By Jose Kavi
New Delhi: Pope Francis on September 20 appointed Retired Auxiliary Bishop Agnelo Rufino Gracias of Bombay as the temporary administrator of Jalandhar diocese in the absence of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who is now in Kerala facing a sexual abuse case.
“Our prayers accompany Bishop Gracias as he takes on this responsibility,” says a press release from Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India announcing the appointment.
The Vatican acted on Bishop Mulakkal’s September 16 request to the Pope for temporary relief from his episcopal ministry.
The appointment was announced as Bishop Mulakkal, 54, was undergoing the second day of questioning by police at a high tech police station in Thripunithura, some 10 km east of Kochi, Kerala’s commercial capital.
He was accused by a member of the Missionaries Charity, a diocesan congregation under the diocese of Jalandhar, of subjecting her to rape and unnatural sex for 13 times during 2014-2-16. The nun filed the case on June 28 in Vaikom, a town in the Kottayam district of Kerala.
The bishop has denied the charges, calling them “concocted” and said the nun holds a vendetta against him after he had initiated disciplinary action against her. He continued to assert before the interrogation team that his accuser leveled the charges against him because he advised the congregation’s current superior to act on a complaint from a married woman that the nun had an affair with her husband.
Before proceeding to Kerala, Bishop Mulakkal had appointed Monsignor Mathew Kokkandam, the vicar general, as the diocesan administrator.
Cardinal Gracias’ note says Pope Francis accepted Bishop Mulakkal’s request and appointed a temporary administrator after “having considered all circumstances.”
Bishop Gracias, 79, thus becomes the apostolic administrator of the diocese of Jalandhar “sede plan et ad mutum Sanctae Sedis.” The Latin term which refers to any circumstance involving a conflict of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, where Rome decides to take the matter under its jurisdiction and reserves to itself the right to make a final judgment on the matter.
Originally from Colva in Goa, Bishop Agnelo was born in Mombasa in Kenya on July 30, 1939. After finishing his priestly studies through the diocesan seminary in Parel and St Pius X College in Goregaon, Mumbai, he was ordained a priest on December 21, 1962.
After serving as an assistant at Holy Name Cathedral from 1963 to 1971 he was deputed to Rome for further studies. On his return in 1975, he joined the St Pius X College as professor and spiritual director. In 1985, he was appointed the rector of St Pius X College and held the position till 1993.
He was serving as parish priest at St Michael’s Church in Mahim, when appointed auxiliary bishop. The later Cardinal Ivan Dias consecrated him as bishop on April 21, 2001. He retired four years ago.
He holds a doctorate in spiritual theology.
On February 28, 2002, Bishop Gracias was elected chairman, of the CBCI Family Commission. He became Archdiocesan consulter on August 1, 2007, and was appointed Pontifical Commissary Heralds of Good News on January 16, 2008.
In January 2011, he was appointed chairman, CBCI Doctrinal Commission and on June 1, 2011, was once again appointed the rector of St Pius X College, Goregaon.