IB02436.1444 May 10, 2007 68 EM-lines (813 words) INDIA    Transgender People Celebrate Life, Religiosity In Southern Festival By Leo Fernando KOOVAGAM, India (UCAN) -- For 18 days each year, an exceptional group of people swarm to a dusty village in southern India to pray to their god, and to symbolically marry one night and end the marriage the next morning. These "transgender people" -- aruvani as they prefer to be called -- gather for their unique annual festival in Koovagam, a village in the Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu state, and they regard the place as "sacred ground." "Transgender" conveys the notion that one's self-identity -- male, female, both or neither -- does not match one's physical body. However, the term does imply any specific sexual orientation. As the festival gets underway, the village streets fill with Tamil music, jasmine fragrances and naughty comments by people in bright-colored saris. Koovagam is about 200 kilometers south of Chennai, the state capital, which is 2,095 kilometers south of New Delhi. This year, about 5,000 transgender people gathered for the festival, which ended on May 2. One of them, 31-year-old Sharmili, told UCA News, "This is the only place in India where we can enjoy our life and express our sexuality without fear." She and friends sat in small groups and prepared for their symbolic marriage with a mythical figure. They giggled and laughed aloud, sharing stories with friends they meet once a year. Later, sporting heavy makeup, lip coloring and exotic ornamentation, they walked through the streets, making lewd comments and winking at young male onlookers. "This is our sacred ground, and we long to come here to be recognized and loved," asserted Sharmili, whose name means "shy woman." She works in a dance bar in Bangalore, Karnataka state, about 330 kilometers west of Chennai. The festival, which culminates on the full-moon night of the first month in the Tamil calendar, commemorates the death of Aravanan, a character in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Legends say that the Pandavas, five brother princes, decided to sacrifice Aravanan to ensure victory in their war against their cousins, the Kaurava. Aravanan agreed but wanted to marry before death. Lord Krishna, a major Hindu deity, supported the Pandavas and, taking the form of a woman, married Aravanan. After Aravanan died, Lord Krishna observed widowhood for a while. "Our sexuality is caught between being male and female, just as Lord Krishna was caught for a while," Ranjini, 29, another transgender person, told UCA News. "Our lives are very hard, but still we like the way we are," she said. No official data is available on how many transgender people live in India, but their leaders say there are 500,000. Most work in cities and towns as commercial sex workers or dancers. They also receive gifts and money from Hindus who believe that pleasing a transgender person will bring good luck. Father Anthony Sebastian, a social anthropology lecturer in the Department of Christian Studies at the University of Madras in Chennai, told UCA News, "This festival symbolizes the need of aravani for identity and security." The priest of Madras-Mylapore archdiocese also said, "The Church in Tamil Nadu is sympathetic toward them, and we support their struggles to get their rights." Deviamma, another of the transgender persons, told UCA News that they do not curse their life, but pray "we are not born like this in the next life." In Hindu belief, the virtuous will be released from the cycle of lives. A temple in Koovagam is dedicated to Koothandavar, another name for Aravanan. On the night before the final day, village priests placed the deity's idol on a decorated pedestal inside the temple and tied a thali (yellow thread) on the neck of each person wishing to marry the deity. The thali is the sacred symbol of marriage in southern India. "I feel happy when I am married to Koothandavar," said Durga, 27, from Pune, a western Indian city. Durga became a female through surgery three years ago and now works as a commercial sex worker. As this year's festival peaked that night, hundreds of young men arrived to find "partners." Some NGOs organized exhibitions and distributed pamphlets to highlight the need for safe sex. Masilamani Benjamin, who heads one such NGO, told UCA News his organization distributed about 30,000 condoms last year. On May 2 morning, the Aravanan idol was placed atop the temple car for a procession. When it reached a particular spot, the idol was turned around, to signify Aravanan's killing, and the priests cut the marriage threads. Sharmili and her friends broke their glass bangles, signaling that they accept widowhood. Some cried aloud and beat their chests. After a ritual bath, they put on white saris, the garb of Hindu widows, and the festival closed. After trekking back to the village, the mourners donned street clothes and began to go home. With hands folded, Sharmili turned toward the temple and promised, "We will come again next year, Koothandavar!" END (Accompanying photos available with the UCAN Photo Service. Use story code IB02436.1444 or a person's name to search for related photos.) Related UCAN Reports INDIA Christians And Hindus Join To Rescue Girls From Brothels (April 18, 2001) INDIA UCAN Feature - Eunuchs Scorned, Dejected By Others In Northern India (May 1, 1996) IB02439.1444 May 10, 2007 55 EM-lines (689 words) INDIA    Pilgrims Offer Themselves As 'Slaves' To Keep Marian Shrine Tidy By T.S. Thomas VALLARPADAM, India (UCAN) -- Reclamation at a lake in southern India leaves the area thick with dust. Everything gets dirty, except the Marian shrine. Our Lady of Ransom in Vallarpadam, Kochi, remains "clean and tidy because we sweep and clean the church continuously," Mary Mathew, a daily shrine visitor, told UCA News. The 45-year-old housewife said she does the cleaning as an offering to the Blessed Mother. Mathew is among thousands of visitors to the shrine in Kerala state. It sits on an isle, 2,595 kilometers south of New Delhi. The devotees offer themselves as adima (slaves), a ritual of total surrender to the Blessed Mother. Because the shrine is the home of Mother Mary, Mathew said, "this feeling is the greatest satisfaction one gets." As she continued sweeping the premises, she recalled that some seashells she collected from the lakeside as a child seemed to bear images of the Blessed Mother. Father Jolly Chackalackal, the shrine's assistant parish priest, regards the sweeping as a necessary custom because dirt and water surround the shrine on the sandy lakeside. He told UCA News that pilgrims began to offer a helping hand to clean the church because it so often and quickly becomes so dirty. Women normally perform the service, but men and children are also seen among the sweepers. People use the hundreds of brooms kept outside the shrine for this purpose, but Mathew noted that some pilgrims bring their own brooms. Father Chackalackal traced the adima custom to a Hindu woman who lived more than 250 years ago. Meenakshi Amma and her son, members of a noble family, were feared drowned when their boat overturned in a storm as they crossed the lake. She prayed to Vallarpadathamma (mother of Vallarpadam) as the boat sank. According to shrine records, the parish priest had a vision in which the Blessed Mother showed him where the woman and her son were in the lake. They were recovered and brought to shore alive on the third day. The woman then vowed to dedicate herself as a slave to the Blessed Mother. For the rest of her life, she swept and mopped the church, cooked and served food to pilgrims. Father Chackalackal said adima is the "most unique and popular devotion" at the shrine. Portuguese missioners built it in 1524 and initially dedicated it to the Holy Spirit, making it the first church in Asia named for the third person of the Holy Trinity. However, the missioners also installed images of the Blessed Mother and Infant Jesus at the top of the altar. When flooding destroyed the church in 1676, the king's chief minister, a Hindu, recovered those images from the floodwaters. That same minister then took the initiative to rebuild the church, and the sanctuary lamp he donated on the day the new church opened still burns at the altar. In 1951, the Indian government recognized the shrine as a major pilgrimage center, and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India declared it a national shrine in 2004, the same year the Holy See elevated it to basilica status. However, it is not history that attracts 33-year-old Kochu (little) Thresia to the shrine. She told UCA News she goes there to pray for her children's health. She and her children sweep the shrine and pray to the Blessed Mother. The shrine priests then pray over them and sprinkle holy water on them, just as they do for other visitors who queue up for this popular blessing. Thousands of pilgrims attend the annual shrine festival, Sept. 16-24. Father Thomas Pulickal, the shrine rector, pointed out to UCA News that the visitors receive free food, a traditional practice that Meenakshi Amma began centuries ago and pilgrims continue to this day. K.T. Vargese, a local boatman, says people of all faiths bring their boats and fishing nets for a blessing at the shrine. The project to reclaim land by filling in some of the lake keeps the boats from approaching the churchyard. Even so, the Mother of Vallarpadam remains "a special protector of travelers in ships and boats, and strong guardian of fishermen," Vargese told UCA News. END Related UCAN Reports INDIA Children Have Big Role In Blessed Mother's Nativity Feast (September 6, 2006) INDIA At A Marian Shrine, Ordinary People's Vibrant Faith Stirs Bishops (February 14, 2006) INDIA Annual Marian Procession In Bangalore Marred by Electrocution Accident (September 9, 2004) IJ02424.1444 May 10, 2007 64 EM-lines (699 words) INDONESIA    Semarang Archdiocese Inaugurates First Eucharistic Adoration Chapel YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (UCAN) -- The first Eucharistic adoration chapel in Semarang archdiocese enables Catholic to pray before the exposed Blessed Sacrament from dawn until midnight every day. Monsignor Johannes Pujasumarta, the archdiocesan vicar general, inaugurated and consecrated the chapel on May 4 following a Mass at Heart of the Immaculate Virgin Mary Church in Kumetiran, Yogyakarta, 405 kilometers southeast of Jakarta. About 500 Catholics attended the concelebrated Mass led by Monsignor Pujasumarta on the first Friday of the month, a day traditionally associated with devotion to the Sacred Heart. Afterward, parishioners escorted the Blessed Sacrament to the chapel, about 50 meters from the church. Father Fransiskus Xaverius Sugiyana, the assistant parish priest, carried the consecrated host visibly displayed at the top of a monstrance. A layman in Javanese attire shielded the monstrance with a royal umbrella while the people sang a Bahasa Indonesia version of Tantum Ergo, the last two stanzas of Saint Thomas Aquinas' hymn Pange Lingua. Monsignor Pujasumarta then consecrated the chapel, enthroned the monstrance, and led the first Eucharistic adoration, for which 25 people accompanied him inside the 32-square-meter chapel. Others joined the adoration from outside. Father Gabriel Alimo Notobudyo, the parish priest, later told UCA News that Pope John Paul II's message on the occasion of the October 2004 International Eucharistic Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, inspired the chapel's construction. In his homily for the Mass opening the Year of the Eucharist, during which the late pope greeted congress participants, he invited Catholics to enter deeper into the mystery of the Eucharist through "prolonged and fervent adoration." "The pope encouraged all people, through the participants of the 2004 Eucharistic congress, to revive Eucharistic adoration," Father Notobudyo said, adding that previously only convent chapels had regular adoration. He pointed out that the parish had planned the special chapel long before the archdiocese dedicated May 3 as a day of Eucharistic adoration. The chapel is open to all Catholics from 4:30 a.m. to midnight every day. According to Father Sugiyana, the parish wants to have it open around the clock, but safety concerns prevent this. "If many people want it, and if we are sure people will be safe praying there before dawn, we will keep the chapel open 24 hours," he promised. For now the parish has arranged for someone to be guarding the chapel at all times while it is open, Father Notobudyo explained. But it has drawn up a schedule and hopes by the end of the month to have people signed up to pray in the chapel, on a rotational basis, from when it opens until it closes Monsignor Pujasumarta appreciates the value of building a special place to promote Eucharistic adoration. "In an increasingly secular world, this is a proper response that we must appreciate," he told UCA News. During his homily, the vicar general, highest diocesan official after the bishop, commented that people find it easier to watch television programs for hours every day than to pray. "Honestly, we have been brainwashed with violent issues broadcast by television programs," he said, adding that violence exists in families and schools too. Monsignor Pujasumarta lamented that some apply a cost-benefit analysis to prayer by asking, "What benefit will I enjoy if I attend a Eucharistic celebration, or join a Eucharistic adoration?" The answer is Jesus, the priest continued. "Though he is God, he keeps being simple, in the form of small pieces of bread inside the tabernacle." As spiritual food, the consecrated host has high nutritional value, the vicar reminded the congregation. "Eucharistic adoration, in turn, will inspire our works," he said, citing Mother Teresa's characterization of her works not as social service but as service to Christ. Father Notobudyo acknowledged the Eucharist's miraculous properties. He spoke of an instance in which a young girl used her cell phone to photograph a monstrance, and Jesus' face appeared in the middle of the consecrated host. He told the Massgoers he had seen the picture, "and I consider it a miracle." But he added: "If you want to adore the Blessed Sacrament, do it not in expectation of a miracle, but to worship Jesus Christ. Let God decide whether to show you a miracle or not." END (Accompanying photos available with the UCAN Photo Service. Use story code IJ02424.1444 or a person's name to search for related photos.) Related UCAN Reports VATICAN Pope Benedict Issues Post-Synodal Exhortation On The Eucharist (March 14, 2007) INDONESIA Catholic, Protestant Civil Servants Pray Together On First Fridays (December 17, 2003) INDONESIA UCAN Short - Diocese Extends Eucharistic Year Until Year End (October 8, 1997) INDONESIA Eucharistic Year Draws Catholics To Blessed Sacrament, Bishop Says (April 11, 1997) INDONESIA Church Prepares For 1997 International Eucharistic Congress (August 27, 1996) INDONESIA Host Desecration Should Move Catholics To Introspect, Archbishop Says(January 11, 1996) INDONESIA Interparish Procession Helps Catholics Get Over Host Desecration (August 4, 1995) KO02434.1444 May 10, 2007 58 EM-lines (644 words) KOREA    Bishop Voices Opposition To Planned Naval Base On Southern Island SEOUL (UCAN) -- In response to a controversial naval base slated for his island, a local bishop has reminded Catholics that the Church teaches the use of force cannot bring peace. Bishop Peter Kang U-il of Cheju (Jeju) addressed the issue in a May 5 letter titled Desire For Jeju to Be An Island of Peace. In his letter, he noted that the planned base has become a "grave concern," with some Jeju residents "sharply divided" on the issue and others "tormented" by indecision. His diocese covers Jeju Island, about 450 kilometers south of Seoul. The planned 400,000-square-meter base on the southern part of the island would be home to a new fleet of destroyers equipped with advanced Aegis guided missile systems. While visiting Jeju on April 13, national Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo said the island is geographically ideal for a base designed to protect South Korea's southern seas. The naval base, he added, "will solidify peace and stability on the island." However, NGOs, fishermen and women divers who earn a living selling shellfish they collet from the ocean floor are protesting against the plan. At the same time, four villages are bidding for the naval base, anticipating commercial gains and financial support from the government. According to Bishop Kang's letter, released in parishes and also carried by secular media, "The Church has stressed that building up military strength cannot guarantee peace." Citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, he wrote: "The arms race does not ensure peace. Far from eliminating the causes of war, it risks aggravating them. ... Over-armament multiplies reasons for conflict and increases the danger of escalation." The bishop also said the Church gives human life utmost priority and does not tolerate any action that diminishes this. He continued by citing the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church: "War is a scourge and is never an appropriate way to resolve problems that arise between nations. It has never been and it will never be." These teachings are "words of wisdom" obtained through 2,000 years of reflection on the Gospel, the bishop explained. "We should read the signs of the times, reflecting on these teachings." In the letter, Bishop Kang also mentioned the violent events on Jeju half-a-century ago that took the lives of 30,000 people. On April 3, 1948, the police and military massacred many civilians, after communists on the island started a riot, according to the National Committee for Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju April 3 Incident. Bishop Kang insisted that most of those killed were simple farmers who did not know what it meant to be "left" or "right." The spilling of their blood should not be in vain, and "Jeju should be a land of peace free from any kind of weaponry or military force," he said. In 2000, the South Korean government passed special legislation to investigate the April 3 Incident. In 2003, President Roh Moo-hyun issued an apology to the victims and their families. As of June 30, 2006, the government acknowledged 14,373 people had died, but it admitted the number could be as high as 30,000 due to unreported or unconfirmed cases. About 281,000 people lived on the island in 1948. Concerning the planned naval base, Father John Ko Byeong-soo, pastoral director of Cheju diocese, said "even among Catholics there is dissension." He told UCA News on May 8 that Bishop Kang, "as a leading figure on the island," wanted "not only Catholics but other people to understand the Church's teachings on the matter." Meanwhile, provincial officials are now collecting opinions on the matter through a survey of 1,500 residents. An official of the Jeju provincial office told UCA News on May 8, "The governor will decide whether the province will proceed with the plan (for the naval base) after the results of the survey come out in late May." END Related UCAN Reports KOREA Protesters Against Naval Base Plan Arrested, Then Released (April 20, 2007) KOREA Church, Jeju Island Group Admit Both Sides At Fault In Century-Old Tragedy (November 18, 2003) KOREA 2,000 Protest Against Proposed Military Airport Construction On Cheju (October 18, 1988) KO02442.1444 May 10, 2007 57 EM-lines (570 words) KOREA    Catholics Visit North Korea, But Cannot Celebrate Mass SEOUL (UCAN) -- At a meeting in Pyongyang, North and South Korean religious practitioners pledged continued exchanges as a way to help reconcile the two Koreas. A 42-member delegation from the Korean Conference on Religion and Peace (KCRP) visited Pyongyang May 5-8 to mark the 10th anniversary of the pan-religious group's relations with its North Korean counterpart, the Korean Council of Religionists (KCR). Participants included Buddhists, Catholics, Confucians, Protestants, and followers of Chondogyo and Won Buddhism, religions that originated in Korea. James Byun Jin-heung, KCRP secretary general, told UCA News on May 9: "After the first official meeting in 1997, we have continued frequent exchanges (with the KCR). These important exchanges allowed each religion in South Korea to support its counterpart in the communist North by supplying relief aid." The May 30, 1997, meeting in Beijing was held to discuss relief aid to flood-stricken North Koreans, he said. He added that in November 1998, a KCRP delegation visited North Korea for the first time. In 2003, about 100 North Koreans, 50 of them members of religious organizations, visited Seoul. During that visit, North Korean Catholics attended Mass with their counterparts at Myeongdong Cathedral and received Communion from Auxiliary Bishop Lucas Kim Un-hoe of Seoul, who presided. During the recent four-day stay in Pyongyang, the South Korean representatives visited their counterparts' religious facilities. Protestants, led by Anglican Archbishop Francis Park Kyung-jo of Seoul, held a service at Chilgol Church, while Buddhists paid homage to Buddha at Kwangbopsa Temple. The entire South Korean delegation visited Jongbaek Monastery, the first Russian Orthodox church in North Korea. Located in downtown Pyongyang, it was completed on Aug. 13, 2006. Two North Korean priests ordained in Russia are now stationed at the church. Father Peter Pai Young-ho told UCA News on May 9, "I felt indescribable happiness at meeting North Korean Catholics and thanked God for granting me this meeting." It was the first visit to North Korea for the executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea. "However, I felt sorry as a priest, since I couldn't celebrate Mass," he added. North Korea officially allows religious activities. However, its official religious organizations hold few public religious events. No Catholic priests reside in the country. According to Father Pai, the South Korean bishops advised priests visiting North Korea to refrain from saying Mass there to avoid giving Communion to North Koreans who may not be Catholics. "North Korean Catholics already knew the situation, that we couldn't say Mass with them. They were sorry about it, and their pride seemed hurt," the southern Church official said. The nine-member Catholic delegation did celebrate a liturgy of the word with 200 North Koreans on Sunday, May 6, at Changchung Church, the only Catholic church in the North. Father Pai said that after visiting Jongbaek Monastery, he asked North Korean Catholic leaders about having a resident priest in Pyongyang. Their response, he continued, was "that it would be difficult." Byun said he expects the North-South relationship to progress further, with more exchanges. "As a pan-religious body, the KCRP will coordinate the religious groups to maintain friendly relations," he added. The KCRP plans to celebrate the 10th anniversary of religious exchanges again in October, by inviting North Korean religious leaders to Seoul. According to a monthly magazine published by North Koreans in Japan, the North has 40,000 religious practitioners including 10,000 Buddhists, 3,000 Catholics, 13,000 Chondogyo followers and 13,000 Protestants. END Related UCAN Reports KOREA South Invites North To Collaborate In Honoring A Catholic Patriot (April 12, 2007) KOREA Religious Personnel Of North And South Jointly Mark Korea's Liberation (August 18, 2005) KOREA New Russian Orthodox Church In North Korea Sparks Hope Of Religious Thaw (September 8, 2003) KOREA North Korean Catholics Attend Mass For First Time In South Korea (March 4, 2003) KOREA North, South Religious Leaders Meet To Enhance Understanding (August 27, 2002) UZ02429.1444 May 10, 2007 50 EM-lines (523 words) UZBEKISTAN    Soup Kitchen Forced To Stop Hot Meals, Offers Snacks Instead SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan (UCAN) -- Authorities in Uzbekistan's second-largest city banned cooked meals at a Church-run soup kitchen, so poor people have to be satisfied with snacks instead of a weekly hot lunch. About 120 people still come to the house between noon and 1 p.m. on Tuesdays, and parish volunteers hand them plastic bags with bread, sausage and cheese at the gate. The people used to enter the house and eat a sit-down hot lunch the volunteers prepared, but local authorities banned the practice as of mid-February. St. John the Baptist Parish opened the soup kitchen in January 2002 in the one-story house located in a Muslim neighborhood. It served as a church for a few years in the 1990s. But as more and more "beggars" showed up for the weekly meal, neighbors complained. Father Lucjan Szymanski, the parish priest, told UCA News, "Since the place is registered as a private house, the mass gathering is illegal." Making sandwiches for outside consumption also requires permission from the sanitation department. So every Tuesday morning, two parish women slice and pack bread, cheese and sausage, which the visitors receive gratefully nonetheless. Alim, a part-time construction worker, started coming to the soup kitchen only after the hot lunches were stopped. Convinced that municipal authorities run the soup kitchen, he expressed happiness that "the state is giving a helping hand." Alim's colleague, Rachmon, says Polish people feed them. He knows the charity has something to do with Christianity, but knows nothing about the Catholic Church. Two years ago Rachmon came to the soup kitchen and enjoyed the hot lunches. "I think it was more substantial before, and we were able to sit down and talk with each other at those lunches," he said. Despite the general preference for the former hot meals, no lunch bags remain come 1 p.m. Alina, a 55-year-old member of the Russian Orthodox Church, took the last bag on a recent Tuesday. She and her daughter live on what amounts to US$20 a month. Her son is in the army and cannot help out. "Of course a hot lunch is better, but when you are hungry it doesn't matter," Alina told UCA News. She said it had been two days since she last ate a substantial meal. Father Szymanski does not plan to get bogged down in all the legal procedures required to restart the soup kitchen in full. But the Conventual Franciscan priest is searching for other ways to offer meals to poor people who need them, possibly on an individual basis. The main St. John the Baptist Church building in this ancient, largely Muslim trading center was built in 1915. After communists seized power in Russia, which ruled Central Asia at the time, the new Soviet rulers confiscated the church in 1917. Uzbekistan emerged as an independent country in 1991, with the demise of the Soviet Union. The house where the priest has been running the soup kitchen, in another part of the city, was used for Masses before the original church building was returned to the Catholic Church in 1998. About 30 people attend Mass at the church on Sundays. END (Accompanying photos available with the UCAN Photo Service. Use story code UZ02429.1444 or a person's name to search for related photos.) Related UCAN Reports UZBEKISTAN Catholics Attend Mass In Other Parishes Until Their Own Is Registered (April 20, 2007) UZBEKISTAN UCAN Feature - Church-Run Kitchen Offers Hot Meals, But Not Dependency (July 14, 2003) UZBEKISTAN Parish Reaches Out To Children Including Deaf Students (May 14, 2003)