BHOPAL: The 29th Plenary Assembly of Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) began with solemn Eucharistic celebration in the St Assumption Church, Asha Niketan Campus on Tuesday. More than 130 Bishops of the 182 Latin rite bishops in the country are participating in the 8 day deliberations on the issues on concerning to families in Asia with special focus on India.
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, called for revitalising the families in view of the call given by Pope Francis. “We need to turn good families to better and holy families to holier”, he said. “We the bishops”, he said, “will discuss about all the issues affecting family life in the changed social milieu”.
“Family is sacred and so we must protect it. There are many ideologies around us which destroy family values. So we must reach the message of love to the families without any exclusion.”
“Even though, the Asian families do not face so much of problems, families worldwide are in crisis on account of economic disparities, cultural difference, religious and linguistic differences among a host of other things”.
A grand welcome ceremony for the participants of this historical conference was arranged in St Joseph Co-ed School auditorium. His Eminence Oswal Cardinal Gracias, the President of the CCBI, His Eminence Telespore Cardinal Toppo Archbishop of Ranchi, Leo Cornelio, Archbishop of Bhopal, Bishop Varghese Chakkalakal, CCBI general Secretary, Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao, vice president of CCBI, Msgr Henryk Jagodzinski, representative of Nunciature, and Fr Stephen Alathara, deputy secretary general of CCBI lighted the lamp and officially inaugurated.
During the welcome address Bhopal Archbishop Leo Cornelio described the historical background of the city and the gradual development of church and its contribution.
