By Matters India Reporter
Tellicherry, June 28, 2022: A Syro-Malabar archdiocese in Kerala has defrocked a priest who reportedly married a Hindu woman after allegedly converting to Hinduism.
A June 28 “declaration” from the Tellicherry archdiocese says Father Mathew Mullappally had informed Archbishop Joseph Pamplany his “definite and non-retractable” personal decision to leave priesthood and return to secular life.
The priest has then requested for dispensation from “all his clerical obligations and consequently of clerical rights as well,” says the declaration signed by Archbishop Pamplany and archdiocesan chancellor Father Joseph Muttathukunnel.
“Until otherwise provided, his priestly faculties remain suspended and therefore, he has no permission to exercise any of those faculties either inside or outside the Archieparchy of Thalassery (Tellicherry),” it further says.
Father Mullappally, who is in his 40s, converted to Hinduism and married the mother of two daughters according to the rituals of his new religion, reports Marunadan Malayali, an online news portal in Malayalam language.
The archdiocese acted against Mullappally after photographs his marriage went viral on social media platforms.
The former priest served the archdiocese for more than two decades, however, was not exercising his priestly power in public since 2020 after getting embroiled in a sex scandal when he was the parish priest of St Joseph’s Parish, Pottenplavu.
A diocesan official who did not want to be identified expressed deep shock over the developments and said, “Such acts obviously create scandal for the Church.
Mullappally approached the archbishop two months back and sought for his dispensation.
The former priest left Pottenplavu after a voice clip of his telephonic conversation with a parishioner went viral.
Benny Jacob, a parishioner of Pottenplavu, says Mullappally had called him on June 26 seeking financial help. “He said he was dependent on his young brothers after the archdiocese asked him to leave priesthood,” Jacob told Matters India.
Mullappally denied when asked about the marriage. “However, he said marriage was the only option left for him now,” Jacob added.
Mullappally, however, refused to answer phone after the news about his marriage became public.
After leaving Pottenplavu Mullappally was sent to Virajpet, a town in neighboring state Karnataka where the archdiocese has a property.
“So, I appeal to the readers NOT to JUDGE a priest or a nun who decides to come out and takes up a more challenging mission. They do wonderful things as lay persons which 95 percent of priests and nuns cannot achieve.”
So hearty congratulations to Mulappally on the wonderful thing he has done. May more such wonderful individuals ‘come out’ and do some more wondrous things to the glory of perversion! Maybe then MLS can write a book on such wonderful men and women and the wonders they’ve done and are doing.
Readers would be interested to know that Virajpet is in Mysore diocese just 29 kms from Mysore so this ex-priest will be safe under William the Conqueror against whom no action has yet been taken despite two Apostolic visitations and Cardinal Tagle ordering a paternity test two years ago. This is SHAMEFUL.
Leaving the priesthood, seeking dispensation and getting married is a personal decision that should be respected. But in the instant case the man seems to have done everything in a dishonourable manner.
If this former priest was earlier in a sex scandal then he comes across as unfaithful and unreliable. Will he now be faithful to his wife and two foster children?
Thank God leaving the priesthood was not termed as laicisation. That is an insult to the laity.
The title of this write-up/report is misleading. The archdiocese did not de-frock the priest. It was the priest who formally informed his archbishop that he had decided to return to secular life. For this he appealed for the dispensation. It was the priest who de-frocked himself.
To me, what this priest did was the right thing. He has been true to his conscience. Let me give my own example. I served as a diocesan priest in a northern diocese. At one stage I wanted to take up an inter-religious mission. I wanted to do this in a free manner and not under the banner of priesthood. I applied for dispensation. My bishop, seminary rectors and my co-priests gave a very good report on me. I got the dispensation in 11 months. After that I took up the inter-religious mission. This happened in 1990. In 1993, due to the advise of my friends I got married. Later, I visited the same diocese and conducted value education program in all the diocesan schools. I was given the same respect that I got when I served there as a priest.
I visit St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bengaluru to take one/two day sessions for the Pastoral course students. I share my personal experience in one session. It makes a positive impact on the audience.
So, I appeal to the readers NOT to JUDGE a priest or a nun who decides to come out and takes up a more challenging mission. They do wonderful things as lay persons which 95 percent of priests and nuns cannot achieve.
Such priests and nuns who come out for a greater cause are “far better than the bishops/priests and nuns who get entangled in illegal sex, corruption and other underground practices and still continue to be what they are.
This is one of the greatest scandals in the church.
Congratulations to the newly married couple. May you both decide to produce children and thereby contribute to fulfilling God’s command to multiply. Compulsory celibacy has done its time. In today’s world of information technology it is no longer possible for the church to shove under the carpet priestly sexual escapeds. Instead of accumulating scandal after scandal let the church and faithfuls be realistic in their expectations from priestly vocation.
Do not understand how he got involved with a widow and a mother of two children. Anyway now he took a final decision and got his dispensation. Let him find his way. It is also a duty of the mother church to help him find a way in his new avathar. He must be helped by the church he served for two decades. The priests are free to go for higher studies and join the University and secure their life. Most of the priests are degree holders and they can go for B.Ed degrees or some other degrees that will help them get a job.Wish them Good Luck.
This is actual Evangelization. The reason why Mullappally was sent to Virajpet, in Karnataka where the archdiocese has a property was to enable him earn his livelihood at the cost of the Laity and in the hope that one day he will come back to the fold with his wife and children converted! Remember the adage: Once a priest, always a priest?
This is not entirely true. Candidates to priesthood are also given the opportunity to study secular subjects and take degrees. Those who leave during or after seminary studies have made their life secure and successful. There are hundreds of thousands of examples in front of us. There are so many of them in high positions today. Also, please don’t infer that those who who continue in seminaries and get ordained make this choice because their life in the world is insecure. On the contrary, it is out of conviction for a life of service to God and God’s people. while respecting your opinion, I would like to differ and say it is misleading.
Crass! Absolutely scandalous. But the last sentence of the report on the issue seems odd:
“After leaving Pottenplavu Mullappally was sent to Virajpet, a town in neighboring state Karnataka where the archdiocese has a property.”
The ex-padre ostensibly left Pottenplavu after converting to Hinduism and marrying. So why was the guy “sent to Virajpet” to archdiocesan property?
By turning out to be wolves in sheeps’ clothing, the likes of Mathew Mullappally seem to get cheap thrills by taking Pope Francis’ advice to the ordained to have the smell of the sheep under their pastoral care to a different level! Poor guy! “Father! Forgive them for they known not what they are doing!”
During the seminary training of about 10 years, priestly candidates have the option to leave the seminary if they consider themselves unfit for priesthood. But this option exists only in theory. Seminary studies and degrees are not recognised by any university in India and candidates cannot find employment opportunities after leaving the seminary. So most seminarians stay back and become priests rather than facing an uncertain future.
A Catholic priest leaving priesthood and getting married is not something new. But
the priest converting to Hinduism to marry a Hindu woman, that too a widow, is unheard of, and is a deplorable scandal. Better that this man was not born at all.