Mumbai (AsiaNews) - The culture of death that pervades India "feeds on the entire spectrum of those things that de-humanize the individual. We are not speaking only, of the tragedies of abortion and euthanasia: this includes poverty and hatred. To combat it, we need a new culture of life within each of us", says mother Catherine Bernard, foundress of the service for research on family and children (Serfac) in Chennai in an interview with AsiaNews.

The nun, one of the Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod, is also a doctor. For 33 years she worked in the Indian Ministry for the family, promoting issues relating to life. Through conferences, seminars and of course experience in the field, Sister Catherine has become one of the best known of forces of opposition to the culture of death that seems ever more present on the Indian sub-continent.

"This culture - she explains - is everywhere, not only in the medical practice, but in newspapers, on television and even in the computer games of our children. We have to ask ourselves if we can resist all these horrors, constantly repeated, without becoming in some way infected. If you only ever look at violence, sooner or later will you tend towards violence? These things, come together and create monsters".

But the culture of death, she continues, "is also and above all those things that de-humanize people. Poverty causes these things, and leads to a great despair, not recognizing the humanity of an individual is the worst crime. This is why it is up to each of us to promote life and everything that life presents: we must create a culture of life ".

This is the primary task of Serfac, which works among all the social realities of India: "Christians and especially Catholics, are called to the indispensable role of being co-creators', along with God, of a new society that is fair and equitable. The times in which we live promote death, and as Christians we can not stand by and watch".

In this light, in the past 23 years since it first began operations Serfac has helped with seminars, meetings and fieldwork. “We must restore hope and respect for life to this globalized society, through equality and integration. In this way we can defeat the culture of death, which threatens to destroy our world and everything good that it entails".