The top court in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu has ordered a federal probe into allegations of illegally selling British-era Church properties worth millions in a Protestant diocese. The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Nov. 22 asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the country’s top investigating agency, to probe the allegations linked to properties of the Madurai-Ram-nad diocese of the Church of South India. The court order was issued in response to a public interest petition filed by D. Devasahayam, a diocese mem-ber. The petitioner alleged that the Church of South India Trust Association (CSITA) and dio-cesan officials sold 31.10 acres of land worth over 220 million rupees (US$2.6 million) for a mere 12 million rupees. During the sale, the accused persons accepted 9 million in cash, in gross violation of the country’s existing banking norms. “There were fraudulent transactions of astronomical level,” including “illegal transfer of money,” the court’s order noted. In 1912, the ruling British colonial govern-ment gave the land to the Ameri-can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, later known as the United Church Board for World Ministries, to set up an industrial home for needy women, carry out farming, and use the income for the welfare of the inmates. The mission body continued to administer it till 1973 and later handed it over to the CSITA without changing its original purpose. The petitioner said he approached the court because the police failed to address the corruption.

A Church leader in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand has warned of legal action against political parties and candidates falsely claiming the Church’s support in the ongoing state assembly election. Father Bishu Benjamin Aind, vicar-general of Khunti diocese in the state, said that “the Church never endorses or asks its faithful to support any political party or candidate.” “People are free to exercise their voting right according to their choice,” the priest told and added if any such cases are reported, “we will initiate legal action.” Aind was reacting to a video circulating on social media since Nov. 10 claiming that Christians were told to vote for an independent candidate named Anita Surin from the Torpa constituency in Khunti district. However, the priest denied any such direction was issued by the Church. Polling was held in Torpa and 42 other constituencies in the first phase on Nov. 13. The second phase of polling for 38 of the total 81 constituencies is scheduled on Nov. 20. “Since there is one more phase due, there is a high possibility of similar cases occurring,” the priest said. Aind, who belongs to the indigenous Oraon tribe, said the video claiming Church support for Surin could be “the handiwork of some anti-social elements who want to divide people in the name of caste, creed and religion.”

The western Indian Maharashtra state did not include a Christian representative in the state panel meant to safeguard the interests of religious minorities, which Christian leaders say was unfortunate and unusual. “It is unfortunate that no one from the Christian community was given representation on the 11-member Maharashtra State Minorities Commission,” said Father Nigel Barrett, the spokesperson of Cardinal Oswald Gracias, who heads the Bombay archdiocese in the state capital Mumbai.
The pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government on Oct. 11 filled nine vacant commission posts with six Muslims, two Jains, and a Sikh member ahead of assembly polls in India’s most industrialized state on Nov. 20. The minority panels are set up to safeguard and protect the interests of Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jain, and Zoroastrians (Parsis), who are notified as minority communities in the country. Christians comprise less than 1 percent (0.96) of Maharashtra state’s 126.5 million people, most of whom are Hindus. Buddhists (5.8 percent) and Jains (1.25 percent) are more numerous than Christians. However, Sikhs (0.20 percent), who are fewer than Christians, have a representative in the panel. “As a religious minority, we have every right to have at least one member in the statutory body,” Father Barrett told. The priest added, “There is resentment among the community.” He asked the government to reconsider the decision. It is the first time the state had completely kept Christians out of the minorities panel, noted Abraham Mathai, a former member of the state’s minorities commission. Christians “are legally entitled to get a seat on the commi-ssion,” Mathai told. Catholic activist Melwyn Fernandes from Mumbai (formerly Bombay) questioned the appointments just four days before the elections were announced. These appointments are aimed “at appeasing mi-nority groups,” Fernandes told. The Muslim community that got maximum representation constitutes over 12 percent of the population. So, their support is crucial ahead of the polls, he said. “It is evident that the appoint-ments were purely political,” Fernandes observed.

India’s top court has ended a British-era practice of exempting Catholic priests, brothers, and nuns working in government-funded education institutions from paying taxes on their salaries. The Nov. 7 order of the three-judge bench of Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, Justices J B Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra dismissed 93 appeals against a 2014 order of the Income Tax Department that asked them to pay taxes. The practice was introduced in 1944 during the British colonial era as part of an effort to promote education across the country. The Income Tax Department, which reports to the federal government, directed state governments in 2014 to deduct tax at source before paying salaries to priests, brothers, and nuns. The Church challenged the order in high courts of the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The state courts upheld the tax department’s order, and appeals were filed before the Supreme Court. The counsels for the Church personnel argued that religious priests and nuns take a vow of poverty, and their salaries are transferred to their respective congregations’ accounts. Unlike other citizens, they do not individually own anything. The country’s top court, in an interim order, temporarily relieved Church personnel. However, in its final verdict, the court wondered how religious people’s vows of poverty or not owning personal property affected the taxability of their income. It asked the government to deduct tax at the source of paying salaries. The Supreme Court also stressed the need for a uniform application of law and held that any person employed and receiving a salary would be subject to taxation.

An Indian church leader has hailed the one-year extension gi-ven to the Justice K G Balakri-shnan commission to study whether socially poor Christians and Muslims are eligible for the nation’s affirmative action policy. “We welcome the extension gi-ven to the panel as it was unable to complete its work within the stipulated time,” said Father Antony Thumma, secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) Office for Ecu-menism. Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi’s federal government appointed the commission in 2022 to study and recomm-end whether to extend the bene-fits of the affirmative action policy to Christians and Muslims who come from Dalit communi-ties that were once considered untouchable. The benefits of the policy include seats in educational institutions, government jobs, and electoral politics. However, these concessions are currently limited to Dalits who belong to Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddh-ism. Balakrishnan, a former chief justice of India who headed the three-member panel, was given two years to submit the report. “The panel started its work late as it did not get an office, staff, and other amenities,” said Thu-mma. The priest has been actively involved in the struggles of Dalit Christians to gain benefits from the affirmative action policy. Thumma and a 15-member ecu-menical delegation met the com-mission on Oct. 12 in the national capital, New Delhi, to advocate for the cause of Dalit Christians, who make up more than 50% of India’s 25 million Christians.

An India-based voluntary agency has conferred its Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice on the late Indian business leader Ratan Tata for ‘his role beyond business’ and 11 others. “Ratan Tata has left a lasting legacy of service and social responsibility that conti-nues to inspire and uplift commu-nities,” said Abraham Mathai, founder-chairman of Harmony Foundation.
The Mumbai-based non-gov-ernmental organization instituted the annual award in memory of Saint Mother Teresa in 2005.The posthumous award to Tata was received by Siddharth Sharma, CEO of Tata Trusts, on Nov. 10 in Mumbai at a function. Tata, former chairman of the Tata Group, died on Oct. 9 in Mum-bai, aged 86. He is credited with putting the Indian conglomerate on the global map. Under his leadership, the group’s revenue rose from US$4 billion to US$100 billion between 1991 and 2012. Tata is known as an iconic business leader and a well-known philanthropist. Tata is also known for his social commitments and philanthropy. Through Tata Trusts, he impacted countless li-ves, fostering education, health-care, and social welfare initiatives across India, Mathai said. Polish activists Lena Grochowska and W³adys³aw Grochowski jointly won the award for their humani-tarian efforts to empower Ukrai-nian refugees in Poland. Their organization – Lena Grochowska Foundation – received the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Nansen Refugee Award last year.

Church leaders have expressed concern over a southern Indian court’s suggestion to bring Church properties under state control like in the case of Hindus and Muslims following graft allegations. Churches have vast properties and their funds “are drained to fuel a power struggle,” noted the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court in a recent ruling. The court on Oct. 23 served notices on the federal and the provincial Tamil Nadu governments, seeking their opinion on bringing Church properties under a statutory board like in the case of Hindus and Muslims. “We are aware of the court order,” said Father Robinson Rodrigues, spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI). “Our legal department is conducting a study on its implications,” Father Rodrigues told. The priest, however, refused to divulge details, saying “the matter is subjudice.” Like in the case of Hindu and Muslim charitable endowments, Christian institutions lack a comprehensive statutory body, the court observed. “Unlike the properties of the Hindu endowment or the Muslim Waqf [charity] Board, Church properties are purchased and not donated,” said Father A Santhanam, a Jesuit priest practicing law at the Madurai court. “Therefore, the findings of the court are not entirely correct,” Santhanam told.

Bishop Marshall Kerketta of Ranchi, the moderator of Gossner Evangelical Lutheran (GEL) Church said that he has rejected the appeal from Anosh Ekka of Jharkhand Party to use the name of the Church for political purposes. Ekka, a tribal Oraon Christian and former minister in the provincial government, recently wrote to letter to Bp Kerketta, reque-sting him to support his party in the upcoming state elections to be held on Nov. 13-20.
The results of the election in 81 state constituencies are to be announced on Nov. 23. In a letter to Ekka, obtained by UCA News, Bishop Kerketta said the request was “not in accordance with the Constitution of the Church and its religious conduct.” The prelate also said that “it is a matter of great surprise that an experienced politician like you, an active and knowledgeable member of the Church has written the letter.” As per the Church rules, the Church cannot endorse any political party in the election, Kerketta said, adding that no one should use the Church’s name in the election campaign. Founded on Nov. 2, 1845, the GEL is a major Protestant Church in India with hundreds of thousands of members. The move from Ekka, the national president of his party and a member of the state legislature from 2005-2018, has triggered uproar in the state. Presently the state is run by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) party led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren. “I am not surprised by the favour sought by the political parties during the election as it is a common practice. But the Church and its intuitions are not politically affiliated entities so they cannot support any political party as per the Indian Constitution,” Ratan Tirkey, a former mem-ber of the state’s tribal advisory committee, told on Nov 8. Tirkey, the tribal Christian leader said that “any Christian members be it bishops, priests, nuns and laity are Indian citizens first and they exercise the voting right individually, all are free to vote any candidates according to their choice.” Mukti Prakash Tirkey, editor of New Delhi-based Hindi-language weekly Dalit Adivasi Duniya said that “not only the church but religious groups such as Hindus, Muslims and Sikh should refrain from supporting any political parties so that Indian constitution and secularism are upheld”.

A Catholic religious forum has vowed to fight clericalism in the Church by promoting lay leadership. “Clericalism is a serious issue and we have to fight it,” said Father Anand Mathew, the newly elected national convener of the Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace, a body of progressive religious priests, brothers, and nuns in India. Mathew, a mem-ber of the Indian Missionary Society based in the temple town of Varanasi in northern Uttar Pradesh, was elected unopposed to the post at its bi-annual convention in Indore in central India on Oct. 20. The Church in India is cleric – and bishop – centred and the involvement of the laity is “very negligible,” Mathew told on Oct. 25. The lay people should get “their fair share,” the priest said. The participants vowed “to work towards empowering the laity, including women, to transform the Church into a vibrant institution that stands for “the poor and those on the periphery,” Mathew added. The forum, established in 1987, has 21 state units. The forum has decided to run regional awareness campaigns among laypeople, including women and the youth, to promote gender equality in the Church’s decision-making bodies. “Once they [laypeople] are brought to the leadership level, it will infuse new dynamism,” Mathew added. The forum asked the Indian Church to take inspiration from the ongoing Synod on Synodality, convened by Pope Francis at the Vatican. The Synod on Synodality is notable for its diverse parti-cipation, welcoming laypeople and priests alongside bishops. As part of its mission, the members vowed to adopt “simpler lifestyles” and live “closer to the poor,” as Indian Church members face violence from right-wing Hindu groups. The participants stressed the need to “internalize individually and colle-ctively the values” of the papal encyclical Laudato Si’ (Praise be to you) and the apo-stolic exhortation Laudate Deum (Praise be to God). “Development must be people-centred, inclusive, holistic, just, equitable, sustainable, and life-promoting,” the forum said. It expressed concern over the exploita-tion of the earth, leading to “climate change.” The forum wanted to fight the government’s discriminatory and pro-rich policies.

The India-based Syro-Malabar Church has welcomed the appointment of its head, Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil, to a ten-member special Vatican committee on Eastern rite Churches. The appointment made by Pope Francis “is a major recognition to the Syro-Malabar Church,” said Father Antony Vadakkekara, spokes-person of the southern Kerala-headquartered Church. Thattil was “appointed a few days ago, and we were informed today,” he told on Oct. 23. Vadakkekara said the special committee advises Pope Francis on forming policies on Eastern Churches. With 35 dioceses in India and abroad, Thattil represents the second-largest Eastern rite Church in communion with the Holy See. It claims a membership of some 5 million Catholics. ”No doubt, the appointment shows Pope Francis’s special consideration toward the Church that is spread across the globe,” the Vincentian priest added. Thattil’s presence will “effectively help” the Eastern rite Churches worldwide, Vadakkekara added. Before his elevation as the head of the sui juris Church in January, Thattil led the Shamshabad diocese in northern India, touted to be the largest diocese in India, spread over 22 Indian states. As its head, Thattil visited the mission stations in remote villages with poor road connections. A priest who worked with Thattil in northern India said Thattil’s mission experience “will be an added asset” to the dicastery.