Syro-Malabar Leaders Ask Communist Government To Leave Church Institutions Alone
Jul 13, 2007
Some Church leaders in Kerala have threatened to launch a stir against the state's communist-led government, which they accuse of infringing on Christians' rights.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (UCAN, July 13, 2007) -- Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil of Ernakulam-Angamaly, major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, added his warning in a statement issued July 10. The head of the larger of the two Oriental Catholic Churches in India asked the state government to avoid "a painful situation" from "indirectly or directly victimizing" Church institutions.
The campaign began when Syro-Malabar Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur told media in early July that the Church in Kerala, where both Oriental rites are based, is "ready for a second liberation struggle" to ensure educational and religious rights.
The archbishop said people still remember the Vimochana Samaram (liberation struggle) of nearly 50 years ago, when Christian opposition helped overthrow the world's first democratically elected communist government. The struggle against the communists, who came to power in 1957, began the following year and ended with the government's dismissal in 1959.
The present communist-led government came to power in May 2006.
In a July 1 pastoral letter, Archbishop Thazhath charged the state government with trying to take over the Church's health-care and educational institutions through "skewed" political tactics.
On July 3 he told UCA News that the government continues to violate Christians' constitutional right, as a minority, to establish and manage educational institutions. The government runs "politically motivated campaigns" against Church leaders and plans to revise Kerala's education policy in a bid to eliminate "faith in God," he said.
The archbishop pointed to an education department plan to hand over schools run by or receiving grants from the government to panchayat, local administrative bodies. A majority of the aided schools are under Church management. The move would give panchayat control over teacher appointments and school administration.
Cardinal Vithayathil's statement said "the folly" of the government produced the Vimochana Samaram. He hoped the present government would "not create a situation" that would compel the Church to take "emergency action."
Syro-Malabar Archbishop Joseph Perumthottam of Changanacherry also joined the call against the communists with a pastoral letter read out in his parishes on July 8.
It alleged the government was trying not only to control appointments and admissions in Church-managed schools, but also to propagate its ideology through curriculum reforms. Archbishop Perumthottam wants students and teachers to cooperate with others in the struggle against politicizing educational institutions and promoting atheism among students.
His pastoral letter asserted that Christians "will not give up our rights as minorities." The Indian Constitution grants religious and linguistic minorities the right to establish and manage their own schools, it reiterated.
The Church leaders received external backing when the Indian Union Muslim League and Hindu Nair Service Society offered their support to Christians.
Christians form just 19 percent of Kerala's 31.8 million people, but are economically strong and politically decisive in large pockets. Catholics of the Latin and two Oriental rites, the three components of the Indian Catholic Church, make up the majority.
The communists are "going in a reverse gear and threatening minorities," Muslim League leader P.K. Kunjalikutty told UCA News. "We will resist any move against minorities," he asserted. Muslims comprise about 25 percent of the state's population.
Nair Society leader P.K. Narayana Panicker told the media that the state's Hindus are upset the government is trying to "snatch powers of private schools and self-financing educational institutions."
Lay Catholics who spoke with UCA News had varied reactions.
Kulangara Chacko Antony, 87, who joined the Vimochana Samaram in 1959, said the Church does not have the influence it had then, when "we followed whatever priests told us." Especially among youths, he added, "old slogans won't sell today."
Cecily Mattekat, who also joined the 1959 stir, said she would join the protest once again. "We have to protect our Church. Otherwise who will protect us? Times might have changed but our faith doesn't change," the 75-year-old spinster remarked.
State Education Minister M.A. Baby, who was born a Catholic, told UCA News that bishops are "making irresponsible statements" without understanding social changes. "Fifty years ago, the situation was different, as there were takers for anticommunist campaigns. Not now," he said.
Syro-Malabar Leaders Ask Communist Government To Leave Church Institutions Alone