By Jessy Joseph

New Delhi, March 29, 2022: A diocese in the southern Indian state of Kerala is outraged after some miscreants broke into a chapel and desecrated sacred Hosts kept inside a tabernacle.

While the diocese of Cochin views the incident as part of hate activities spreading in Kerala, a senior Catholic journalist suspects the involvement of the satanic cult growing in the southern Indian state.

Father Johney Xavier Puthukkattu, the diocesan public relations officer, says the sacristan of St Jacob chapel in Arookutty found the tabernacle broke open on the morning of March 29 and informed the priest, who lives a nearby house.

After a search, they found the Hosts scattered in a marshy land, some 200 meters away. The chapel’s donation box was also found abandoned there.

The chapel is a substation of St Anthony’s Church Paduvapura at Arookutty, 13 km southeast of Kochi, the commercial capital of Kerala.

“We are not only shocked but greatly saddened by the desecration. At this point, we do not know who has done it, but it is definitely not an attempt to theft,” Father Puthukkattu told Matters India. “We demand an immediate investigation into the heinous deed and book the culprit.”

The priest said “the contemptible act” has caused immense anguish among Catholic believers. “Such things should not happen,” he asserted.

The miscreants entered the chapel through the sacristy and broke the tabernacle took away the sacred hosts with the ciborium, he explained. The donation box had hardly any money in it, he added.

Bishop Joseph Kariyil of Cochin, who visited chapel, also condemned the incident and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.

The priests also said the substation’s 100 odd families would hold a day of prayer in the chapel in reparation for the sacrilege.

He also said the diocese has urged the authorities to take special steps to prevent such acts that insult the Catholic faith.

While Father Puthukkattu rules out the involvement of satanic cult in the incident, Ignatius Gonsalves, a veteran journalist, recalled several recent incidents of consecrated Host being stolen and abused in Kochi and its suburbs.

The priest said such hate activities are spreading in Kerala, creating a serious concern.

Gonsalves cited a “bizarre incident” in the downtown Infant Jesus Church where a man ran away with the consecrated Host in hand. A communicant “reverentially received the Holy Communion. But instead of lowering the mask and consuming the communion, he hid the consecrated host and slipped through the crowd.

“Those who noticed the clandestine act tried to stop him, but couldn’t,” Gonsalves told Matters India.

He said such incidents have forced priests to announce in the church that those receiving the communion should remove or at least lower their mask and consume the sacred Host in front of the priest.

“The congregation too is asked to be vigilant, especially in the city churches where a lot of non-parishioners come for Sunday Masses,” he said.

He also mentioned unconfirmed reports about the existence of “a satanic temple somewhere in Kalamassery, the industrial hub of Kochi.”