By Matters India Reporter
[Note from the Editors: An earlier version of the report has wrongly identified the bishop. The error is deeply regretted.]
Kochi: A Catholic bishop has reportedly regretted attending a marriage between a Catholic woman and a Muslim man inside a church.
“I attended the mixed marriage because of my close association with the bride’s family. However, I regret attending it,” says a letter from Emeritus Bishop Mathew Vaniakizhakkel of Satna.
The 74-year-old Vincentian prelate also regretted for creating confusion among the faithful with his presence at the mixed marriage, reports cnewslive.com, a Malayalam online paper.
The November 15 report also said the bishop’s “exemplary step” of regret has brought “great relief” to the traditional faithful in the archdiocese. Bishops normally do not attend mixed marriages, the report adds.
The report also says the marriage was conducted at the Kadavanthra parish church in Kochi under the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.
Only in special cases, the Church allows a Catholic to marry a member of another faith, who does not want to be baptized. However, such marriages are not considered sacrament even if conducted inside a church, the website explains. Only marriages between two Catholics are treated as sacrament.
The Church laws also stipulate that mixed marriages should be simple without gaiety if held inside a church.
Meanwhile, a group of progressive Catholics has welcomed the bishop’s gesture to attend a mixed marriage.
Shaiju Antony, convener of Archdiocesan Movement of Transparency, has supported the solemnization of the inter-religious marriage saying, “it is the right of a faithful.”
The Catholic lay leader, however, pointed out that many dioceses deny the provision to the faithful and added that such discrimination should not exist since mixed marriage is a universally accepted practice in the Catholic Church.
Antony also dismissed the allegation that the family of the girl had given 10 million rupees to the church to solemnize the marriage.
He released an audio conversation in Malayalam that he had with the bride’s father who said he had donated 10,000 rupees to the parish willingly, that too, after the marriage was solemnized.
Antony also said some vested interests were trying to create confusion against the Church among people spreading false allegations through social media platforms .
Bishop Vaniakizhakkel was appointed the second prelate of Satna in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on December 23, 1999, and was ordained bishop on April 12, 2000.
He stepped down from his post on August 27, 2014, citing health reasons. He now leads a retired life in a Vincentian house in Kerala.
1) Attend the mixed marriage and Apologize.
2) One bishop declined to solemnize a mixed marriage but another bishop accepted to solemnize the same mixed marriage (example given by Chhotebhai).
These are some of the solid examples of “CONFUSION” and ‘IMMATURITY” among the bishops of the Catholic Church.
If such confusions exist among the learned bishops, then, imagine the level of confusion among the priests and the simple laity.
Two examples:
1) On an Ash Wednesday a Parish Priest during his homily advises people to make sacrifices during the lent like avoiding non-veg food, birthday/jubilee celebrations and going to cinema theatres etc. On the contrary, the Assistant Parish Priest during his homily encourages people to strengthen interpersonal relationships by celebrating birthdays, jubilees and going together to cinema theatres for movies during the lent.
2) In a parish, a lay Christian house-owner never rents his houses to non-Christians. In the same parish another Christian house-owner rents his houses only to non-Christians.
In the matter of anti-conversion laws we object to having to take permission/ or inform the district authorities before conversion. Then why do we ask couples to take prior permission from the bishops for mixed marriages? Is this not a case of double standards?
This seems to be a fake news spread by the extremist elements of church which opposes any mixed marriages
What is happening in Kerala? I know for sure that there is a provision for “dispensation” in the case of mixed marriages in the Latin Code of Canon Law. I presume that there is a similar provision in the Oriental Code. Personally I feel that even the provision of seeking dispensation is an encroachment on the freedom of choice of an individual, and should be dispensed with. Only due catechesis before the marriage should be asserted.
The concerned bishop is a coward to first solemnize the marriage and then express regrets. This is shameful on his part.
In 1974 when my sister was getting married to a Hindu, after obtaining dispensation, the then bishop of Allahabad Alfred Fernandes declined to solemnize the marriage. Thereafter Bp Cecil D’sa of Lucknow (later archbishop of Agra) accepted to do so. The attitude of the bishops of Kerala in particular is very strange. They have even gone to the extent of accusing Muslim men of love jihad, a complaint that reached Bp Raphy Manjaly of Allahabad, in his capacity as a member of the Pontifical Council for Inter Faith Dialogue. The church in Kerala is in urgent need of deep introspection.