Kochi: A section of the laity is unsatisfied and furious over the pastoral letter read out during the Sunday holy mass in a few churches in Ernakulam - Angamaly archdiocese of the Syro Malabar Church.
The parishioners have a strong feeling against the rhetoric and squabbles in top Church leadership over the allegations of forgery.
The pastoral letter issued by Fr Varghese Pottackal, the Protosyncellus (vicar general) of the Ernakulam Angamaly archdiocese, said that there weren't any attempts by priests of the archdiocese to defame Cardinal Mar George Alencherry using forged documents. The circular also criticised the cardinal for not taking any measures to support Bishop Jacob Manathodath and Fr Paul Thelakkat accused in the fake document case.
Many feel the issues within the church which went out of the control of the leadership have to be resolved peacefully and amicably.
"We are saddened by the series of controversies haunting the church for the last several months. We hoped that the issues would be resolved with reforms brought by the Pope in the administrative affairs in the archdiocese after the land deal row," said Jose Pallipadan, vice-president, Cherupushpam Mission League (CML), Edappally unit.
"However, the situation worsened further with the document forgery case. The clergy is divided over the issue, and the warring factions are engaged in mudslinging. The only reason why people put up with the pastoral letter is that it is being read from the altar."
"The Holy See has to intervene to resolve issues in Kerala Syro Malabar Church immediately. Bishop Manathodath has been appointed as apostolic administrator by the Pope to function neutrally and not to take sides with any faction," he added.
Meanwhile, Kerala Catholic Church Reformation Movement, a laity organisation campaigning for enactment of Church Act, feels that it is the greed of the top leadership for power and money which resulted in unfortunate series of incidents.
"The truth behind the forged-documents case has to be found out through probe. The hands of both the Cardinal, accused in the land deal case, and the auxiliary bishop Sebastian Adayanthrath are not clean. The church has become a big corrupt corporate firm. What the faithful wants is restoring peace and purity in the church," said Joseph Varghese, joint secretary of KCRM.
Unfortunate: Church media commission
The media commission of the Syro-Malabar Church on Monday termed the reading of a circular, in the churches under the Ernakulam-Angmaly archdiocese on Sunday, against Cardinal George Alenchery as unfortunate. The statement issued by the media commission has stated that police investigation team has found that the bank account documents against the cardinal were forged. If anybody is convinced about the authenticity of documents they should hand over the evidence to the police.
The remark that Cardinal Alenchery has not kept his word as alleged in the circular issued by the Vicar General is baseless. A matter that needed to be sorted out legally should not have been dragged into the middle of the Holy Mass. It is for the police to remove Fr. Paul Thelakkat and Bishop Jacob Manthodath from the list of the accused.
