A few days
ago, Dr. James Kottoor posted in this blog the letter of Archbishop Kuriakose
Bharanikulangara to Fr. Jacob and the Knanaya community in Faridabad-Delhi.
Today I received an e-mail from Mr. George Poozikala an original
Knanaya praising the Archbishop for his stand on the endogamy issue to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ
and the tradition of the Catholic Church. I am posting his e-mail here for
Almayasabdam readers. Last year, about this time, I published an article on
this endogamy issue and I got positive as well as negative reactions from the
readers. A few people published articles ridiculing me but failed to answer the
nagging question that how can a catholic diocese practice endogamy and expel
her faithful from the diocese just because he/she married a non-Knanaya
catholic. Now it is very clear that the Universal Church, C.B.C.I., K.C.B.C,
and S.M.C. are all on the same page, an inclusive Church. And therefore nowhere
in India separate parishes will be allowed for the Knanaya community.
In my
article I mentioned that the Chicago diocesan authorities made a huge blunder
when they established offices for separate Vicar Generals for Northists and
Southists. It might have been a political move by the diocesan authorities but
it back fired and lost unity as well as inclusive nature of the S.M.C. in North
America. Even in Kalyan diocese which established 25 years ago and where there
is a huge Knanaya community doesn’t have two Vicar Generals and Knanaya
parishes.
Given below is
Mr. Poozhikala’s e-mail.
Chacko Kalarickal
Chacko Kalarickal
Hats off to you, Your Excellency
Bharanikulangara. Your Excellency proved to be worthy to be addressed
'EXCELLENCY'. And also true to Jesus Christ by, being, what He was in the
dilemmas which confronted Him. You have been bold as He was. You have been
honest as He was. You identify the 'white washed tombs' as He did. Your message
has been liberation from fundamentalism as His was. You shelter the untouchable
as He sheltered the condemned. You tell the truth that hurts the guilty, as He
did. Your words insult the perpetrators, as His did. And they get
the 'mob' against you, as they did against Him.
The world today, after two thousand
years, is too sophisticated to crucify you but not idealistic enough to admire
you.
You have risen above the
sophistication of power politics and its diplomatic dishonesty and cherished in
spirituality with your rejection of endogamous congregations.
Approval of an endogamous
congregation within the Catholic church, irrespective of where, when, what, who
and why, is an embarrassing failure of the church hierarchy in
understanding the spirit of Christ's message. (The earth didn't
stop revolving the sun because a Pontiff's approval was a 'geocentric'
universe).
The Church and the Syro Malabar
hierarchy, as well as, the spirit of Christianity do recognize the moral
violation in the practice of endogamy. Obviously, that is why the Church
disapproves and disallows endogamous congregations. To disapprove and
to tolerate is hypocrisy. That is politically motivated diplomacy
which squeezes honesty out. Without honesty religious spirituality is an empty
shell. Materialistic- consequence controlled decision making is political
strategy, not religious idealism. Christ's life testifies that; also Bhagavat
Geetha, as well.
Preaching endogamy fatally
threatens Christianity in its idealism. So it is a heresy.
The 'ugly' who preaches
untouchability and rektha sudhi due to racial origin should be the first
ones to be excommunicated not the 'bad' who commits adultery
as the former conceals human hatred.
There is no statutory law in the
decree of 1911 or in any of the ecclesiastical legal system which mandate a
Catholic congregation to absorb the expelled victim of the endogamy violation.
Therefore such an expulsion abandons the faithful without a facility that
guarantees an uninterrupted fulfillment of the victim's spiritual needs such as
sacraments. Which the Church rules mandatory for the salvation of ones soul .
Does this suggest that the above ruling is a joke and the Church is not all
that serious about the sacraments!? A close look at the decree in question
establishes that the Vatican did not mean the endogamy expulsion
which was a twist perpetrated by Mar Makil and continued by his
successors.
The decree doesn't state 'racial
purity' or protection and honor of the tradition of endogamy practice of the
community in its preamble (objectives). Also the decree is absolutely silent on
the penalty for the violation of the endogamy tradition. The
exogamy expulsion practice of Kottayam Diocese is not legitimate as the
decree doesn't positively instruct such a penalty for the violation.
A positive identity of the consequence of violation is an integral part
of a 'decree' of instruction-ruling. On top of all, inter- rite and exogamous
marriages have been common in the Catholic Church always. But expulsion from
the community for such a marriage is non- existent in the church.
If the Vatican presumed expulsion of
the violators of endogamy which as the said decree fails to stipulate, the
decree deems to be incomplete and so invalid which also implies the
incompetency and naivety of the Vatican in law making. The invalidity of the
decree also invalidate the diocese of Kottayam as well.
To argue that the 'expulsion' is
inherent and implied in the decree is naive which falls apart because of the
following three solid reasons;(1) Prevalence of the acceptance of the exogamous
marriages in the church without a single exception (2) Consistent precedence of
acceptance of the exogamous marriages and (3) To top it all, absence of a
statutory arrangement for the uninterrupted fulfillment of the spiritual needs
of the expelled believers, in the said decree or anywhere else in the church's
legal system.
The practice of expulsion of the
endogamy violators in Kottayam diocese is a vicious use of the loophole derived
from the above mentioned negligence of the Vatican. This negligence from the
church is an embarrassing paradox, because the fulfillment of the sacramental
obligation of a catholic is mandatory as per the Catholic doctrine. And
belonging to a congregation presided by a catholic priest is obligatory to
receive and fulfill the above obligation. Without such belonging the sacraments
are categorically denied to the devotees of the church. What surfaces here is
the inherent legitimacy in excommunicating an innocent believer for an
exogamous marriage which is absolutely consistent with the guide lines and
teachings of the Church. The endogamy violation is not a sin of any kind as per
the moral code of the Catholic Church. So, consequently the endogamy
expulsion is potentially an irresponsible violation which condemn the innocent.
This means the expulsion should turn into a 'divine boomerang which
bounces back and hits the Bishop of Kottayam with an excommunication
penalty for the violation of the divine law.
If a child becomes unacceptable for
a father, for a reason, right or wrong, the father's only choice is to throw
him on the street; not to dump on the neighbor. It would take a god damn jerk
to do that. (It reminds one of the well known saying in Malayalam " arante
vayattile amedyam kandonde panniye valrtthunna pichavathi")
This endogamy movement is an ado
about nothing in terms of community well being. It is a demographic blunder. It
is a cultural hypocrisy. The legacy it claims is the left over (echil) left
for street dogs and rats thrown into a ditch behind a
restaurant.
More than anything else, it is a
Trojan horse with politicians, under cover, as it consolidates leadership
which always precipitate from spicy issues of sensationalism. This evil
gets reinforced from the 'class consciousness' (varga bodham) a legacy
of trade unionism of Kerala which prevails on the modern value system of
Malayalies crippling their sense of fairness.
The survival of the Knanaya endogamy
within the church is absolutely dependent on the congregations outside the
Knanaya diocese (i.e.arante vayattile amedyam...). Its survival without
the church will be possible with the 'premium drinks and pork' which 'purifie
any blood' during the rat race for the community leadership. ha ha ha...
George J. Poozhikala
Not only I am a Kna; I am not an
endogamy victim either.
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