Purushottam Nayak

A footpath Bangles seller’s daughter has become a model for the marginalized and economically backward people by becoming an OAS (Odisha Administrative Service) in the eastern Indian state of Odisha.

The Dantoling Marian shrine, established in 1917 by French Missionaries in the present Berhampur diocese, 179 km southwest of Odisha state capital Bhubaneswar, attracts thousands of faithful from many states in India.

“His poverty did not deter him from his determination to achieve something big. Now Susanto Beero, is a good example for our young people to pray and dream big coupled with strong determination, perseverance and hard work that one can `move mountains’,” said Father Alwyn Michael Joseph D’Souza

The monument enshrines the names of 105 Christians who were martyred during Kandhamal persecution in 2008.

Jajati Nayak died at the age of 72 after 55 years of service as a catechist in Odisha, the Eastern state of India, on December 17. Under his leadership, the faith life of the Christians of Kerubadi was strengthened and produced 9 Religious Sisters, including his daughter Sister Anjali Nayak, The Carmelite Sisters of St. Teresa (CSST) and 6 Priests, including his younger brother priest Dusmant Nayak.

Alvinus Kullu, the lone Catholic man at Asia’s second-largest National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha, was able to witness his faith through his simplicity, kindness and understanding, during his 38 years of service.

International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8, is a day of remembrance of their struggles for equality, freedom, and justice.

A blind man in the eastern Indian state of Odisha has an incredible mission of praise and worship in Christian hymns at a market inspiring hundreds of people.