India(Maharashtra):Retired Justice Kurian Joseph of Supreme Court of India addressed over 200 Jesuits representing 19 provinces.

Retired Justice Kurian Joseph

A former Supreme Court judge of India has invited the Jesuits of South Asia to open schools for those who are below the poverty line. 

Retired Justice Kurian Joseph of Supreme Court of India addressed over 200 Jesuits representing 19 provinces and regions of the South Asian Assistancy, assembled at Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, April 26.

Lauding the contributions the Jesuits in the Assistancy have made in the field of education, the former judge invited the Jesuits to explore the possibilities of opening up schools exclusively for those below the poverty line.

Justice Joseph spoke to the Jesuits, who have gathered for their four-day seminar, April 25 to 28 on Interculturality for Reconciled Life and Mission, on ‘Challenges to Secularism’.

He said that the country which had withstood the onslaught of anti-secular movements in the past is experiencing moves to shake its tectonic base.

The true nature of Indian secularism is to mold an Indian into a responsible citizen, as Mother Teresa made a Hindu a better Hindu and a Muslim into a better Muslim, he added.

Introducing Justice Joseph, the newly appointed General Assistant Jesuit Fr M. K. George said that the former judge had been a member of All India Catholic University Federation from his younger days, and was best known for his ‘credibility’.

Explaining Article 25 of the Indian Constitutions, Justice Joseph said that it gave the right to all its citizens to profess, practice and propagate their religion.

He said that one has been called to propagate what one practiced, and not what one professed, and that is an area where the Church in India was at fault, he added.

The 66-year old Catholic from Kerala had given the August 22, 2017 historic verdict against the controversial Triple Talaq.

He also wondered if the Jesuits with all their educational institutions had failed to inculcate in their students the true nature of secularism in the country.