Ready for talks with Government: Cardinal
Jul 24, 2007
To end the standoff between Church, Government.
(The Hindu, 24/07/2007) KOCHI: The Syro-Malabar Church, the largest of the three Catholic rites in the State, is ready for talks with the Government to end the standoff between the Church and the Government over the self-financing colleges as well as other issues.
This was announced at the end of a meeting Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, head of the Syro-Malabar Rite, had with other archbishops here on Monday.
“The Church is ready for any discussions with the Government,” a Church spokesperson told The Hindu.
Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan had last evening told a TV channel that the Government had kept the doors to talks open in order to remove the Church’s anxieties over the Government’s education policy.
Negotiations
If necessary, he would himself take the initiative for negotiations, Mr. Achuthanandan said.
The Cardinal, who had been away in the U.S. for a month, retuned to the city a couple of days ago.
He called the archbishops’ meeting to take stock of the current charged atmosphere where several bishops had issued pastoral letters against the Government and some dioceses had started forming ‘church protection forces.’
Affiliation
Kerala and Calicut Universities had recently considered revocation of university affiliations of five Catholic Church-run self-financing colleges.
Archbishops Joseph Powathil, Andrews Thazhath and Joseph Perinthottam, Thalassery Vicar-General Mathew Chalil and Ernakulam Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Chakiath were among those who attended the meeting.
The Cardinal urged all Christian communities to stay together to face the problems.
Ready for talks with Government: Cardinal