared responsibilities to overcome life-threatening challenges.
The meeting suggested building up meaningful relationships, partnership, cooperation, collaboration that can bring changes in the lives of the millions of people especially in informal sector as well as in the formal sector.
The organizers stressed the need to build village community, support group system, faith community where everyone can come together to share their lives and help each other by sharing resources when required.
The webinar encouraged to educate and empower the poor and marginalized communities to assert their fundamental rights in health, education, information, entitlements, natural resources and so on.
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