PRAY FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS AND CHURCHES IN INDIA JUNE 24-28, 2024

Dear Friends of FIACONA,

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has designated prayer for persecuted Christians in India during this Religious Freedom Week June 24-28, 2024.

Christians in India have faced a four-fold increase in attacks since 2012.

The USCCB stands with the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) in their call for support and awareness and has created an excellent Backgrounder: India – Tolerance Winning over Secularism? for us to share with others so they can also pray for Christians in India. The USCCB says,

In the state of Manipur, the minority Christian population has been subjected to harassment and attacks by Hindu nationalists. Since May 2023, around 300 churches have been set on fire, and 100 other buildings belonging to Christian groups have been destroyed. Approximately 50,000 people have been displaced by these hostilities. Hate speech, particularly against Muslims, is on the rise, and violence against minorities occurs with impunity as police do little to protect those being persecuted and may even participate in the attacks. Incitement to violence escalated as the May 2024 elections approached.

On Wednesday, June 26, FIACONA invites all Christians and churches to join our Catholic siblings, clergy, and parishes in prayer for the protection of all harassed, abused, and vulnerable Christians in India, their congregations, schools, missions, and homes.

Prayer indicates our awareness, longing for intercession, desire to show solidarity, and passion to lift our voices in advocacy. When we support those who are suffering, we join in God’s work among those who suffer.

Prayer for persecuted Christians in India moves us beyond belief in our own limitations and into a future not determined by predictions based solely on the past. Prayer puts our confidence in what God is already doing for God’s people across India, because, “God made the nations so they would seek him, perhaps even reach out to him and find him. In fact, God isn’t far away from any of us. In God we live, move, and exist” (Acts 17: 27b-28 CEB).

As FIACONA, let us pray to the Lord:

• For the wisdom and courage to speak up, organize, and tell the story of how God has worked through the Church in India to show Christ’s love for all people for over 2,000 years.

• For our legislators to support House Resolution 542, condemning human rights violations in India.

• For the U.S. State Department to designate India as a ‘country of particular concern’.

• For the U.S. Senate to pass Resolution 424, protecting human rights defenders in India and reversing policies that discriminate against Christians because of their faith.

• For the Indian government at the national and state levels to uphold the Fundamental and Minority Rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.

• For an elimination of arbitrary arrests and mob violence triggered by Christian worship.

• For an end to the criminalization of conversion and all hate speech toward Christians and their neighbors of other faiths.

• For the Indian government to make reparations to survivors of religiously motivated violence.

• For the Indian government to rebuild all houses of worship, homes, and schools that have been destroyed, and to practice its faith in a democratic state that represents the good of all its citizens.

May God receive our prayers and, with millions of others, bring us closer to securing the safety, justice, and commitment to the common good that binds us together through the love of Christ. Amen.

Neal

Rev. Neal Christie
Executive Director
FIACONA