Gregorios,BenedictMar_1968_RNS

(1968) Archbishop Benedict Mar Gregorios of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Rite celebrates the winning of top honors in a food production contest sponsored by the Communist-rule state of Kerala. The prelate produced a rice variety in his own experimental rice paddies which had a yield of 8,000 pounds per acre – nearly seven times the average in this densely populated area of India. The 52-year-old archbishop, with the aid of American Catholics and the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, establishes parishes and social action centers which he insists are agriculturally self-supporting. Religion News Service