An Indian court has allow-ed a Catholic activist to inter-vene in an ongoing legal battle to reclaim, restore and declare a 16th century Portuguese-era church as a historical monu-ment.
Melwyn Fernandes was appointed an intervener to ex-pedite the case filed by Mumbai archdiocesan clergy to reclaim Our Lady of Mercy Church (Nossa Senhora Des Merces) built by Portuguese Jesuits in 1562 at Thane in the western state of Maharashtra.The next hearing of the case is on Nov. 21.
The church is located in a neighbourhood called Pokhran and is around 45 kilometres away from Mumbai, the fina-ncial capital of the country. It is currently in ruins, a part of which is being claimed by a Hindu temple trust, Fernandes said.
Judge A.S. Nalge of the Thane Civil and Sessions Court last month asked the St John Baptist Church, the complain-ant in the dispute, to include Fernandes after he sought to intervene in the dispute as he felt the case was proceeding at a slow pace.
Fernandes, who is general secretary of the Mumbai-based Association of Concerned Ca-tholics, told on Nov. 7 that the dispute dates back to 1970 when the church was being renovated and a stone with Hindu carvings was found at the entrance arch.
Hindus residing nearby started a campaign that the church existed on what was originally a temple of the Hindu god Shiva.