By Felix Anthony –
Aizawl: Two Missionaries of Charity (MC) Nuns from Mizoram have decided to stay in war-torn Ukraine to serve the people in the midst of full-scale invasion by Russia.
The two MC sisters from Mizoram in Northeast India, Sisters Rosela Nuthangi and Ann Frida have expressed their decision to stay on in Ukraine, risking their lives to serve people fleeing the war and the injured.
Mother General of the MC, Sister Prema established contact with the two nuns on 2 March, asking them to move to safer place by road. But the two preferred to remain where they are to help the people in whichever way possible. The sisters have informed their relatives of their safety in spite of the challenging times.
Sister Rosela Nuthangi MC, daughter of (Late) David Laiawrha and (Late) Monica Lalbuangi, hails from Sihphir village. She is the second MC sister among the Mizo community. She made her first religious profession in 1984 and was sent to the then USSR as a missionary. She worked in Moscow’s St. Petersburg for 10 years. Having mastered Russian language, she also worked in Latvia, Astonovia and in 2017 she moved to Ukraine and is still serving there as a missionary sister.
Sister Ann Frida MC is daughter of (Late) Joseph Rothangpuia and Elizabeth Lalremi. She is from Mizoram’s capital city Aizawl. She made her first religious profession in 1998. After working in India for a few years, she was sent to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine and is serving there for the last 10 years.
Appreciating the sisters for their heroic courage, Archbishop John Moolachira, the President of the North East Regional Bishops’ Council, said, “I am not surprised that two religious women Sisters of the missionaries of Charity who are working in the war-ravaged Ukraine are not leaving the country in spite of the great danger to their lives and the interest of the Govt of India to evacuate all its citizens. I am proud of them”.
Adding what the two nuns have done is a small example of what the Church really stands for, Moolachira said, “Every consecrated person cares more for the lives and comfort of their fellow men and women than that of their own. They would consider it cowardice and unbecoming of their noble call to flee when the people under their care need their help, prayers and support the most”.
Father Robert Faustin, a Salesian priest from Mizoram, said that the anxious relatives of these two Mizo Nuns are in constant touch with them for the past few days. “We hope for the safety of these two heroic nuns and let us also pray that peace and normalcy return in Ukraine, Russia and rest of the world”, Father Faustin said.
US, CANADA, UKRAINE AND RUSSIA 2022 DISPUTES โ HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND SEQUEL TO FR. PETER MORELLOโS COMMENTS: (1) US, Canada, Ukraine and Russia are Caucasian-European nations by ethnic majority and nominally Christian nations by religious majority; (2) Ukraine and Russia are also Slavic nations and neighbors with similar laws (limits) on abortion and LGBT; (3) Russia was USโ supporter in the American Revolution at great cost to herself โ the island of Menorca; (4) Russia was USโ supporter in the Civil War when USโ opponents were Britain and France, prompting US Secretary of Navy, Gideon Welles to say โGod bless the Russiansโ; (5) US (western Alaska) and Russia are neighbors, and Canada (northwestern Yukon) is closer to Russia than to Britain and France or Mexico; (6) US and Russia were never at war, not counting the Cold War or proxy wars, as compared, for example, with the โG7โ nations; (7) US, Canada, NATO and Ukraine have disputes with Russia since the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and militarization of countries neighboring Russia which was invaded over the centuries by NATO members Britain, France, Germany, (Mussoliniโs) Italy, Romania, Lithuania-Poland, Turkey and by others including Sweden and the Mongols who inflicted on Ukraine and Russia death and destruction with hardly any parallels in worldโs history โ Germany also helped Lenin to impose psychopathic and deadly Marxism on Ukraine and Russia in 1917, while Ukraine and Russia, mostly by themselves, prevented Polandโs annihilation by Nazis and saved Europe from Nazi Germany and Mongols; (8) Ukraine and Russia have a border dispute, and a military conflict-war since the violations of the February 21, 2014 all-Ukrainian political agreement in Kiev and the violations of the 2014-2015 Minsk Peace Agreement signed by Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France (in the future, a joint venture by the Minsk signatories in securing Ukrainian segment of โPan-Europeanโ gas pipeline might be a โwin-winโ) โ by February 23, 2022 the war took some 15,000 lives and produced thousands of refugees as well as widespread material destruction in eastern Ukraine; on February 24, 2022 Russia escalated the war and invaded Ukraine resulting in many more deaths, refugees and material destruction across Ukraine; (9) US and Russia can destroy each other and the world with their nuclear weapons in an hour; (10) the irreplaceable way forward for resolving these issues are the eternally-valid biblical principles reflected in President Washingtonโs Farewell Address in which he called religion-morality the foundation of domestic well-being and peace with other nations and in President Lincolnโs last Inaugural Address โโฆ with malice towards none, with charity for all … among ourselves and with all nationsโ, as well as in Pope Francisโ 2022 call for prayer and political talks centered on โhuman brotherhood instead of partisan interests”, all the while keeping in mind the 2022 Lenten message โRemember thou art dust and to dust thou shalt returnโ and “Repent and believe in the Gospel” which also includes โYou shall not bear false witness against your neighborโ and the parable of โthe speck and the log” โ moral principles given to us by Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace and the just Judge of the world, principles ignored at oneโs great peril.