Carmelite Priest Brutally Martyred in India

Catholic Online ^ | 8/19/08 | Nirmala Carvalho

[tcg]

According to witnesses, Saturday afternoon Fr. Thomas celebrated mass in Burgida, before setting out for another village in the district where he was to have celebrated Sunday mass. The last people to have seen him alive were religious sisters from Lingapetta convent, where the priest had stopped for supper before continuing his journey.

“Fr. Thomas is a martyr – said Msgr. Marampudi, archbishop of Hyderabad, on hearing of the brutal murder. The Indian Church is shocked and deeply saddened by this barbarous killing, the result of a growing climate of intolerance and violence against Christians in this country”. The prelate immediately made his way to the area where the massacre took place and speaks of a “traumatized” Christian community. He forcefully denies accusations of “proselytism and forced conversions”. Given that there are “five families of Catholic faith” in the parish where Fr. Thomas was murdered.

[tcg]

Fr. Thomas Pandippallyil was assassinated on his way to a village to celebrate Sunday mass. His body showed signs of torture, with wounds to his face, his hands and legs broken and his eyes pulled from their sockets.

[Albion Wilde]

RIP. May God turn even this atrocity to good.

[guitarplayer1953]

Amen. May convection of their sins come upon them.

[kerosene]

Amen. May convection of their sins come upon them.

Does Hell operate on convection? If you mean "conviction," that's another matter. :-)

[ought-six]

Maybe I missed it, but did the article identify any suspects? I know there are a hell of a lot of muzz in India, and this type of barbarism is right up the muzz alley; but is there some hostility from Hindus now? I always found Hindus to be quite well-behaved and not prone to fanaticism.

[guitarplayer1953]

Hell does operate on convection opps me bad should of read convections

[narses]

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[Morgana]

who? why?

[Morgana]

I had a Hindu friend in college tell me that most Hindus in India liked Catholics because of Mother Teresa.

There has been some conflict with the Hindus and Catholics lately, but I am not sure why.

Most often if it is the Hindus the article will say so. It does not show who it was......so I but it was the Muzzies!

[wintertime]

The Indian Church is shocked and deeply saddened by this barbarous killing, the result of a growing climate of intolerance and violence against Christians in this country”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Christian Raj imposed civility on India. The more distant in time is the Raj the worse the barbarity will become.

It is Judeo Christian philosophy that finally tamed the war lords of Europe ( especially after the printing press and the scriptures were widely available to all). It was Christians who finally put an end to slavery, and many other barbarities, world wide.

Can anyone name a civilized non-Christian society, that did not have barbarism imposed on it by Christians?

By the way, the proportion of boys to girls in India is grossly out of whack. Their baby girl death rate is significantly higher than that of boys. There are two reasons for this:

1) Baby girls are disproportionally aborted.
2) Baby girls are more likely to not be fed, neglected, and denied medical care. ( a cruel way to die)

India is a cruel culture that generally does not value women, and it is evident that not all humans in this culture are equal before God.

[infowarrior]

Maybe I missed it, but did the article identify any suspects? I know there are a hell of a lot of muzz in India, and this type of barbarism is right up the muzz alley; but is there some hostility from Hindus now? I always found Hindus to be quite well-behaved and not prone to fanaticism.

While Hindus don't have the same general "reputation" for this kind of brutality, there have been of late, in India, some groups of ultranationalistic Hindus which are quite capable of this kind of thing. Its a newer phenomenon, but does exist, and cannot be ruled out yet...

the infowarrior

[Salvation]

Dear Lord, bless this man abundantly.

[4Godsoloved..Hegave]

Several months ago I talked with a Hindu from Pakistan. His family per him was a minority in Pakistan but in his local group they were amongst their own. He said that he distrusted Muslims because when they came to the US they complained and didn't see the beauty, nonetheless the blessing of being in the US..which he called the greatest country on earth. He also said that radical Hindus could be more vicious than any radical Muslim. He was willing to chide his own Hindu radicals much more vigorously than he had ever heard a Muslim in the US ever chide any radical Muslim behavior from thousands of miles away.

[Coleus]

More martyrs: a Carmelite priest is massacred in Andhra Pradesh

 

38 year old Fr. Thomas Pandippallyil, was assassinate don the night of August 16th on his way to a village to celebrate Sunday mass. His body showed signs of torture, with wounds to his face, his hands and legs broken and his eyes pulled from their sockets. The bishop of Hyderabad denounces the growing climate of “violence against Catholics” in the country.

New Delhi (AsiaNews) – “Father Thomas is a martyr: he sacrificed his life for the poor and marginalised.  But he did not die in vain, because his body and his blood enrich the Church in India, particularly the Church in Andhra Pradesh”. Those are the words of Msgr. Marampudi Joji, archbishop of Hyderabad and secretary of the bishops’ conference of Andhra Pradesh (a state in South East India), commenting the barbarous killing of the Carmelite priest Thomas Pandippallyil, 38, assassinated on the night of August 16th in Mosalikunta, on the road between Lingampet and Yellareddy, 90 km from the regional capital.

On the night of August 16th his body was found on the roadside by a group of people, not far from the village of Balampilly; the body of the Carmelite of Mary Immaculate carried wounds to the face while the hands and legs had been crushed and the eyes gouged out.  His motorbike was found one kilometre on from the body.  According to witnesses, Saturday afternoon Fr. Thomas celebrated mass in Burgida, before setting out for another village in the district where he was to have celebrated Sunday mass. The last people to have seen him alive were religious sisters from Lingapetta convent, where the priest had stopped for supper before continuing his journey.

 “P. Thomas is a martyr – said Msgr. Marampudi, archbishop of Hyderabad, on hearing of the brutal murder.  The Indian Church is shocked and deeply saddened by this barbarous killing, the result of a growing climate of intolerance and violence against Christians in this country”. The prelate immediately made his way to the area where the massacre took place and speaks of a “traumatized” Christian community.  He forcefully denies accusations of “proselytism and forced conversions”. Given that there are “five families of Catholic faith” in the parish where Fr. Thomas was murdered.

Msgr. Marampudi Joji maintains the crime is the result of a climate of “jealousy of the Catholic Church”, whose only fault is that of trying to help develop the abandoned rural areas of the country and support and aid those who are “victims of violence and oppression”. “Priests and nuns – continues the archbishop of Hyderabad – have for decades been at the service of the least fortunate in India, and this makes them targets of forces of evil who do not want the marginalized and impoverished to become empowered”.

The remains of Fr. Thomas Pandippallyil will be laid to rest on Wednesday in the Carmelite provincial house in Balampilly: the priest was actively involved in educational field. He joined the Chanda mission of the CMI on 24th June 1987. He was ordained a priest in 2002. He was the rector for the Chanda mission province of the CMI, and also worked as hospital administrator, school manager and mission centre director.