Cardinal Vithayathil releases India’s ‘Book of Revelation’

Cardinal Vithayathil releases India’s ‘Book of Revelation’

Shining Faith in Kandhamal, authored by Catholic journalist Anto Akkara and published by Asian Trading Corporation (ATC), was released at the Indian Mission Congress in Mumbai yesterday.

In the presence of the entire Catholic leadership of the country including bishops and 1500 church delegates, the book, documenting the incredible Christian witness in Kandhamal, was released by Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, Major Archbishop and president of Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) and head of the Syro-Malabar Church.

Describing the book as a book of revelation, Cardinal Vithayathil in his foreword said that the Christians in Kandhamal were “humiliated and tortured but they stood firm in their faith. The Christians of Orissa are living dangerously. But it is not a desperate life. Rather, it is a heroic response to the great call of their faith.”

The book, Cardinal Vithayathil pointed out, “reveals a true journalist who cannot remain a mute spectator in the face of inhuman atrocities. Love and responsibility for one’s fellowmen finds expression in concern for the truth, and Anto has borne testimony to the persecuted truth of Kandhamal in these pages.”

“Kandhamal has produced a painful and at the same time glorious moment for the Christian faith with deeply inspiring testimonies of courageous witness amid persecution. I congratulate the author for documenting this shining moment of Christianity in India,” said Archbishop of Mumbai Cardinal Oswald Gracias, chairman of the Indian Mission Congress and president, Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.

The Shining Faith in Kandhamal is a collection of spine chilling testimonies of faith in the 21st century from the jungles of Kandhamal along with graphic descriptions of sadistic killings, torture and forced reconversions of thousands of Christians narrated with journalistic flair and passion.

The award-winning author’s earlier book Kandhamal – a blot on Indian Secularism had been hailed as ‘One of the must-read books’ by Kuldip Nayyar, patriarch of Indian journalism and as ‘A charge-sheet on Kandhamal’ by K.G. Kannabiran, president of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties