Sikh temple to host interfaith march for world peace in Berkeley

By Tom Lochner
West County Times
Posted: 06/04/2009 11:39:48 AM PDT
Updated: 06/04/2009 11:39:49 AM PDT


The Sikh Center of San Francisco Bay Area, based in El Sobrante, invites people of any faith to join a spiritual march for world peace in Berkeley on Sunday.

The spiritual march, known as Nagar Kirtan or the singing of spiritual hymns, will commemorate the 403rd anniversary of the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Ji.

Guru Arjan, who was tortured and who died in 1606, was the fifth among the 10 Gurus of Sikhism and is credited with compiling Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book. He wrote more than 2,000 hymns.

Sunday's event will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will start in Civic Center Park in downtown Berkeley. The march route will extend to University Avenue at California Street and back to Civic Center Park.

There will be free vegetarian food.

For more information, e-mail Ravinder S. Bath at ravbatth@comcast.net or call 925-323-8626, or call Surinderjeet S. Bajwa at 415-298-9719.Reach Tom Lochner at 510-262-2760 or tlochner@bayareanewsgroup.com.

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Fresh clashes rock Valley, mob targets Sikh locality

June 05, 2009
Srinagar:

A predominantly Sikh neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city was targeted by a mob as fresh protests and a strike triggered by the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian continued to cripple life in large parts of the Valley for the fourth consecutive day.

A group of people ransacked 20 houses at Rangreth, breaking window panes and damaging other property on Wednesday evening. Paramjit Kaur, whose house was among those targeted, said: “It happened around 7.45 pm on Wednesday when a group of people first started hurling stones. They broke our gate and destroyed everything that came their way. I along with my children hid in the attic to save ourselves from the frenzied mob.”

“This had never happened in the past 20 years,” said Jaspal Singh, an engineer whose house, too, was ransacked. A few cars were also damaged by the mob.

Locals said trouble began when a group of protesters enforcing the strike stopped a car being driven by a Sikh. They damaged the car following which there was a scuffle, in which one of the protesters was injured. This was followed by the violence at Rangreth.

with thanks : source : http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Fresh-clashes-rock-Valley--mob-targets-Sikh-locality/471524

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A Sikh Web Portal with Photo gallery of gurdwaras ....

SikhsIndia
4th June, 2009

Please log on to the Sikh Portal www.sohnijodi.com and view the Photo gallery of :
Golden Temple - Amritsar Sahib; Gurdwara Data Bandi Chor Sahib - Gwalior;
Gurdwara Mandi Sahib - Himachal which contains pics of Guru Gobind Singh ji's Bed, Gun, Kuppi,Rabab sahib as well Signatures of Guru Gobind Singh ji; Gurdwara Manikaran Sahib - Himachal; Gurdwara Anandpur Sahib - Himachal.

You can also view the Photo Gallery of :
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The sikh web portal also contains a Sikh news Section, Sikh view section & a Matrimonial section where you can add the matrimonial profiles with or without pics absolutely free.

The portal www.sohnijodi.com has a World Gurdwara Section which contains contact details of Gurdwaras. You can add your Gurdwara in the Directory.The portal also has a Sikh Business Directory.

Please promote the Sikh web portal www.sohnijodi.com in your area by adding the links in your local & regional websites & sikh blogs.

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Thousands pour in for Dera leader's cremation in Punjab

Thousands pour in for Dera leader's cremation in Punjab
4 Jun 2009, 1455 hrs IST, IANS

JALANDHAR: Thousands of followers of slain Dera Sachh Khand sect leader, Sant Rama Nand Dass, trooped into Ballan village, 15 km from here, as his body was brought from Vienna amid extremely tight security.

The body was accompanied by the sect head, Sant Niranjan Dass, who was also injured in the attack on them in a gurdwara in Vienna May 24.

Thousands of Ravidassias, who are followers of 14th century preacher Sant Ravi Dass, started arriving at the sect headquarters at Ballan village since Wednesday, to pay their last respects to the sect leader.

Contingents of the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) and Punjab Police were stationed in large numbers in and around the sect headquarters. The sect had appealed to its followers to maintain peace.

Areas of central Punjab, especially Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Phagwara, Ludhiana and a few other places had witnessed large-scale violence last week following the Vienna attack on the sect leaders.

Three people died and dozens were injured in the violence that also saw coaches of three trains being set on fire and many cars, trucks and buses being burnt by the protesters.

Public and private property suffered extensive damage during the violence as the civil authorities called in the army and paramilitary forces to control the situation. Train and road traffic was severely affected as the protesters blocked highways, roads and rail tracks.

Draped in saffron, the body of Sant Rama Nand Dass, 57, was kept in a glass coffin in an open area of the sect campus for followers to pay their respects.

The Punjab government had sent a chartered aircraft to Vienna from New Delhi Tuesday to bring back the sect head Niranjan Dass and the body of Sant Rama Nand Dass. Punjab chief minister's principal secretary D.S. Guru went by the special flight to Vienna to bring them back.

The sect head and the body were flown by a special helicopter from New Delhi to the sect headquarters here Thursday morning.

The cremation is likely to be attended by leaders from all political parties. Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati and other central leaders are likely to attend the cremation later Thursday.

Most followers of the Dera Sachh Khand sect are Dalit Sikhs. There has been an undercurrent of resentment by the sect followers against the dominant Jat Sikh community in the past few decades, mainly owing to social disparity between the two.

with thanks : source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Dera-leaders-cremation-today/articleshow/4615567.cms

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Tight security in India's Punjab for slain preacher's funeral

June 3, 2009 -- Updated 1424 GMT (2224 HKT)
By Harmeet Shah Singh
CNN

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Police tightened security Wednesday in India's Punjab for the funeral of a preacher whose killing in Vienna, Austria sparked violent protests in the Sikh majority state last week.The body of Rama Sand lies in state in Vienna before being transported to India. Top-ranking officers are camping in Jalandhar district, where Rama Nand will be cremated Thursday, said Parag Jain, Punjab's inspector-general of police."Security arrangements are elaborate," he told CNN.

Nand's body is due to arrive from Vienna early Thursday in Sachkhand Ballan, a monastery dedicated to Guru Ravidass, a 14th-century low-caste Hindu spiritual figure.

Guru Ravidass' writings are predominantly found in the primary Sikh scriptures called the Guru Granth Sahib, placed in the sect temples as in the Sikh houses of worship.

Sect head Niranjan Dass, who was injured in the Vienna assault, will also be arriving Thursday, Sachkhand Ballan secretary S.R. Heer said.

The sikh guru's death led to widespread violence across the Punjab region, which resulted in the army and federal security forces being called in to restore order.
Thousands took part in demonstrations across the Doaba region, where protesters attacked public transportation, knocking out train service in some areas. They also blocked a national highway to Jammu, CNN sister network CNN-IBN reported.

A number of businesses were ransacked as well. Police reported one death.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, himself a Sikh, appealed for calm, in a statement."There is no place for violence in a secular society like India's and certainly no excuse whatsoever for the violation of the sacred premises of a (Sikh temple) for narrow sectarian or other purposes," India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

with thanks : source : http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/06/03/india.punjab.funeral/

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Punjab's Gandhigiri to stem attacks

3 Jun 2009, 0543 hrs IST, Amit Sharma , TNN

CHANDIGARH: Frustrated and angry at their friends and kin facing “curry bashing” in Australia, a group of students from Panjab University decided to do something about it.

No, they didn't round up foreigners and subject them to reverse racism. Instead, they caught hold of 20-odd ‘firangs’ and gave them a lesson in, well, Indian hospitality and “universal brotherhood”.

The befuddled foreign students were garlanded with flowers and made to take part in a peace march through the campus. They were then lectured on ‘Gandhigiri’ before being treated to a sumptuous lunch. The university students even made their foreign counterparts hold placards that read ‘Treat Guest As God’ and ‘Stop Racism’.

Punjab, which reportedly sends 50,000 students abroad each year, a large number of them to Australia, is seething in rage at the turn of events Down Under. Thankfully, the university students chose a different way to vent their feelings, giving their foreign counterparts a liberal dose of Ghandigiri.

Visibly confused but enjoying all the attention, Simin, president of the foreign students association here, said, "It's really a heartwarming thing done by the Indian students. I really liked the garlands. After today’s function, we feel safer and more secure in this city. We just hope the same treatment is reserved for Indians abroad."

Scott, a student from Canada, here to learn Punjabi, was equally pleased. “I am really happy at what happened (in PU) today. These guys have certainly set an example for others to follow.’’ Arif, another foreign student, said he was so impressed he immediately called up his family in Yemen to narrate the day’s incident.

And although the Indian students did well to hide their pain and anger at the events in Australia, the emotions just spilled over. “Even after getting bashed up in Australia, we don’t want to retaliate. It’s all about sending a message to the Australians that, unlike them, we treat foreigners as our guests and guests are like gods,” said Rajwinder Singh Aulakh, a university student.

with thanks : source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Punjabs-Gandhigiri-to-stem-attacks/articleshow/4611130.cms

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Gurdwara vandalized, student stabbed in Oz

3 Jun 2009, 0000 hrs IST, TIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES

MELBOURNE: Racial assaults continue unchecked in Australia. On Monday, a Sikh gurdwara was vandalized in Shepparton, a small town 90km north of Melbourne.

Racist graffiti and swastikas were scribbled on its walls, eggs thrown at it and the fencing around the gurdwara smashed by a car. On Tuesday, another Indian student was stabbed in the chest by a box-cutter knife on his way to college in east Melbourne.

Meanwhile, Australia set up an inquiry committee to look into the attacks even as Union minister for overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi said his ministry would prepare and maintain a register of all Indians studying abroad and streamline campus placements to foreign universities.

Nardeep Singh, a 20-year-old from Ludhiana, was assaulted in a car park. The five attackers initially asked for cigarettes. When the student replied he was a non-smoker, they asked for money. On refusal, one of them stabbed him in the chest. Nardeep is a student of nursing at the Chisholm Technical Institute.

Singh, who had arrived in Australia only a month ago, fled to the police station where his statement was recorded. He is under observation in a Melbourne hospital.

with thanks : source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Gurdwara-vandalized-student-stabbed-in-Oz/articleshow/4608367.cms

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Sikh Culture in Maryland School Curriculum

Sikh Culture in Maryland School Curriculum
North America
Posted Jun 01, 2009 - 11:34 PM

A teaching package on Sikh culture, which was part of the social studies curriculum this year in eight elementary schools in Howard County, Maryland, will be incorporated into all of the county’s approximately 39 elementary schools in the next school year, a county education-official said.

Kaur Foundation’s Cultural Safari video and resource package, which was released in June 2008, was incorporated into the social studies curriculum by fall and is being used in the county’s eight pilot-schools.

Teaching packages normally end up sitting on the shelf because teachers just don’t have time to squeeze in additional lessons. It is only when new material is approved and incorporated into the curriculum that students see it in the classroom.

“I’m very happy to (say) teachers are using this resource,” said Florence Hu, principle of Centennial Lane Elementary, one of the pilot schools where Cultural Safari is being tested. “It shows the importance of diversity and of being respectful of other cultures.”

Howard County has a large minority population. About 30 percent of its students come from Asian countries, Hu said. “I really think the success of making sure that our school is a safe place is to be proactive of different cultures and to learn (about them) before they come (here).”

Last year, when the county’s curriculum office was revising certain units in social studies, and was looking for resources on diversity, Cultural Safari was there to fill the need. But that was no coincidence, it was a well thought-out plan, said Mirin Kaur Phool, the foundation’s president.

Kaur Foundation spent 18 months doing research before developing the package. It involved surveys of teachers and faculty on what they would like to know, and of Sikh students on what they would be known about them.

“Every line was not random, it was carefully structured to answer these questions,” Mirin Kaur said. The target audience was the schools. Information on Sikhi was presented in a manner that said everything and answered all their questions. “It’s a very fine walk to show everything and not get thrown out.”

Foundation representative began talking to county and state administrators as the package was being developed. When it was released, several administrators got their first look at the video at the foundation’s gala in June, an annual event with Sikh glitterati such as Fauja Singh and the Kaur twins as special guests.

“(They saw) that this was a savvy community, doing nice things, incredible things, at a level they are used to,” Mirin Kaur said. But the video spoke for itself.

“It was apparent when I saw the video it was very applicable to curriculum development,” said John Krownapple, cultural proficiency coordinator for the county’s public schools. Having it in the curriculum “made it instantly credible.”

Krownapple was the first to introduce the package at a meeting of a variety of education officials. Mirin Kaur made the presentation, beginning with the death of Balbir Singh Sodhi, the first person killed in a 9/11-related hate crime, and ending with a discussion on the gap in cultural awareness. The curriculum coordinator, principals, and social studies superintendents were very interested, she said.

Foundation representatives for the county, Harsharan Kaur and Arvinder Kaur, are continuing the legwork with Mirin Kaur, going school to school to show the package to teachers, librarians and faculty.

The package will be incorporated into all of the county’s elementary schools in the fall, Krownapple said. But the county will also use it in other ways.

“The intended audience is students, but every adult I have shown it to has learned from it,” he added. The package will be used for professional development to help staff extend cultural awareness, included as a resource in school libraries and eventually included in a central cultural-databank.

Meanwhile, Kaur Foundation is looking beyond Howard County to the rest of the state. Foundation representatives presented Cultural Safari to the social studies coordinator at the Maryland Department of Education, Marcie Taylor-Thoma, last summer.

“It is a safe DVD for students to learn from,” Taylor-Thoma said. “The follow-up lessons use the DVD to talk about not only Sikhs, but also other cultures.“

She introduced the video at an education event in November with educators from many of the state’s 24 counties, and a social studies superintendants’ event in April. At least eight county education officials have asked Mirin Kaur to present it to their decision makers.

Outside Maryland, Sikh parents are showing the video at their kids’ schools, at multicultural cultural events and asking libraries to make it available to the public. From Rochester, N.Y., to Uba City, Calif., the foundation has sent out 2,000 videos at $15 each, with 1,000 more on the way, Mirin Kaur said.

Jatinder Singh Hundal of Roseville, Calif., used the video at his Khalsa school at the West Sacramento Gurdwara. All the parents wanted a copy, he said.

“I have three boys, 12 and 8-year-old twins,” he added. “They enjoy it and like mostly that there are no embarrassing moments when they see it with their friends.”

with thanks : source : http://www.sikhnn.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=675&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

California passes bill on Sikh symbol kirpan

California passes bill on Sikh symbol kirpan
3 Jun 2009, 1019 hrs IST, IANS

LOS ANGELES: The California assembly has passed a bill that makes it mandatory for the state to train law enforcement agencies about the Sikh symbol kirpan.

The bill AB-504, which was passed unanimously by the assembly Monday, will now go to the state senate for its nod before Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signs it to make it a law.

Enjoying bipartisan support, the bill was passed 59-0 by the assembly in the California capital of Sacramento.

When it finally becomes a law, it will be the first such legislation in any US state to train law officers about the Sikh religion and kirpan.

Apart from being victims of hate crimes after 9/11, many Sikhs have been stopped at airports and other places for wearing kirpan.

Many of them were also denied entry or arrested for carrying kirpan in public places in violation of concealed weapons laws.

Various Sikh organisations, led by the Sikh Coalition, lobbied with state legislature and senate members to pass the bill introduced by assembly man Warren Furutani of Long Beach.

Under the law, California would incorporate training about the kirpan in the curriculum for law enforcement officer training.

"It is the legislature's goal to promote education and awareness of the carrying of the kirpan by Sikhs in California," says the preamble of the bill.

Law enforcement officers will be trained "how to recognise and interact with persons carrying a kirpan", the preamble adds.

"Our hope is that being educated about the kirpan and its religious significance will decrease the number of wasteful arrests," the Sikh Coalition said.

The bill was introduced in the assembly in February.

with thanks : source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/California-passes-bill-on-Sikh-symbol-kirpan/articleshow/4611563.cms

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Is Sikhism succumbing to fundamentalism?

June 2, 2009

The fatal shooting at a Sikh temple in Austria shows up an ugly schism in a religion built on monotheism and equality Sathnam Sanghera

Sathnam Sanghera

There were riots across northern India last week after a shooting at a Sikh temple in Austria resulted in the death of a sect leader and, given that Punjabi culture is something I bang on about on occasion, it wasn’t surprising, I suppose, that a couple of news producers rang, asking me to put the disturbances into context.

I declined because: (a) as a community we are only just learning to talk about ourselves, and too often any kind of commentary is taken as criticism; (b) commenting about religion is a dangerous business when people are being killed and one has absolutely no theological authority; (c) I feel about broadcasting the way many feel about general anaesthetic (you should do it only when you absolutely need to); but mainly because (d) it’s quite hard to explain what Sikhism actually stands for.

You see, one of the founding principles of the monotheistic religion, established in the late 15th century by Guru Nanak, was opposition to Hinduism’s oppressive caste system. Yet the world’s fifth largest organised religion has a caste system of its own, with differences between Jat Sikhs (a group that I belong to and which makes up about two thirds of Sikh society) and non-Jat castes, such as the Ramgarhias, remaining a source of political, social and religious tension.

Even in Britain you’ll find different Sikh temples belonging to different groups on the same road, and — according to some media reports last week, many of them disputed by the groups involved — the violence in Austria was sparked after orthodox Sikhs from one caste objected to preachers from another caste being disrespectful towards the Sikh Holy Book.

Also, officially, Sikhs don’t worship human beings, since Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru, named Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Book, as his successor. But certain Sikh sects do believe in living human gurus, some mainstream Sikh families revere spiritual figures and ancestors, and — according to some media reports, again disputed by the groups involved — the violence in Austria was sparked when members of a certain sect gave the Guru Granth Sahib pride of place next to photographs and idols of their own human “gurus”.

Then there’s the issue of booze. Officially, Sikhs don’t drink, and some families don’t even allow alcohol to be kept in their houses.

But as the academics Gurharpal Singh and Darshan Singh Tatla point out in Sikhs in Britain: The Making of a Community: “Consumption of alcohol has always been high among Sikhs, with the per capita rate among Sikhs of Punjab among the highest in the world” and “a particularly distinctive feature of British Sikh society today” being “the high rate of alcoholism among males . . . Consumption rates are higher than in any other ethnic minority and in the white community.”

There are other contradictions. Sikhs are meant to adopt the name “Singh”, meaning “lion”, as a way of encouraging equality (one’s caste can often be identified by a surname), but many of us use it only as a middle name. The Gurus declared men and women to be equal, but Punjabi culture is highly patriarchal. Sikhism is the only major world religion that acknowledges that other religions are a valid way of reaching God, but some believers risk being disowned for marrying outside of their religion.

Also, Sikhs, partly as a result of having no clergy (the idea is that everyone can be directly in touch with God without priests) and partly as a result of factionalism, have never been very good at building institutions to represent them, and yet have had great success campaigning on issues such as the right to wear the turban, so much so that Sikhs can legally ride a motorbike with a turban instead of a helmet. When, the other week, the police announced that they were developing a bulletproof turban, apart from a few tiresome jokes about the “turbanator”, there were almost no objections from any quarters. Imagine the fuss there would have been if the religious headwear in question had been a burka.

And if there is anything that epitomises the fluidity of Sikhism, it is the turban. Long hair, beards and colourful headwear are synonymous with the religion — I kept my own hair unshorn until the age of 14 — but if you ask any Sikh why they keep their hair uncut, they will give you a different answer.

Some say that it’s a way of showing respect for the God-given form; some that it is a way of expressing love for God (like a married person would wear a wedding ring); some link it to intelligence, health and spirituality; some say that Guru Gobind Singh made the keeping of unshorn hair mandatory to give Sikhs a binding identity. There are others who will argue that long hair isn’t actually necessary to be a Sikh.

In fact, a great many Sikhs, if not the majority, don’t have long hair and don’t sport turbans. And those with turbans are not necessarily hugely religious: I know one turbaned man who runs that most un-Sikh of things, an English pub; another who started wearing a turban simply because he had developed a bald patch; another who is actually an atheist.

As it happens, I don’t think that these ambiguities are necessarily a problem. Such issues crop up with all organised religions, and for me, and I am a believer, the massive variation in observance is appealing, as you’re basically left to define your own religiosity. Not least, it’s an expression of another of Sikhism’s fundamental teachings, that empty ritual is meaningless, and it ensures that believers concentrate on the things that really matter, namely “Nam simran” (meditation on and awareness of God) and “Sewa” (community service).

But the concerning thing about last week’s events is that we seem to have another contradiction developing. This most modern and liberal of world religions, which allows its believers to develop their own relationship with God, is developing a fundamentalist streak, with certain people determined to tell others what to believe and how to believe it, under pain of death if necessary.

source : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/sathnam_sanghera/article6407907.ece

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Choir led Sikh to Catholic Church; mission work cinched his vocation

Choir led Sikh to Catholic Church; mission work cinched his vocation

By Beth Griffin
Catholic News Service

MARYKNOLL, N.Y. (CNS) -- Imagine that the youngest child in a religiously observant family comes home from high school and announces to his prominent father that he is converting to a minority religion he heard about from his principal. Predictably, the reaction is shock, disbelief and resistance.

But Stephen Taluja, who was raised a Sikh in Punjab state, India, converted to Catholicism anyway. Now 27, he had his father's blessing when he was ordained as a Maryknoll priest May 30.

His ordination Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York at the Queen of Apostles Chapel at Maryknoll Mission Center.

Punjab, in northwest India, is overwhelmingly Sikh and Hindu. Seventy-five 75 percent of the world's 26 million Sikhs live there. Catholics make up less than 1 percent of the population.

Father Taluja was introduced to Catholicism at a private high school whose Anglo-Indian principal is Catholic.

"The place has a Catholic aura and the principal is a devout Catholic whose faith and practice are very connected," he said in an interview with Catholic News Service.

As a student, he volunteered with the school to work at a leprosarium run by the Missionaries of Charity. He called it "pretty significant" to confront societal taboos associated with people who have Hansen's disease.

Father Taluja credited music with being the specific doorway to his interest in Catholicism. As a member of the school choir, he was invited to sing at midnight Mass at a local church. He had never been into a Catholic church and it was unusual for him to be out at that hour of the night.

"When I first walked in, I vividly remember being struck by the crucifix on the wall. People were kneeling and praying to the crucifix. I couldn't understand why they were praying to a so-called God who was a frail and dying man," he said.

Father Taluja said he was curious, but had no intention of converting to Catholicism. He also was dealing with larger questions about the meaning of life after the untimely death of his mother when he was 15.

When he decided to convert, the news was not well-received by his father. He described "divisive opposition" in his family, contrasted with the support of people at the parish.

"I felt like Peter, denying Jesus three times. I come from an influential, rich family in a small town. Sometimes people would tell me they heard I was attending Catholic Mass and I would deny it," he said.

But he persisted, drawn by a desire to know God, and was received into the church while he was still in high school.

When he came to suburban New York to study computer science, Father Taluja worked the night shift at a gas station convenience store and attended the early morning Mass at St. Elizabeth Seton Church in Shrub Oak. He also sang in the choir.

Father Taluja felt called to the missionary priesthood and was introduced to Maryknoll by both his pastor and the Maryknoll music director whom he met at his second job.

Father Taluja, who is fluent in Hindi, English and Punjabi, learned Spanish during a five-month stint in Cochabamba, Bolivia and then spent two years in the Peruvian Andes, with Maryknoll's overseas training program. He served the indigenous Aymara people, ministering and working with youths and preparing parishioners for fiestas and eucharistic celebrations.

"My experience in Peru cinched things for me. I knew I was called to be a missionary and a priest and I want to do it for the rest of my life," he said.

Father Taluja described working in a parish of 90,000 people served by one priest and a group of Argentine Dominican sisters. "Every day is like a sacramental carnival," he said. "Somebody dies, people get married, there are baptisms."

He said preaching in Spanish was an "animating of my faith." Father Taluja honed his Spanish on the soccer field, where, he said, "formalities fade and you get to know people on a more personal level." It probably helped that his soccer skills were good enough to land him a spot on India's junior national team.

Father Taluja earned his bachelor's degree in religious studies from St. Xavier University in Chicago and a master's in divinity from Catholic Theological Union there. He will continue to pursue a master's in sacred Scripture at the union after his ordination.

His three older sisters came from New York, England and India to attend his ordination; and a niece and nephew were the gift bearers at the offertory. His father was expected to attend if his visa were granted, but in the end it was not.

"He's very proud. He has mixed feelings, but he wants to come and give me his blessing and support me," Father Taluja told CNS in an interview before his ordination.

Father Taluja said his Sikh background will serve his priesthood.

"My Catholic seeds were sown in a non-Catholic home. Sikhism has explicit respect for different paths to God, which I think I bring with me. Who knows how Christ might be working through people of other cultures and religions? We don't," he said.

source : http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0902500.htm