Priest faces church action for poll fray without nod

Thiruvananthapuram: The Latin Catholic Archdiocese here will take action against Fr. M.T. Stephen who has decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections from  the Thiruvananthapuram constituency without the consent of the Church.

Archdiocese Vicar-General Monsignor Eugene H. Pereira told Deccan Chronicle that the Church had already initiated the procedures against Fr. Stephen.
He said that in extraordinary circumstances, the Church had allowed priests to participate in political process in many parts of the world. However, there were no such circumstances in the state now, he added. Fr. Stephen, who was the parish priest of Cheriyathura, was on leave in February.

He  said that during the KRLCC meeting, many people had wanted the Church to field independent candidates as all political parties had deceived it. However, the demand was not accepted by the authorities, Fr. Stephen said.

“It was in this circumstance I decided to contest the elections. In fact, I have a long history of associating with people's struggle. I was convicted in two cases relating to the agitation against including poor fishermen in the APL category instead of the BPL. Moreover, I had also taken part in agitations against the pollution caused by Titanium products,” he said.