My dear friends,
Won’t you like to listen to Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister? Well, he speaks in the first article in this issue of INI, dated October-December 2025.
It comes to you on 14 November, which is celebrated all over India as Children’s Day. Everyone in India would know why this special Day is celebrated on 14 November, which happens to be the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.
If India – unlike its smaller neighbours – has managed to survive as a secular democratic republic, it is mainly thanks to Nehru’s beliefs and actions as its first Prime Minister. A tall leader who had a deep, genuine affection for children, he nurtured a profound connection with them. He remained a passionate advocate for children’s wellbeing and education.
Quite appropriately, therefore, this issue carries an interesting article by P.J. Sam Alexander, SJ who creatively imagines what Nehru would tell the children of India if he were to address them on Children’s Day. Jesuit Headmasters and teachers, who would like to address children on Children’s Day will find a lot of helpful material in this article.
What happened in the neighbouring Nepal on 8 September 2025 took the world by surprise. Josh B. Niraula, a senior educator who is well-connected to Jesuits, spells out, in an enlightening article, the reasons why Nepal’s youth revolted courageously on that day against the then Nepalese government. “Gen Z didn’t just topple a government; they proposed a bold vision for Nepal,” he says. He explains what lessons this spontaneous uprising of youth has for all countries and leaders. Does it have a message for the Church and the Jesuit institutions in Nepal? “For faith communities, particularly the Catholic Church and its Jesuit educational institutions, the events in Nepal constitute a direct call to action.” Read the article to know what he thinks they should do.
Not a single day goes by without someone talking of AI. In an article that summarizes a paper he presented at a conference for Moral Theologians in Kerala in October ’25, Sahayaraj Stanley, SJ shows how unscrupulous elements that aim at nothing but profit as well as people and organizations working for peace and human wellbeing are using AI. He calls upon all to begin using AI for peace, democracy and protection of our planet.
Arockiasamy Xavier, SJ, a professor of history and a writer, refutes the sinister allegations about the role of Christians and Christian institutions during India’s freedom struggle and shows how Christians and Christian educational institutions played a stellar, significant role in the non-violent movement to free India from the brutal colonizers who looted India.
This issue, released on Children’s Day, carries something unusual – a short story about a youth, who surmounts all obstacles to answer the call to priesthood and service.
The article by Fio Mascarenhas, SJ reminds us that while we celebrate in the joyous feast of Christmas the momentous event of God becoming man, we often forget that Jesus was fully and wonderfully human.
Let the articles in this issue help you celebrate children, youth and the God-Man!
– M.A. Joe Antony, SJ