It pains to see His Beatitude Cardinal Mar George Alencherry facing such an ignominious situation and impending criminal lawsuit. He is a personal friend of mine since our Carmelgiri days in 1966-69. I hold him in high esteem and admire him for his many qualites that raised him to that position. I have personally met him in last December to convey my support and help. He only asked me to pray continually.

I am deeply concerned for him. My worry is that he has landed with wrong advisors who are managing some game that he himself hardly comprehends. This is my fear. I don’t know. We need to look for the real beneficiaries if at all a mismanagement has taken place. This is the central issue that the Church has to focus on. To my mind, the over-exaggerated polarization of the Church members into “for” and “against” is created and whipped up only as a part of that game. The community of priests of Ernakulam are being unjustly demonised, and the auxiliary bishops are presented as villains. All this is apparently done by overzealous faithful who are drawn into this game without knowing what is going on. If we are part of the Church, we should speak the language of the Church, not the language of hooligans. The Church as a whole therefore should remain vigilant so that wolves who come clothed in sheep-skin may not misguide people and sow seeds of hatred and despair. Remember anything un-Christian and unholy cannot be justified in the name of faith or allegiance to the leader.

So, stop bad-mouthing if you claim to be Christian. If the Church survives this crisis it is because of the inner strength and inherent holiness of the Church, not because of the blind, warlike campaigns of the naive, credulous followers.

So my advice to the Syro-Malabar Church community is to use our collective resources and wisdom to search for truth rather than get carried away by one campaign or another. It would have been better if we could get to the truth without the help of the court. Truth and truth alone will liberate us. May the Spirit of Wisdom guide us through this crisis. Let us continue to be respectful to Mar Alencherry as he goes through this personal crisis. Let us stop judging the bishops and priests and leave them to follow their own conscience. They are wise, learned people who are entitled to their own views. I pray that all the God’s anointed may see the light of truth and regain the grace to be truthful to their mission. And Truth shall make us (all of us) free!

Dr George Kaliaden
Psychologist, Dubai