Kochi: Syro Malabar Church head George Cardinal Alencherry and auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly will jointly issue a circular on the controversial land deal. The circular will be read out in churches on Sunday, February 4.
This was decided at a meeting of presbyteral council chaired by Cardinal Alencherry on January 30. The presbyteral council is a body comprising elected representatives of priests.
The report prepared by the panel headed by Fr Benny Maramparampil, which looked into the allegations regarding the controversial deal, was presented at the meeting. Cardinal Alencherry said he was ready to hold a discussion on the report and another meeting of the presbyteral council needed to be convened to have a detailed discussion on the report.
A meeting of the newly elected pastoral council will be convened only after the meeting where the panel report will be discussed. In the wake of the decision, the meeting of the pastoral council scheduled to be held on February 10 has been postponed to another date.
The Cardinal also informed the council the decision of the Syro Malabar Bishops’ Synod asking the Cardinal to delegate the day- to-day administration of the archdiocese to auxiliary bishops.
The council condemned burning of Sathyadeepam weekly and attempts to prevent a meeting convened to discuss the issues at Subodhana Pastoral Centre, Angamaly, last Sunday, by a section of the laity.
Presbyteral council secretary Fr Kuriakose Mundadan made it clear that the issue was related to the administration of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam and Angamaly and not related to the liturgy in any way. He said social media posts and media reports blaming and insulting the Cardinal, auxiliary bishops and priests were baseless. ‘’Such campaigns are carried out by people with vested interests,’’ Fr Mundadan said.