Kerala Christians pledge to defend their institutions
Jul 31, 2007
Thousands of believers attending mass yesterday at parishes in central Kerala took oath to defend their faith and institutions against the “attempt to encroach upon their rights” by the state’s Left Democratic front (LDF) government.
By Ashraf Padanna
(Gulf Times, 30/07/2007)
KOCHI: Thousands of believers attending mass yesterday at parishes in central Kerala took oath to defend their faith and institutions against the “attempt to encroach upon their rights” by the state’s Left Democratic front (LDF) government.
The oath was taken at the parishes under the Ernakulam-Angamaly major archdiocese of Syro Malabar church, the dominant denomination with a membership of 17mn, while others continued to issue pastoral letters against the government.
Major Archbishop Mar Varkey Vithayathil, a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a member of The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, said the Christians were ready for any sacrifice to defend their faith and minority institutions.
“Don’t they think they can take away our rights through threats and attacks on our institutions,” the cardinal said while addressing a huge rally of Christian youths, attended by a large number of nuns as well.
Vithayathil, one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI, has been keeping silence on the issue so far.
They were angry at attempts by the LDF government led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) to impose quota and regulate admissions and fee structure of the self-financing professional colleges and physical attack on them by pro-government student unions.
Last week, the state cabinet authorised Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan to hold talks with the priests to end the standoff but such exercises had failed to produce results in the past as both sides stuck to their positions.
Education Minister M A Baby, Works Minister T U Kuruvila and law Minister M Vijayakumar had met the church leaders to placate them but they gave no concrete assurance on the autonomy of these institutions.
The government order giving rights to the panchayats or village councils, most of them LDF-ruled, to control government-aided schools is also seen as an attempt to infringe on their rights and to “promote atheism”. That move would empower popularly elected councils to appoint teachers and administer schools, most of them managed by the church.
Protest marches of the clergy and the laity were also taken out at many places like Iringalakkuda and Idukki yesterday. “The government should concentrate on improving the quality of life of the poor instead of browbeating us. The government which failed to do anything for them is harassing us,” Vithayathil said.
The presbyterium council of the Kollam diocese, a body of the Latin priests, said the system that the government was trying to impose on the self-financing colleges is against the concept of social justice. Attempts to impose the court-restrained cross subsidy system on these colleges will only serve to exploit students from the backward Latin Catholic community.
“The move to bring about unilateral changes in the Kerala Education Rules poses a threat to Christian teachings and values. It violates the Constitutional rights guaranteed to the minority communities to run their own educational institutions,” it said.
The pastoral letter signed by Kollam Bishop Stanley Roman of the Latin Church, the second largest Christian group with a total membership of 1.1mn, was read out at some 100 churches under the diocese.
The church’s public opposition began on July 3 when a pastoral letter from Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur threatened to launch a Vimochana Samaram (liberation struggle).
Since then, several other prelates also issued pastorals urging Catholics to oppose the government move and accusing the government of running political campaigns against church leaders.
Christians account for just 19% of Kerala’s 31.8mn people but are economically strong and politically decisive.
Kerala Christians pledge to defend their institutions