Supporting the youngsters, Fr James Panavelil, assistant vicar at the parish quotes Pope Francis, ‘If a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?’ “We have a Pope who doesn’t judge anyone and holds everyone close. It is sad that many who were commenting like that are young people and that they are not even willing to listen,” says Adeline, adding that their message was getting through to many including those in their own parish who were earlier clueless about sexual minorities. It is something that people feel on their own. It is a known fact that sexual orientation is not something that can be forced upon someone. “They are accusing us of provoking people to turn homosexual. Through the star our message was simple -to yearn for a Christmas where everyone is included,” says Joel.Īdeline Simon, another youngster, says that the star became a controversy after they posted its picture on Instagram. We believe that if we change our attitude, then many issues faced by sexual minorities here can be addressed. However, there is a large group of people who are sidelined, and we are not addressing their issues. “Christmas is a festival of peace, and we all celebrate it together.

Joel Jexon, a law student and CLC member, says that they did not face any objections from their parishioners or priests but only from random individuals on social media who twisted their message and started running a hate campaign against them. If the Old Testament God rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, the novel initiative by the young Christians of Tripunithura has not gone down well with extremist Christian cyber bullies, who turned to personal attack and verbal abuse against them. Rainbow strips represent LGBTQIA+, intermingled faces show how inclusive humanity is, they said on the page with a picture of the star. “We are attempting to spread the wonderful ideals of humanism, inclusivity, and fraternity,” they wrote on their CLC unit’s Instagram page. In the center of the star, the youngsters have written, ‘Christmas is love, be a Christmas and spread humanity’. If the star of Bethlehem led the magi to the savior, the youngsters of Christian Life Community (CLC) here are sending a message of inclusivity through their star. In the center of the star are intermingled faces in various colours.

Each limb of the star has six stripes borrowed from the rainbow flag. Outside the courtyard of the church, stands a tall white star. At Tripunithura, the St Mary’s Forane Church glows in Christmas lights.

Towards bethlehem