An open letter to Most Rev. Anil.J.T.Couto, Archbishop of Delhi and
Most.Rev.Kuriakose Bharanikulangara, Bishop of Faridabad Eparchy on the issue
of rite. Also for
the information to Most Rev. Salvatore Pennachio, Apostolic Nuncio in India.
Part V.
After you have brought out your Joint Pastoral Letter
(Order), a lot of water has flown down the stream of time. The faithful who
were born in Kerala in Syrian families, who were the members of the parishes of
the Archdiocese of Delhi were upset at this division of the Church and has
approached their Archbishop of Delhi to place before the genuine difficulties
and to put a stop to this criminal act. They had meetings in which a great
number of affected families entrusted a core group to take necessary steps to find
a solution for this unjust situation. The core group met the Archbishop of
Delhi and put forward their grievances before him. They also had meeting with
both the Archbishop of Delhi and the Bishop of Faridabad. They could not find
any solution emerging. They approached the Nuncio and put the matter before
him. By the time, the Archbishop of Delhi might have realised the difficulties
and inconvenices of his own parish members. He asked the entire parish priests of his Archdiocese to keep the actions in connection
with the JPL are kept in suspense till further instructions from him. The core
group found that no real and permanent solutions are coming from the Bishops or
the Nuncio. They organised a second general body meeting of the Syrian catholic members
of the Archdiocese of Delhi and got a mandate from the general body to proceed to
the next step of approaching Pope Francis. These people worked hard for many a day’s
collecting the relevant data to be presented. They formulated an application to
Pope Francis. This application of five or six pages and supported by almost 150
pages of relevant data was sent to Pope. The copy of this 155 page document is
sent to many members of the Church Hierarchy. It is made available to anybody.
The people are still waiting for definite and positive answers to their
problems.
In the meanwhile Pope Francis in his exhortations to
the members of the church requested the church authorities not to create divisions
in the church from inside using issues like rites. He states
“Divisions among Christians weaken their ability to spread
the Gospel”, Pope Francis said during an audience with the World Evangelical Alliance
“From the beginning,” Francis pointed out, “there were
divisions among Christians, and even now unfortunately rivalries and conflicts
remain between our communities. Such situations weaken our capacity to fulfil
the command of the Lord to preach the Gospel to all nations.”
“The efficacy of the Christian announcement would certainly
be greater if Christians would overcome their divisions and could celebrate
together the Sacraments and together spread the Word of God and witness to
charity.”
But you, the Members of the hierarchy of the church of
both the rites, are bent upon dividing the Church of Jesus. You have gone to
the secular press media with interviews. We, the lay people, will appreciate
more of these kinds of interviews. At least the secular press can ask you
questions and elicit answers. We, the Catholic faithful, get zero opportunities
to ask you questions which are troubling our minds.
You, the Archbishop of Delhi said to the press that the
people of Syro-Malabar rite who were members in his Diocese have genuine
difficulties in the present changes. He added that the Church should not be
sticky to the rules in the book. In other words, he said the words of Jesus “Sabbath
is for the comfort of people and people are not for the comfort of Sabath”. Rules
are made by men for the welfare of men. When the rules prevent the welfare of
the people, the rules have to be discarded.
And you, the Bishop of Faridabad said. “The rules
don’t permit the Syro-Malabar faithful, who were members of the Delhi
Archdiocese for decades, to attend the same Church in Delhi and be a part of
the Syro-Malabar churches in Kerala”. In other words, those who are not with
me here will not be allowed to be syro-Malabar
Catholic in Kerala. These people were practising their faith that way for
decades more than two or three generations. You say “These are rules of the Church
and that has to be obeyed. I am not the one who made the rules. I am not able
to do anything about it. I only want all the Syro- Malabar faithful who want to
practice their faith in the Delhi Archdiocese to give me the details of all the
members of the families along with their Kerala parishes so that I can ask the
Kerala Churches to remove these families from the membership of that Church”.
It is interesting to compare the attitudes of the
three shepherds. Is it not sabre
rattling on the part of the Newcomer to the north? Is it not applying force by
these holy people in the name of rite and love of Jesus? You announced to the secular media and in
conventions that there is” no compulsion” for anyone to join the Syro-Malabar
Church and he shouts at the top of the voice that every one is “free” to be in
any rite. But they only have to give the applications to him with all personal
details so that he can take the necessary actions in the Kerala Churches. You
also proclaimed that those who have respect for their culture and heritage only
need to join the Syro-Malabar Church. This is an insinuation from your side
that those who do not join you have no culture and respect for tradition. You
and your spokesperson have indicated subtly that other rites people are Other
Backward Class (O.B.C) people. If this is your type of culture, we, the
Catholics, Syro
Malabar or Latin lay people would hate to be in that culture.
You, yourself was leading the life of an immigrant (Your own words to the
media) in different parts of Africa, Europe and other parts of the world
celebrating the sacraments in Latin Churches in Latin Rite. After serving the Latin
Churches, when you got a position from Pope directly as the Archbishop of a
diocese in Faridabad, you came back to India as a blue blooded and aristocratic
and royal Syro-Malabar Catholic bishop with (recreated) high culture and
traditions of Kerala. Who is breaking the rules of church which he is imposing
on the laity? This clearly shows that there no spiritual interest in all these circus
of rites. There is only a race for power. We want all for you, the Laity, the
Clergy and the hierarchy see these problems as problems of Church unity and
nothing to do with any personality. The problems are created not by personality
of anyone but the system and the positions one holds. What has to be changed in
the system must change. There is no excuse for it. The best service you can do
to Jesus is just to withdraw the Joint Pastoral Letter and announce this fact in
all the parishes of the Delhi Diocese
When will we the Catholics of this country be able to
see the Catholic Church as a Church of Jesus Christ who is the embodiment of
love and Fatherhood?
With all
the pride in being Catholics, and that too as Syro-Malabar Catholics, with love
and respect for both of you.
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