Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on September 20 directed Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore to reopen a church he had closed five months ago following a controversy.
The court also asked the 75-year-old prelate to open St. Paul the Hermit Church at Nagenahalli, a northern suburb in the capital of Karnataka state, by September 26. The court also directed him to depute a priest by September 29 to start services in the church and attend to the pastoral needs of the parishioners.
Archbishop Moras had approached the appellate court against the August 8 interim order of the Bengaluru City Civil Court that asked him to reopen the church and appoint a priest to conduct services in the church.
However, the High Court directed that the controversial bust of Fr Chowrappa Selvaraj, popularly known as Fr Chasara, be kept in a wooden case. The Nagenahalli parishioners had erected the bust in their church premises defying the archbishop’s canonical warning
The prelate on April 21 took recourse to the Code of Canon Law to close the church, accusing the parishioners of wilfully defying his warning. The prelate had two days earlier asked the parishioners to abandon their plan to unveil the bust s.
The 60-year-old priest, who had led the Kannada faction in the archdiocese, died on March 16 after battling several illnesses. The Nagenahalli Catholics insisted keeping the bust in the church compound to pay respect to the priest, who they claimed, had done yeoman service for their socioeconomic advancement.
The archbishop then asked Fr Vincent Santhosh, who was the then 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 parishioners have been holding prayer protests at the church since its closure.
The archbishop had told the lower court earlier 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 lower court had also said the court has to weigh public interest against private interest while giving its orders.
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, the City Civil and Sessions Court had through an injunction order to open the church.
“It’s a good verdict because it calms much bitterness and tension at the same time satisfies the ego of both sides,” a Catholic of a neighboring parish, who refused to be named, told Matters India.
Daijiworld.com, a local news portal, found the verdict “a major setback” for the Bangalore archbishop.
Veteran journalist A J Philip, who has been following the case closely, has welcomed the verdict. “A doctor can save life, he cannot take away life. Similarly, a bishop can open a church but he cannot close it down,” he says.“Ecclesiastical authorities,” he wrote on his Facebook page, “should realize that all their powers are moral, not legal. They cannot take any decision which contravenes the law of the land.”