By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on July 16 promised to probe the demolition of a Catholic church in the national capital and try to restore it.
The leader of the Aam Aadmi Party said this when a Church delegation led by Archbishop Kuriakose Bharanikulangara of Faridabad met Kejriwal to seek his intervention in the church demolition case.
“Kejriwal has expressed his solidarity with the parish community that lost their church. He promised that he would investigate and try his best to restore the church at the site and thereby provide justice to the minority community,” says a press release from Father Gino K Tom, spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar diocese.
The Little Flower Church in Lado Sarai was demolished July 12 by the officers of South Delhi Municipal Corporation in the presence of a large number of police officers. The diocese alleges that the demolishers disregarded the parish priest’s request to move the holy relics and ritualistic materials kept in the church.
More than 2,000 Syro-Malabar migrant Catholics have used the church for daily worship for the past 12 years. The diocese alleges the illegal demolition violated citizens’ constitutional right to practice their religion.
In an earlier statement on July 14 to the media in Panaji, Goa, Kejriwal promised justice in the church demolition case. He also claimed that the action was taken by the Delhi Development Authority that comes under the federal government.
Besides Archbishop Bharanikulangara, the delegation that met Kejriwal comprised vicar general Monsignor Joseph Odanat, Lado Sarai parish priest Father Jose Kannukuzhy, pastoral council secretary A C Wilson, parish representative Sunny Thomas and Mothers’ Forum representative Biji Viji.
They requested the government to intervene immediately in the matter and take legal action against the perpetrators and restore the church at the site.
The archbishop clarified that the diocese doesn’t intend to politicize or communalize the issue.
Very Simple ? .? Which people renounce “ identity” fully ? Identity is based on many things, like place of birth, language, caste,religion, way of worship and faith, and so on and so on. I am not able to say why so much of love and loyalty . May be a human inheritance or human weakness ! It is very nice if there is one Rite for the Church. It is not possible because of the loyalty to different identities. Even abandonment of faith is no solution as people will create another type of togetherness that may divide people. That is what we see in our society, our country, our world. So under the circumstance, people should find some kind of unity, togetherness, closeness by the so called “ adjustments and sacrifices” . Ultimately you come to the conclusion that you cannot have such a situation and such a society. Let us try to tolerate our neighbours
The larger view looks and sounds good. Which people do not like to have identity? Identity comes in many ways — place of birth, language, caste, religion and many similar things. In spite of all enlightenment we are not able to overcome that and choose an altogether different style of life. I do not know the reason. It may be a human weakness. An affinity or closeness is their with one’s own. But it’s shade may vary according to the situations or availability.
It will be very nice if there is one Rite for the Church but it is impossible because of this
“ loyalty to identity”. So within that situation the maximum togetherness, uniformity and loving atmosphere have to be achieved through what is called “ adjustments and sacrifices” in the absence there will be some sort of incessant fights.
Abandoning the faith also is no solution because similar divisive trends prevails everywhere
Syrians accept Pope as the head of their Church. Why do they then need separate churches in places where their people go to take up employment or start business. Couldn’t they use the Latin church in Delhi? This seems to be a kind of racism practiced by this branch of Catholicism. In Kerala there is an unwritten belief that Latins are inferior as the latter mostly belong to poor segment of society. It seems Syrians either want to perpetuate this superiority complex outside Kerala too or in due course want to cede from Rome and declare their own papacy based in Kerala. Having separate churches all over India and abroad helps this long term ambition and/or objective.
The ownership of the land is important. No one says about the title of the land and whether the church is in possession of it. Then comes the permission to construct the church. If these two documents are there with the church, nobody will demolish it. There seems to be some mismanagement of this issue and that caused all the trouble. This is the occasion gifted by God and all our institutions should be careful to keep the proper documents safe with them to avoid any embarrassment
The unanswered question is “Was this an illegal construction or not?”
The exemplary protests by the church is to be appreciated. There is no public disruption nor public property damage.
The authority in fact have damage/demolished the church property.
The authority could have taken the issue with the church and amicably settled the issue.
The authority chose a violent method whereas the church is chosing a peaceful method.