The Diocese of Miao, located in far north-east India, is promoting
stewardship of the environment by choosing to give saplings to guests at
its events rather than the customary floral arrangements.
“We have decided to offer a sapling to the chief guests of any of our
programmes instead of flower bouquets,” Bishop George Pallipparambil of
Miao said, according to an Oct. 23 release from the diocese.
The first instance of the Miao diocese's new program was at its first
annual Inter-School Cultural Fest Radiance 2013, held in the town of
Roing Oct. 20-22, where a sapling was given to an official from the
government of Arunachal Pradesh state.
The Miao diocese is located in Arunachal Pradesh, the north-easternmost
state in India, part of which is claimed by China. The diocese borders
both India and Burma.
The area is mountainous, home to the easternmost portions of the
Himalayas. It also receives heavy rainfall, and is home to verdant
forests; Arunachal Pradesh is called India's “orchid state” and
“paradise of the botanists.”
It is a local tradition to welcome guests with floral garlands or
bouquets, but exhaustive deforestation has become a threat to the
region's flora and fauna. Many of the inhabitants, including the
majority of Catholics, belong to tribes whose livelihood has been based
on the forests, providing food, shelter, and resources for artisans and
craftsmen.
Out of concern for the environmental threats to the forests near Miao,
Bishop Pallipparambil considered the Church's social teaching that we
are called to be custodians of God's creation, and saw it as a way to
protect the land's rich biodiversity.
Giving sapling trees to guests, rather than floral arrangements, will
both preserve the area's flowers and promote the planting of more trees.
At Radiance 2013, Newlai Tingkhatra, a minister of the state, was given a
sapling, and he expressed his great happiness with the green
initiative, asking that all Arunachal Pradeshis preserve and plant
trees.
Radiance 2013 gathered nearly 450 students from the Miao diocese's 14
schools to highlight students' talents in the arts, competing in such
areas as singing, folk dances, traditional dress, biblical skits, and
drawing.
State minister for minority affairs, Ninong Ering, attended the events
and said Radiance is “a noble concept that will help these tribal
children from interior villages to share their culture with each other.”
Arunachal Pradesh is home to more than 100 distinct tribes; the state's
remote and mountainous terrain has led to challenges of poverty,
underemployment, and a lack of infrastructure for its people.
The festival of inter-cultural dialogue was hosted by the Miao'
diocese’s educational department, the Newman Educational Society. Ering
quoted the department's patron, saying that “this experience of sharing
and learning from each other will help these children to 'kindle a flame
where it is dark', making a difference in society.”
Bishop Pallipparambil stated that the festival is meant to “give a
platform to our students every year to express themselves, and to
exhibit their hidden talents” from God.
One of the participants, Puja Wangsu, said, “I feel so happy to meet
many new friends from faraway places. Though we competed with one
another, off the stage we were like great friends.”
The Miao diocese was established in 2005, and Bishop Pallipparambil, a
member of the Salesians of St. Don Bosco, is its first bishop. The
diocese is home to 83,500 Catholics across an area of nearly 17,000
square miles.
Its people are served by 33 parishes and missions, staffed by 27
diocesan priests, and 60 religious. Several groups of religious sisters
live and work in the diocese, including the Missionaries of Charity.
The diocese's total population is roughly 500,000, with Christians –
most of them Catholic – comprising some 19 percent of the population.
The largest religious group is Hindus, with large minorities of
Buddhists and traditional religions, as well as small numbers of
Muslims, Sikhs, and Jains.
Miao, the cathedral city, is home to some 25,000 people.