Lucknow: A Catholic delegation led by Bishop Raphy Manjaly of Allahabad has met R K Tiwari, chief secretary of the government of Uttar Pradesh, to clarify doubts regarding the re-opening of places of worship in the northern Indian state from October 15.
The confusion arose because of the differences in two instructions the federal home ministry issued on June 6 and again on October 1.
A Catholic delegation met the chief secretary October 13 in his office in Lucknow, the state capital. Tiwari clarified the latest guidelines from the ministry would prevail. However, all SOPs (standard operating procedures) as stipulated in the government orders would have to be strictly followed, the official asserted.
In the first instruction, the ministry had laid down 26 conditions for the re-opening of religious places. They included a ban on touching holy books, sprinkling of holy water, distribution of prasad (Holy Communion), and choir singing. It also asked for washing of hands and feet before entering a place of worship.
On this basis, the then district magistrate of Kanpur had prepared a pro forma with 24 similar questions on June 7 and had asked all religious leaders to sign and submit the declarations to the nearest police station.
The heads of churches, gurudwaras and mosques declined to open their places of worship saying they could not agree to all the conditions.
“These stringent conditions had affected them the most because of their tradition of congregational worship at a fixed date, time and place,” explained chhotebhai, national convener of the Indian Catholic Forum, who was part of the three-member Catholic delegation.
The other member was Father Naresh Lobo, vicar general of Lucknow diocese.
“The delegation breathed a sigh of relief when the chief secretary stated that now only the latest guidelines would prevail with a maximum of 100 persons attending,” chhotebhai added.
The places of worship have to follow standard SOPs such as masks, sanitization, and physical distancing.
The chief secretary also cautioned that holy books should not be touched by multiple people.
Bishop Manjaly stated that Catholics used water only for one time use as in Baptism. The prelate, who was recently appointed by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Council for Inter Religious Dialogue, thanked Tiwari for sparing his time to meet the delegation.
I would have appreciated very much if the Catholic Delegation or the multi-religious leaders had met the CM and raised the incident at Hathras and the increasing rape incidents in UP.
Why is the Catholic Delegation concerned more about the “worship” than the “living temples of God (Dalit women) being destroyed” everyday?