India
Tremendous economic development in the subcontinent of India in the last few decades — especially in the Christian heartland of the southwestern state of Kerala — has lifted millions of people out of poverty. And yet, tens of millions live in a precarious state.
In the last few years, increasingly dramatic weather patterns have caused massive monsoons with devastating effects on the environment, washing away arable soil, livestock and homes. The results — economic, physical, emotional and spiritual — have devastated the most vulnerable. The relentless coronavirus epidemic has crushed those most susceptible, demanding a Christian response. CNEWA partners with the Eastern churches rooted in the preaching of the apostle Thomas, who brought the Gospel to southwestern India in the first century. For generations, the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholic churches have reached out to the very margins of the country, witnessing the Gospel among the poor, the blind and the lame — and those historically considered “untouchable.”
The Snehagiri Missionary Sisters have been serving India’s elderly and destitute since 1969. (photo: Jose Jacob) 
Amaya jokes with Sister Grace. St. Clare Oral Higher Secondary School for the Deaf, Manickamangalam, Kalady, Kerala. (photo: Sajeendran V.S.) 
The Rev. Justin Kolamkanny, director of the People’s Service Society Palakkad, delivers aid kits to a family. (photo: Sajeendran V.S.) 
Shipla Joy helps with homework at the children’s home where she once lived, administered by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in India. Check out the June 2017 edition of ONE magazine to learn more about “The Secret of Their Success.” (photo: Don Duncan)
