Bengaluru: In a historic move, a court in southern India has ordered a Catholic archbishop to appoint a pastor and resume services in a parish church he had shut down more than three months ago.
“By way of interim mandatory injunction, the defendants are herewith directed to open the St. Paul the Hermit Church, V. Nagenahalli, R. T. Nagar Post, Bengaluru forthwith and to appoint a priest to said church to perform all the ceremonies and other liturgical services at St. Paul the Hermit Church,” says an order from Judge B Parmeshwara Prasanna on August 8.
The court dismissed a petition from Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore seeking an interim order against the Nagenahalli parishioners to ”to cease and desist from holding any public demonstrations or going on hunger strike concerning the matter of this case.”
The parishioners have been protesting the indefinite closure of the parish by the archbishop after they erected the statue of a controversial priest in the church premises flouting the prelate’s warning.
Archdiocesan sources told Matters India that the archbishop had not received the court order even on August 9. The archdiocesan officials will challenge the order in the Karnataka High Court after they study the court order, they added.
The 60-year-old priest died on March 16 after battling several illnesses. He was buried at Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Mariapura the following day. He had led the Kannadiga faction in the archdiocese.
The Nagenahalli Catholics installed the bust to pay respect to the priest who they claim, had done yeoman service for their socioeconomic advancement.
The archbishop asked Fr Vincent Santhosh, who was the pastor, to remove the Blessed Sacrament from the church, lock it and report to the archdiocesan headquarters.
“No sacrament may be celebrated in the church till this sanction is lifted,” the canonical decree said. Archbishop Moras further declares that the church “will remain closed until the bust of Fr Selvaraj has been removed from the church compound and the parishioners promise in writing to abide by my orders and the laws of the Church.”
The archbishop had contented in the court that the appointment of a priest to a church is entirely the religious prerogative of the Catholic Church and that the court has no jurisdiction in the suit as the Constitution of India guarantees religious freedom of its citizens.
The court said India has no statutory law for Christians as the country has not framed any exclusive law for Christian Churches. “Consequently any dispute in respect of religious office in respect of Christians is also cognizable by the civil court,” it asserted.
The court also dismissed the claim that Christians stand on a different footing in the country. “Suffice it to say that religion of Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains or Parsee may be different but they are all citizens of one country which provides one and only one forum that is the civil court for adjudication of their rights, civil or of civil nature,” it asserted.
The parishioners had contended that they the right to protest is a fundamental right guaranteed by the country’s constitution. No force on earth can stop the protestors from protesting against a wrong.
The court also saw no violation of canon in the installation of the controversial priest’s bust in the church premises. The section 1187 of the Canon Law that the archbishop quoted in his order reads: “Veneration through public cult is permitted only to those servants of God who are listed in the catalogue of the saints or of the blessed by the authority of the Church.”
Earlier on June 20, City Civil and Sessions Court had through an injunction order to open the church.
At least 13 parishioners were hunger strike between May 29 and June 5 protesting against the church closure.