- Media Presentation On Orissa Violence Jolts Kolkata Catholics

KOLKATA, India (UCAN) - Felix Britto, 52, sat inside Christ the King parish church, eyes fixed on the white screen at the side of the altar.

Before Sunday Mass began on Oct. 19, he and 400 other Catholics watched a 20-minute presentation of pictures and television news clips on the violence against Christians in Orissa state.

"Even though I was not present in Orissa, I was touched and moved by what I saw on the screen," Britto told UCA News. He said he felt sorry for the Christians who have lost their relatives, homes and possessions.

Dominic Azavedo, a lay leader, organized the screening of the presentation prepared by the West Bengal state unit of SIGNIS, an international Catholic organization of communicators in the audiovisual and other media.

Starting on Aug. 24, seven weeks of anti-Christian violence in Orissa, West Bengal's southern neighbor, claimed at least 58 lives, mostly Christians, and displaced about 50,000 Christians. Mobs destroyed 4,500 houses along with about 100 churches, institutions and convents.

Britto said he is not angry at the Hindu fanatics, but sad nonetheless that "our own countrymen don't understand the amount of good Christians have done to the nation."

Sunil Lucas, president of SIGNIS-West Bengal, told UCA News six parishes in Calcutta archdiocese had already held screenings. Calcutta is the old name of Kolkata, the state capital, 1,460 kilometers southeast of New Delhi. The archdiocese has 24 parishes in the city and 32 parishes and mission stations outside it.

The English-language presentation features pictures of the violence along with clips from television news reports. The program ends with a short clip from the movie The Passion of The Christ, where Jesus, on the cross, cries out: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Lucas, who prepared the presentation, said the idea came from a meeting of Religious priests and nuns in the state. "A majority of our people missed the media coverage on the violence in Orissa, and since I had an opportunity to watch [reports], I recorded them and put them together for others to watch," he told UCA News.

He also purchased clippings from news syndicates to make the compilation complete, Lucas said, adding his impression that the secular media were largely unbiased in reporting the violence.

Sunita Rozario, 38, was moved to tears during the Oct. 19 screening. "I did not have the opportunity to watch these news channels. My knowledge about violence in Orissa was quite limited," the housewife told UCA News. She said she could not imagine the violence "was so very inhuman and ruthless."

Redemptorist Father Daya Kishore, assistant pastor of Fatima Church, where one screening was held, said his parishioners empathized with the victims of violence. He pointed out that the Mass collection amounted to five times the average of about 1,000 rupees on ordinary Sundays.

Their "concern for the victims of communal violence will be seen more during next week," when the parish is scheduled to hold a vigil prayer for Orissa, he added.

Kolkata's biggest parish, St. Theresa's, organized eight screenings on Oct. 12. The main organizer, James Lingam of the Catholic Association of Bengal, said 3,000 people in all watched the program.

Parish priests have agreed to screen the program, which Archbishop Lucas Sirkar of Calcutta has approved.

Archbishop Sirkar had written to all parishes and institutions urging them to screen the 20-minute presentation during all major Sunday Masses in October, preferably after the penitential rite. The Salesian prelate also wanted homilies to highlight a Christian response to violence based on Christ's message of forgiveness.