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Email: jkalapura@gmail.com
Home
Email: jkalapura@gmail.com
At Patna, a forum called ‘Harmony Inter-Faith Forum’ was formed under the leadership of Dr. Fr. Thomas Chillikulam, SJ, former coordinator of the Dialogue Commission, in collaboration with leaders of other religions in 2005. The Forum with a regular membership of over 50 people from different religions, envisioned building close relationship between people of different religions with a view to combating communalism, jointly fighting against social evils and building a just and more humane society in Bihar. Inter-faith celebration of festivals at venues of different religious communities, seminars and programmes aimed at harmony for school children were undertaken by the Forum. Fr. Thomas participated or gave input lectures during inter-religious celebration of festivals. Fr. Philip Manthara, Fr. Jose Kariakatt, and Fr. Peter Arockiasamy, while being mostly engaged in social work or education work, were also part of such harmony-building activities.
Through socio-pastoral ministries and through institutions dialogue with other religious groups has been carried on by a few individuals and institutions. Some such centres are:
Manthan, under the pioneering initiative of Fr. Philip Manthara, in collaboration with organizations such as Insaani Ekta Muhim, Hum Log and People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), These aimed at combating communalism, fundamentalism and other social evils. The centre was also involved in peace-building activities during communal riots in Biharshariff (1981), Patna City (1989) and Sitamarhi (1992).
Jeevan Sangham, since 1994, has been making attempts to combine social action and inter-faith dialogue. It also initiated an inter-faith social organization called ‘Pragatisheel Vicharmanch‘. The Jesuits are also collaborating with an ecumenical movement to spread harmony by conducting programmes for youth and children. The Inter-Faith Forum at Bodh Gaya, a Jesuit initiative, has been conducting prayer meetings, programmes for students in schools in collaboration with Buddhists monks, Muslims and Hindus.
Navjyoti Niketan and Ravi Bharati at Patna, have been organizing inter-faith celebration of festivals for over 20 years.
Xavier Institute of Social Research (XISR) Patna organizes Inter-Faith Christmas Milan to foster inter-faith harmony. It has acquired a good library of books on various religions.
Gyanodaya (RTC), Khaspur organized inter-religious feast day (satsang) celebrations regularly till it was closed down this year. As part of their religious exposure programme, the theology students stayed in Madarsas and Muslim families, visited Hindu Ashrams in Varanasi, interacted with holy men and women, visited temples, Ghats and other sacred places.
Tarumitra Ashram and most social centres have been engaged in inter-faith activities in one form or other.
The Masihi Satsang programme of Sadhu Shilanand has been making laudable efforts towards dialogue through popularizing Isayan (Life of Christ) in Bhojpuri and Magahi dialects among the people of other religions.
Schools have been making efforts to make students aware of the need for respect for all religions and interfaith harmony at varying degrees.
Harmony Inter-Faith Forum at Patna, initiated by the Jesuit Commission for Dialogue in 2005, has been a major initiative in the direction of inter-religious dialogue in Patna. The Forum with a regular membership of over 50 people from different religions, envisions building close relationship between people of different religions with a view to combating communalism, jointly fighting against social evils and building a just and more humane society in Bihar.
Inter-religious Christmas Milan
Dr. Fr. Jose Kalapura, SJ, the previous Coordinator of the Dialogue Commission, though full time engaged in research, publication and activism on social issues at Xavier Institute of Social Research (XISR) Patna, has been organizing inter-religious activities since 2013. Beginning with annually organizing Christmas Milan (gathering) at Navjyoti since 2013, he has regularly participated or gave inputs at such inter-religious festival celebrations (at Holi, Deepawali, Id, etc), organized by other groups.
Religious gurus/leaders of various religions have participated and gave message of peace at the Christmas Milan events. Some of them were:
| Bahai Religion | : | Sri. Omnamoshivaya Singh, Secretary Bihar Bahai Council | Bahai Sri Rajnish Singh, Secretary Bihar Bahai Council, Patna |
| Buddhist | : | Bante Karunakirti, Buddha Vihar, Patna | Bande Ananddevji, Budh Vihar, Patna |
| Christian | : | Fr. Jose Chirackal, Fr. Raymond Cherubim, SJ, Fr. John Kelakath, SJ, Fr. Philip K. C, SJ. |
| Hindu | : | Swami Shashiji, Kali Mandir, Lodipur, Patna | Swami Sukhanad, Ramkrishna Ashram, Patna | Brahmakumari Sangita Bahinji, BK Vishwavidyala, Kankerbagha | Brahmakumari Jyoti Bahin, BKIVV, Kankerbag |
| Islam | : | Shah Ahmad Munemi, Patna City, Mr. M. T. Khan | Swami Sukhanad, Ramkrishna Ashram, Patna | Maulana Muhibbullah, Jamia Munemia, Patna City | Mr. Hasan Imam |
| Jain | : | Sri. M. P. Jain, Bihar Jain Sangh, Patna | Sri Shanti Lal Jain, Patna |
| Sikh | : | Sardar Kulwant Singh, Member, Bihar Minority Commission, | Sri Trilochan Singh, Member, Gurudwara Prabandhank Committee, Patna City | Gurdayal Singh, Patna |
To harmony and sense of respect for all religions and national integration among students, Fr Jose Kalapura organized 36 nukkad (street play) shows on communal harmony, peace and national integration in 28 schools in collaboration with the school authorities in Patna covering some 35,000 students since early 2017. The street plays focused on communal harmony and made the youth aware of the manner in which fundamentalists misguide students on others’ religions. A professional team of street play theatre artists were employed for this programme.
Some of the schools where nukkad shows were conducted during 2017-2018
He also coordinated with Fr. Lawrence, a series of nukkads in the schools of Gaya and Bodh Gaya, Magadh University campus Bodh Gaya, besides at a public place from July 26-28, 2017 at Bodh Gaya.
The 2020-21 Corona pandemic has put high restrictions on school and so these programs came to a standstill during this period. However, that gave him an opportunity to collect nukkad play scripts on similar themes for future use.
It has been observed that on Christmas Day thousands of non-Christians, particularly Hindus visit the cribs and pray to Mother Mary and child Jesus at churches in Bihar. Using this occasion, Jose Kalapura got printed thousands of leaflets (some 20,000-25,000) on Christmas peace including the meaning of crib, Santa Claus, star, carol, etc, and made them available to scores of parishes to be freely distributed to the visitors with the collaboration of parish priests. This has become an annual feature since 2018.
