A Catholic prelate on October 2 apologized for recent scandals involving Church leaders around the world and justified some Indian nuns coming to the street for justice.
“We are in the land of Mahatma Gandhi, promoter of Satyagraha and the only condition is that our strikes should be of ahimsa and not of violence,” Arch-bishop Kuriakose Bharanikulangara of Faridabad told more than 10,000 people attending a Bible convention in Thyagaraja Stadium in New Delhi.
The remarks of the prelate, a former Vatican diplomat, came in the backdrop of a sit-in by five members of the Missionaries of Jesus in Kerala to demand justice for a nun who was allegedly abused by Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar.
The nuns and their supporters led by the “Save Our Sisters” movement ended their 14-day demonstration on September 22, a day after the Kerala police arrested Bishop Mulakkal.
Archbishop Bharanikulangara recalled that it was not the first time that the Church has gone to the street for its causes.
He recalled the late Arch-bishop Joseph Kundukulam of Trichur calling for a rally to protest a controversial drama that depicted Christ in poor light. Recently several bishops joined a sit-in the national capital seeking the release of Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was kidnapped by Islamic militants in Yemen.
He, however, admitted that the arrest of a brother priest and the nuns protest have shaken the faith many ordinary Catholics in India. These events have also affected the credibility of the Church systems and the clergy, he added.
He listed several scandals that hit the Church in the past one year such as the “land deal affair” in the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly in Kerala and the breaking of confession seal by an Orthodox priest and subsequent abuse of a woman by several priests.
Other scandals that have caused “a great turmoil and tumult” among Catholics and others are punishment of an American cardinal, resignation of some Chilean bishops, and the recent sexual abuse report of the German bishops’ conference have, Archbishop Bharanikulangara added.
“I regret that these things happened. I publicly apologize for the scandals caused by the Church leaders to the common Catholic faithful,” he added.
