Senior citizens receiving relief materials distributed by Catholic church during the COVID-19 induced lockdown in Nagaland.
Morung Express News
Kohima | March 1
Like many churches that came forward and played a distinctive role in humanitarian response during COVID-19 Pandemic, the Catholic Church in Nagaland has also played a crucial role in helping people in all possible ways. According to a study conducted by Rev Fr Dr Jacob, the Secretary of the Commission for Education, Diocese of Kohima (CEDOK), the contribution of the Catholic Church in Nagaland during COVID-19 pandemic is over 7 crore rupees with Rs 7,60,99,232 in total.
This includes contributions to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, District/Local COVID Task Forces, Fees and other concessions in schools and colleges, relief materials and services, and awareness programmes. Besides these, many Catholic schools and institutions were also given free of cost for use as Quarantine Centres.
In the given situation and circumstances and the limited number of the Catholic population in Nagaland, the Bishop feels, “this is a great achievement and contribution of the Church in Nagaland.” He relates to The Morung Express that, “as soon as the lockdown began and migration of people started, the Catholic church through its various organisations, particularly through Development Association of Nagaland (DAN), Dimapur Christian Forum, AIDA, Holy Redeemer Health Centre (HRHC), Diocesan and Parish Associations, etc. began helping people in all possible ways.”
Some of the ways through which, they extended help were direct money contribution to people and government, supply of food and provisions to people in need, conducting awareness programmes and counselling, offering medical help and monitoring the health conditions of the people in designated quarantine centres, reaching food to the assigned quarantine centres, etc.
Another important area of service during the pandemic was continuing with online classes and granting scholarship/concession to the students who could not pay the fees, he says, while adding that “many of our Sisters, Fathers and other volunteers rendered selfless services in many ways, which cannot be quantified.”
Some of the Catholic schools used innovative ways to keep up the learning during the period of pandemic wherein St Christopher School, Chessore placed in the remotest part of Nagaland won the prestigious “Pallikkutam National Award for Innovation in Education, 2020” from among the 55 participants from all over the country. “It only shows that we can be creative and innovative in every situation provided we are prepared, work hard and use available resources,” Most Rev Dr James Thoppil remarks.
With most of the Catholic schools used as quarantine centres, the district administration had later communicated to the Bishop that the Catholic institutions saved the face of Nagaland since the administration could easily use all the facilities of the schools despite damages being caused to furniture, facilities and other equipment for which no compensation was received.
In the meantime, Rev Thoppil observes that not only Nagaland, but the Northeast in general did not have large number of infections and death, which he believes is, “because the immunity system of the people is stronger and better since we are more hardy and tough people.” He also commended the village leadership wherein each village council and associations in every village took the lockdown SOPs seriously and implemented them. Commenting that the COVID-19 pandemic threw the whole world out of gear, putting it in confusion, uncertainty and great hardships and besides the physical and financial loss, also drained out the spiritual energy of many, he is confident that one thing that humanity learnt is that, “when we think that everything is fine, humans are invincible, a microscopic virus can upset and destroy all human invincibility and calculations.”
In the meantime, as schools reopen and a lot of restrictions are being lifted, Most Rev Dr James Thoppil Bishop of Kohima, Nagaland feels it is important to follow the advice, directives and SOPs of the government while expressing that, “prevention is better than cure.”
“We need to guide and care for the students in whichever way possible to continue in their academic pursuit,” he asserts. Last year, he observes that, “the studies of many students suffered since we were not prepared to deal with such a sudden and strange eventuality,” but emphasizes that, “we need to disseminate positive information and guide parents and students without creating panic and fear in their minds.”
Stating that our people are our best resource and we need to guide and lead them to deal with every panic and unforeseen situation, he expresses that, “we do not know what awaits us in the future but we know who holds our future,” and quoted Acts 17:28 from the Bible that says, “In Him we live and move and have our being.”
