In Kerala, schism within the church is deepening Premium

The perception that the Catholic church is uniting with the BJP is gaining ground

The weeks following Easter have been a political rollercoaster for the Christian community — more precisely, the Catholic Church — in Kerala.

Easter day dawned with Cardinal George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar Church headquartered in Ernakulam, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and contending, much to the chagrin of sections of the faithful, that Christians are safe in India.

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The Syro Malabar Church, with some 45 lakh members, has been a divided house for some time with an organisation of lay people under the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese unsuccessfully demanding the Cardinal’s scalp over a series of controversial land deals. While the Catholic apex tribunal gave a clean chit to the Cardinal last week, he is facing trial in criminal cases related to these deals. The Enforcement Directorate, too, initiated an inquiry into them as possible instances of money laundering. This apart, the Cardinal and the Synod of the church have been facing stiff resistance from groups of laity and priests over the way the Mass should be celebrated.

It was in early 2020 that the Synod of the church raised an alarm about ‘love jihad’. While the dubitable expression has been officially shelved thereafter, Catholic bishops have time and again made anti-Muslim jibes such as ‘narcotics jihad’ while increasingly parleying with leaders of the BJP. A few weeks before Cardinal Alencherry offered his Easter musings on the BJP, Bishop Joseph Pamplany of the same church offered to remedy the party’s inability to have a Lok Sabha member from Kerala if the Centre raised the base price of natural rubber to ₹300 per kg.

It was only natural, therefore, for some Catholic priests and laity groups to ascribe a pattern to these developments. Almaya Munnettam, a group of reform-minded Catholics in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, slammed these statements, and even equated Bishop Pamplany with Judas. Satyadeepam, a weekly published from the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese with some five lakh members, reminded the church leadership about the rise in attacks by Hindu militants on churches and Christians elsewhere in India. The publication pointed to the unkind treatment meted out to Jesuit priest Stan Swamy and why Christian groups were forced to hold a demonstration in Delhi in February. It accused the church leadership of being complicit in the crimes against Christians by extending “unquestioning” hospitality to Mr. Modi, who maintains a “criminal silence” on attacks on the community, when he visited the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Delhi on Easter. The Latin Catholic Church expressed the concern that thoughtless statements by church leaders could give rise to the perception that the Catholic church is closing ranks with the BJP.

Also read | Cardinal Alencherry’s views come under fire from members of Church