Telesphore toppo biography sample
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Widespread Violence: the New Frontier of Peace by Telesphore Placidus Toppo
Introduction
Jesus Christ came to the world as the Prince of Peace, the very embodiment of heavenly peace. The song of the angels sung at his birth, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" proclaims this eternal truth. We believe in the Prince of Peace and in Him we have life in its fullness. The world lives and moves forward in this hope, the lighthouse standing erect at the shore of life. On the other grabb, we cannot just be blind to the widespread violence and turn a deaf ear to the cries of the innocents. The violence of the modern day is shocking and terrifying. Agonised bygd this gory reality, Mr. Nelson Mandela wrote, “the twentieth century will be remembered as a century marked bygd violence. It burdens us with its legacy of mass destruction, of violence inflicted on a scale never seen and never possible before in human history.” Every
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Catholic World News News Feature
The First of His Kind December 01,
By Anto Akkara
The Catholic Church in India received a pleasant surprise when Archbishop Telesphore Toppo of Ranchi was named among 31 new prelates who were elevated in October to the College of Cardinals. But if the announcement was greeted with pleasure throughout India, it was a cause of ecstasy among the Catholics of the tribal heartland of Jharkhand.
The indigenous peoples of India, collectively known as "tribals," are separated from the remainder of the population not only by their ethnic status, but by their social position as well. Historically the tribals have been remote from Indian society, neglected and underprivileged. Now this ethnic group, which has so often felt itself to be forgotten by the outside world, had a powerful reminder that the tribal people were not forgotten by the Church. Cardinal Toppo was the first tribal ever named to be a prince of the Church.
Along with the Catholics
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Cardinal Toppo, India&#;s first tribal bishop, dies at 83
"His service was always marked by zeal for the spread of the Gospel, devotion to the holy Eucharist and generous pastoral care of the poor and those in need," the pope said.
Born Oct. 15, , in Chainpur, the future cardinal attended high school at St. Xavier College in Ranchi before entering St. Albert's College, the regional seminary. He earned a license in theology from the Pontifical Urbanian University in Rome.
Ordained to the priesthood in May , he later earned a master's degree from Ranchi University.
Ordained a bishop in October , he served as bishop of Dumka for seven years before being named coadjutor archbishop of Ranchi in and taking over leadership of the archdiocese the next year. He served as president of the bishops' conference in and again in He retired in after 33 years leading the archdiocese.
Toppo's death leaves the College of Cardinals with members, of whom are under the age of 80 and eligible to e