Government confers missionary’s widow with top civilian award for her social work

New Delhi – In recognition of the “social and welfare work and tireless service for the nation,” the Indian government has presented Gladys Staines, the widow of slain missionary Graham Staines, with the coveted Padma Shri award, the country’s fourth highest award.

The Central Government announced on January 25, the eve of India's Republic Day, the names of people on whom it would confer civilian awards and Mrs. Staines name featured among the 57 people selected to receive the prestigious Padma Shri award.

Mrs. Staines said she was grateful and overwhelmed to be honored and thanked the government and the people of India for the award. “I would like to come to India to personally receive this award, some time later,” she said. “I am absolutely overwhelmed and stunned by the news [And] feeling very humbled at the same time. It’s a rare honour and a humbling experience.”

Currently, Mrs. Gladys, who is a social worker, is in Queensland (Australia), resting and looking after her ailing father but is still involved in the Mayurbhanj Leprosy Home at Baripada, Orissa, started by her husband over twenty years ago. Recently, she was in India to inaugurate a new leprosy center named after her late husband who was burnt to death, along with their two minor sons as they were sleeping in a jeep at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Orissa by Hindu fanatics on the night of January 22, 1999.

Sources say the three, who were asleep in their jeep when the attack took place, tried to escape the flames but the mob—led by principal suspect Ravindra Pal, alias Dara Singh, and armed with axes—prevented them.

Soon after the gruesome killing, Mrs. Staines made headlines when she, though grief–stricken, publicly stated that she had forgiven the killers and would pray for them. She continued her husband's work among leprosy patients until she and her daughter left for Australia on July 15, 2004, to nurse her ailing father.

Church leaders, the Christian community and her well–wishers, in general, have welcomed the government’s move to honor Mrs. Staines in recognition of her “social work.”

Fr. Jacob Kallupurakal, vicar general and Catholic spokesman of Balasore diocese, expressed that the selection recognizes the missionary widow’s "indomitable spirit of forgiveness."

Rev. Rueben Senapati, Bishop of Church of North India’s (CNI) Cuttack diocese, said that the government selected Gladys Staines both for her tolerance and for her service on behalf of the leprosy patients in Orissa's Mayurbhanj district.

Swami Agnivesh, Hindu social reformist, noted that the award was long overdue and was “a very ordinary award” for her extraordinary act of forgiveness that “was very moving, very touching.”

The Hindu reformer said that he noticed no “trace of revenge or hatred” in her in their several meetings. “[She is] a great spiritual asset for all of us who need to transcend our narrow divisions and religiosity and embrace the great spiritual height,” he said.

Rev. Valson Thampu, who has been recently nominated as member of the National Integration Council by the government of India, said that Gladys Staines' "spiritual robustness to embrace the enemy in love" has had "tremendous significance" in a country where people "invent enemies" in "a climate of hate and communalism."

Noting that her act of forgiveness was the need of the hour as “divisive forces” threatened to destroy the spiritual unity of India, Rev. Thampu acknowledged that “Gladys tried to heal the spiritual leprosy which is threatening India” just as her husband had tried to help the victims suffering from physical leprosy.

Lamenting that many Christians failed to appreciate her gesture of forgiveness and instead made political statements demanding exemplary punishments for the killers, Rev. Thanpu expressed surprise that people of other faiths “were more receptive and understanding of what she did.” The government decision to nominate her for the award is all the more significant in this context, he suggested.

Rev. Richard Howell of the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), to which the Staines family belongs, said "a larger picture" emerging from the award is "recognition of our services to the poor."

According to Rev. Howell, the award shows that the government now sees the truth behind Christian service, which some groups consider a facade for conversions.

''We are highly honored to know that the services of Graham and Gladys Staines to the poor and downtrodden has been acknowledged by the country,” said Subhakar Ghosh, president of the new Graham Staines Memorial Leprosy Referral Hospital in Baripada, headquarters of Mayurbhanj district and a close associate of the couple. “'We are thankful to the government for the decision.”

Rev. Pradip Kumar Das, vice–president of the leprosy hosital, said that by honoring Mrs. Staines the government had recognized the services rendered by her husband to the leprosy afflicted.

“Gladys has been carrying on the unfinished task with the same commitment as her husband,” Rev. Das said.

Binoy Kumar Muduli, president of the All Orissa United Christian Forum, also hailed the government decision to bestow the award on Gladys saying she greatly deserved the honor.

“We sincerely thank the government for this decision,” he said adding the fact that the Staines loved India and its people has been finally recognized.

Unfortunately, not many have been appreciative of the government’s decision to confer Mrs. Staines with the award.

In fact, as soon as the news was made public, members of the right–wing Hindu outfit, the Bajrang Dal, protested and burnt the effigy of Mrs. Staines in Anandpur town in Orissa's Keonjhar district, demanding that the central government withdraw the Padma Shri award from Gladys Staines. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, the religious wing of pro–Hindu Sangh Parivar) branch in Tamil Nadu also protested the decision to confer the award to the Australian woman, calling it “an insult to Hinduism.”

The Staineses "were converting people and this recognition means the government is giving some kind of encouragement to conversions in the country," said Vishnu Hari Dalmia, a VHP activist.

Condemning the present government as being “anti–Hindu,” Dalmia said that it is alright “if they recognize people who do social service, but to recognize those who convert is giving out a wrong signal.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by "The Pioneer," an English daily newspaper. An editorial on January 27 said the award "defies all logic" as persons selected for awards should be distinguished in their fields and bring glory to the country. "A bewildered nation needs to be enlightened on (Gladys Staines') contribution in this regard," it stated.

In 2003, prime accused Dara Singh was sentenced to death for the Graham Staines’ murder while 12 others were awarded life sentences.

Dara Singh is also accused of the murder of Fr. Arul Doss, a Catholic priest, who was killed in church fire in Jamubani, also in Orissa state, the same year. The trial of this case is scheduled to commence in March.

However, Dara Singh, a self–proclaimed ‘savior of Hinduism,’ remains unrepentant and defends his action, saying that he attacked Christian clergymen and missionaries for their alleged role in forcibly or fraudulently converting people to Christianity.