Francis mandates clergy abuse reporting worldwide, empowers archbishops to do investigations
Pope discusses deaconesses, need for nuns to be servants not ‘maids’
Pew study finds continued support in Western Europe for paying church taxes
German bishops’ vice president expects Amazon synod to propose married priests ‘with civil job’
Persecution brought us religious vocation: Kandhamal sisters
The Article 26 of the Constitution of India reads as thus provides four sub-provisions of the Article 26 deal with four different variants of the same right to institutional management of the religious sect. The phrases ‘establish,’ ‘manage’ and ‘maintain’ are words that hold the rights of ownership and other associated bundle rights. If one has a right to establish and manage ‘its own’ affairs, then it follows that such management shall be devoid of external interference. By way of the Church Bill, the external interference is made from the government itself, thereby the very idea of a fundamental right being a negative right to be exercised against the State’s power to regulate and curb takes a hit. As the difference between negative and positive rights goes, the government is restrained from exercising its power in the first case, in the later the government is mandated to manifest its authority. Article 26 (a) and (b) must be considered as negative rights which bar the governmental power to interfere in the institutional management of religious sects.Similarly, (c) and (d) of Article 26 guarantee the right to own, acquire and administer religious institutionalized property.The only minimal scope of governmental regulation is mentioned at the end of Art.26 (d) wherein it is stated that administration of property shall be in accordance of law. Here, quite clearly, ‘law’ denotes the ordinary civil laws of the land like the Indian Contract Act, T
The framers of the Indian Constitution thought it wise to include provisions for the protection of religious minorities and thus Articles 25 to 30 were made a part of the fundamental rights. Religious freedom contained in those articles was guaranteed by the constitution. According to the report, the CPM-led Kerala Govt. wants to move a ‘Church Act bill’ to control the Christian institutions and their wealth from clergymen to the laymen in the Church. They say that there are allegations of corruption against the clerics in the Churches while dealing transaction of Church properties and admission in their educational institutions. Who are all raising these allegations since a long time? Those members who have contributed nothing for the Church. And others who belong to outside the Church may have jealous how those churches in Kerala doing major contribution in the field of education, health and charitable activities spending crores of rupees every year. Apart from this, some of them have seen the Church as business establishments who are unaware of what is happening to their surroundings! The churches in Kerala are functioning on Hierarchical level under the Bishops. All the clergymen and religious sisters and also the laity are bound to follow the church ‘Canon Law’ apart from the law of the land. If any of the clergymen including bishops involved in illegal activities or misappropriation of Church funds, the Church hierarchy can ‘take action against them according
It is to the French writer Andre Malraux that we owe the prescient remark, “The 21st century will either be religious, or it will not be at all” (as recorded in his book, Anti-Memoirs). Meanwhile, The Pew Forum informs us that 5.8 billion of the world’s 6.9 billion people continue to claim some religious affiliation.After the atheistic ideologies of fascism and communism burnt themselves out, people began looking forward with great hope to the return of benign religion as a public force. Alas, the reality has been sorely disappointing. What we see in the world today is the spread of a harsh and violent patriarchal religion, not a merciful and compassionate one.In Roman Catholicism, sadly, the violence has been internal, directed against its most vulnerable members — adolescents and women. And it is a particularly degrading kind of sexual violence, compounded with deceit.There is a rising groundswell of anger and disgust at the role the Church hierarchy has played in dealing with the child abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in Europe, the United States, Australia and Latin America.Lest we in India smugly cry “aha, but not here!” as reports of local clergy sexually assaulting nuns have grabbed headlines in this country, showing how sex crimes are indeed a global problem for the Church.The core of the issue, however, is not so much sex as clericalism — the sense of entitlement, the lack of accountability, and the arrogance of po
Targeted violence and hate crimes against the Christian community in India continued unabated in 2018. The Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) of the Evangelical Fellowship of India has recorded 325 incidents where Christians have been targeted using violence, intimidation or harassment. More than the numbers, what is disturbing is the sudden spurt of violence in a few districts of Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous province, and in Tamil Nadu in the extreme south of the subcontinent.We especially appeal to the State Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, to deal with stringently with the various right-wing organizations operating in these states whose primary agenda is to create an atmosphere of fear among the Christian community and other religious minorities.More detailed recommendations to the Government of India can be found in the report.Rev. Vijayesh Lal National Director – EFIRLC General Secretary – EFI
The gutsy fighter, the dynamite man of yesteryears, is no more, having just passed on with two fat ladies (tambola language) at 88.I first met George Bhai in July 1990, when he was the Railway Minister in the Vajpayee cabinet. I had just been elected as the National President (NP) of the All India Catholic Union (AICU) and was having my baptism by fire in the infamous Gajraula nuns’ rape case. I had called my first meeting of the AICU Working Committee in New Delhi. It was decided that our entire team would go to meet him, as he was the only “Christian” minister. My predecessor in office, George Menezes, knew him well, and fixed the appointment.The first thing that I noticed when we entered his office was the stacks of files on his table. Was this because he was busy or inefficient? I would like to believe the former. When we broached the subject of the rapes he threw a question back at us. “Why do you get agitated only when nuns are raped? Are there not so many other poor and defenceless women who also get raped? Why don’t you speak up for them too?” He declined to visit Gajraula with our team.Two days later, accompanied by my vice president, Paul Mantosh the nominated Anglo Indian MP, Lennie Gonsalves whom I had appointed as national secretary for Women’s Affairs, and Sr Shalini of the Indian Social Institute, we did visit Gajraula.Paul, who was also of the Janta Dal, threatened to resign from the Lok Sabha if the government took no action. The
