Rising Threats Compel Mission Health Centers To Close Down

Ahmedabad – A diocese in Gujarat has closed down a village health center after assailants assaulted Church people there on Easter night.

"We have taken this decision after much deliberation and discussion," Bishop Gregory Karotemprel of Rajkot told a news channel with a heavy heart. "The diocese in Gujarat state does not want to expose its staff to physical danger."

In the April 11 attack, the intruders slapped a diocesan priest. When a St. Martha's nun tried to intervene, they began to beat her. The two were returning to the health center, where they worked, after attending Easter services.

Three other nuns also worked at the center in Vadod, Surendranagar district, 1,030 kilometers southwest of New Delhi. The diocese started it two years ago. The Catholic mission also runs a kindergarten, tailoring classes and a mobile dispensary that serves people within a 7–kilometer radius of Vadod.

Father Jacob Kidangen, 35, the assaulted priest, said the diocese started the health center at the villagers' request.

Speaking about their decision to quit the village, Father Kidangen told a new channel recently that they experienced intimidation and threats immediately after the center's opening. He said he suspected that high–caste Hindu groups masterminded such incidents with the help of "hired goons."

Last year, suspected members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) broke into a newly opened government–run center in Limdi, alleging Christian groups helped its reconstruction after an earthquake. Limdi is 18 kilometers east of Vadod.

Father Kidangen said some high–caste Hindus were always on the lookout for excuses to blame Church workers for conversion. But they could not substantiate a single claim in the past two years, he added, because "the villagers always supported us wholeheartedly."

Although the village has 5,000 people, the Church center is the only primary health center. Before it was opened, local people had to travel to Limdi for checkups, or 80 kilometers to Rajkot for serious illness.

However, Bishop Karotemprel said it is not possible for missioners to roam around with police protection. "We work for the people only if they want us to help them. It cannot be forced upon them. Moreover, missionaries work odd hours and at odd places where police protection cannot work," he explained.