Denver, Colo., Jul 27, 2019 / 09:32 am (CNA).- Following reports from the Associated Press that several hundred priests protested the Vatican’s recent decision to restore Cardinal George Alencherry to his administrative duties, a spokesman for the Syro-Malabar church has disputed the report’s accuracy, and said that people wishing to see the Indian cardinal ousted from his position are publishing “calculated propaganda” against him.
The spokesman also told CNA that despite the cardinal’s involvement in land deals that some have characterized as dubious, Alencherry acted in good faith and has the support of the Vatican.
Father Abraham Kavilpurayidathil, press officer for the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala state, told CNA that only one priest actually took on a hunger strike in protest of the cardinal, and was supported by about ten others— not by 450, as the AP report stated.
Alencherry heads the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in union with Rome and one of the two main Eastern Catholic Churches in India.
In November 2017 the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly’s canonical presbyteral council publicly accused Alencherry of involvement of dubious land deals. The council’s representatives charged that the cardinal, two senior priests and a real estate agent sold land at undervalued prices, for a loss of $10 million. They accused the cardinal of bypassing the canonical body’s authority.
The Vatican suspended Alencherry from his administrative duties “sede plena” in June 2018, meaning Alencherry remained archbishop of the diocese, but a temporary administrator was appointed to lead the diocese in Alencherry’s place. The apostolic administrator sent reports back to the Vatican about diocesan finances.
“The cardinal always remained the archbishop of the diocese, but for administrative matters were entrusted to Bishop Jacob Manathodath,” Kavilpurayidathil explained.
The Vatican put Alencherry back in charge of the administrative duties of the archdiocese last month, but two auxiliaries remain suspended. The results of the Vatican’s investigation have not yet been made public, but Kavilpurayidathil said the cardinal’s reinstatement illustrates the faith the Vatican has in his ability to lead the diocese.
The Syro-Malabar permanent synod, the governing body of that church, was directed in June to assign the two former auxiliary bishops to different ministries during a planned August meeting.
A June 24 letter from the Apostolic Nunciature in India explained that after his reinstatement, Alencherry “is asked to deliver the monthly budget and submit the more relevant administrative documents concerning the temporal goods of the Archeparchy to the Permanent Synod, always complying the civil laws.”
The cardinal’s suspension was related to the sale of land belonging to the archdiocese, also referred to as an archeparcy. The land appeared to have been sold at a significant loss. Kavilpurayidathil disputed the characterization of a “huge loss” for the diocese.
Kavilpurayidathil stated that the finance council for the archdiocese gave permission for the sale, but also said that normally the permanent synod would be consulted before a land sale of this size, which was not done in this case.
Kavilpurayidathil said the sale was made in order to pay the debts of the archdiocese.
“It is not a unilateral decision of the cardinal. It is a collective decision taken by the ruling body of the archdiocese. It can never be a single decision of an archbishop to sell the land,” he said.
“Certain technical things were not completed. But it was done in good faith…and the land was sold in order to repay the debts of the archdiocese,” Kavilpurayidathil said.
“In the case of the sale of land exceeding a certain amount should have been consented with the synod of the Syro-Malabar Church before selling the land…that formality was not done. The bone of contention is not the omissions, or failure of fulfilling the technicalities….in the execution process [of the sale], some of the technicalities were not observed. Ok, there are problems which can be solved within the frame of the Church. And those omissions are those things which could be solved within the Church…the economic side of the archdiocese is being solved now.”
Kavilpurayidathil also said that the land deal was more complicated than is usually reported, and that said that Alencherry’s actions were an effort to make the best decisions in an unexpected situation.
“A few pieces of land under the possession of the Archdiocese were sold, as per the decision taken collectively in the canonical bodies of the Archdiocese to repay the debt of the Archdiocese,” the priest explained.
“But, the broker handed over only a part of the amount to the archdioceses in the stipulated time. When cardinal understood that the broker has not given the expected money, he prevailed on the broker to get two plots of land, which were under the possession of the broker, registered in the name of the archeparchy as security or pawn for the money due from him. By doing so, in fact, Cardinal Alencherry tried his best to save the archeparchy from the loss in the land sale deed. In fact, if the two lands registered in the name of the archeparchy are sold, the archeparchy would get financial profit and not loss.”
Kavilpurayidathil also emphasized that recent protests against Alencherry had nothing to do with the case of a nun who accused another Indian bishop, Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar, of raping her in 2014.
The nun who made the accusation is originally from Kerala state, belongs to the Syro-Malabar Church, but is under the jurisdiction of a Latin bishop in the north of India, Kavilpurayidathil said.
The nun called Alencherry and complained, in the local language, of harassment within her congregation. The call was recorded and later broadcast on an Indian television station.
It was reported that Alencherry may have been made aware of the nun’s sexual assault allegation as a result of the call before she filed an official complaint, a report which Kavilpurayidathil says is false because the nun never specifically mentioned sexual assault during the phone call.
Moreover, Kavilpurayidathil said Alencherry would not have had the authority to investigate the nun’s complaints, as her congregation is part of the Latin Catholic Church. As a result, Alencherry referred her to the Archbishop of Bombay and to the apostolic nuncio.
“Cardinal Alencherry has nothing to do with the internal problems of the [nun’s] congregation,” he stated.
“If a nun calls a bishop, the head of the church to which she originally belonged, and tells him ‘I am raped,’ or ‘I am abused’ by a bishop, why didn’t the bishop take action?” Kavilpurayidathil said, posing a question.
“One has to clearly understand that in the telephone conversation…she never said [anything] about abuses, that she’s raped. She merely raises the internal problems of the congregation…internal, administrative problems,” Kavilpurayidathil said.
“Cardinal Alencherry, being the head of the Syro-Malabar Church, has no jurisdiction to look into that, so he rightly tells them to contact Cardinal Oswald Gracias, to contact the nuncio, because in the Latin jurisdiction they are the [correct] persons to take action.”
“We are facing some problems in the Church right now, and the nun’s rape case has nothing to do with these problems,” he added.
Indeed, the priest said that media reports criticizing the cardinal are part of a “calculated move to defame Cardinal within the Church and before the public. In social media, you see almost every day demands that Cardinal should resign and go away. We cannot take these expressions or demands as casual ones. They are part of a calculated move.”
“There have been attempts to defame Mar Alencherry by a small group who constantly demands that he should resign. For this purpose, somebody forged a few documents that show Cardinal transacted money to business firms, that he has membership in famous clubs, that he convened business meetings along with some other bishops of the Latin Church of Kerala in a commercial institution etc.,
Kavilpurayidathil said that the Syro-Malabar Church field a police report about the alleged forgery, and that police have identified two priests and a few lay Catholics as possible suspects.
“The immediate cause for launching the hunger strike at Major Archbishop’s House in Ernakulam by one of the priests of the Archdiocese is continuing police investigation in the forged document case,” the priest told CNA.
“In the discussion, no decision was taken except the assurance given to the priests who represented the protesting group that all the concerns raised would be discussed in the Synod to be held in the month of August 2019.”
[…]
Human beings are searching for a glue that can bind and heal them. Religions are relevant and important. Interreligious dialogue has the power to build bridges.
What is relevant is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Religions are man made and an attempt to reach upward to God.
Christianity, on the other hand is God reaching down to mankind through the loving grace of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4:15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.
Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God bless you as you walk with Jesus.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/how-the-catholic-church-became-a-defender-of-islam/
Thank you for the link, Deacon Jim, quite informative!
The difference between Islam and Christianity is as vast as the difference ;between chalk and cheese.
Many years ago, I read an opinion article on the “elephant in the living room” problem with the pro-life community: basically, if you are pro-life and struggle with various gov’t agencies and NGOs at the UN over the issues or abortion and the family, GREAT! We’re allies and friends.
.
People very quickly forget that “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” isn’t always true.
It isn’t always true but sometimes it applies. There have been recent cases of Muslims & Jews coming together in Europe to protest proposed laws to outlaw circumcision.
Tens of thousands of Jews persecuted & expelled from Spain & Portugal were given a safe haven in the Ottoman Empire.
Muslims & Christians have united in the UK to protest mandatory sex ed. in schools, etc.
William Kilpatrick is an excellent Islamologist, and I always appreciate his articles, as well as his excellent books. It is too bad that the link you give has, in its comments section, such vicious diatribes and lies about the Catholic Church.
Quoting from Nostra aetate, a declaration of the Second Vatican Council, Francis said: “The Church believes that all ‘humanity forms but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock that God created to people the entire earth, and because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness and saving designs extend to all mankind.’”
Likewise, this from the Second Vatican Council: “The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light . . .Christ the Lord…by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to himself [!] and makes his supreme calling clear” (Gaudium et Spes, n. 22).
Somewhere later in the dialogue, then, the “transcendent” “proximity,” both, that “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14)–the self-disclosed and concrete universal of the otherwise unknowable and inarticulate “Beyond.”
We need a new pope
Christ alone suffices. It really is that simple.
Is there any word on Pope Francis ‘dialoging’ with Muslim religious leaders to stop their religious genocide on Christians in Africa and around the world?
If the ‘Seventh Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions’ did not ‘dialog” with the Muslim religion, about the Muslim religion Jhad massacres against all other religions, then I don’t think we need an ‘Eighth Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions’. We can simply tell our Catholic brothers and sisters in Africa, who are being martyred by the masses by the Muslim religion, that Pope Francis just plain does not care about them at all.
Per Phil Lawler (Catholic Culture) and (Kazakhstan) Bishop Schneider, a little skepticism may be in order.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (Jn 3:16 16). Christ’s mystical body, the Church in the world has as its mission to spread the Gospel to all men. There’s a tendency among Catholics to presume an antagonistic dividing line between the Christian, and the non believing world, which to an extent is true, although not to the extent that we neglect Christ’s last commandment, Go out to all the world and teach the Gospel to every person (Mk 16:15).
All Francis’ words in Kazakhstan are good words that address the reality of Man’s search for God in myriad forms or worship, “Interreligious dialogue is no longer merely something expedient. It is an urgently needed and incomparable service to humanity, to the praise and glory of the Creator of all”. His mention of transcendence, the Beyond, brotherhood touch a disputed entry in dogmatic Lumen Gentium.
“But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place among these there are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God. Nor is God far distant from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God” (LG 16). Controversy occurred along these lines at Abu Dhabi, Francis later qualified his words that were parallel to LG 16. Nevertheless, we have Saint Pope John Paul II kissing the Koran at the Vatican when presented to him by an Imam. We can excuse both Francis and John Paul as acts of good will toward perennial adversaries, a good thing, or perceive these acts as obscuring the vital difference, that “All men are called to belong to the new people of God” (LG 13).
It inevitably works out for the better when Catholics retain their faithful conviction of the singular and necessary truth of the revelation of Christ. Inevitably since adherence to the exclusivity of the truth of our faith in Christ, the Son of God, elicits grace, and it’s grace, the gift of the Holy Spirit that inspires good will and peace, and conversion to a far better vision of brotherhood.
Additionally, the following is worthy of submission as related to where we stand regarding Catholic belief on receiving the Holy Eucharist, and as it relates to pluralism, and now [doctrine on the Eucharist] undermined by the German Synodalweg, and reconsidered by a number of high ranking prelates assigned to the Synod on Synodality.
Pope Francis issued a letter Desiderio desideravi in June weeks after Cardinal Cordileone prohibited the Eucharist for Nancy Pelosi in May. His Holiness says in Desiderio, “To be admitted to the feast all that is required is the wedding garment of faith which comes from the hearing of his Word”. A number of notable signatories issued a statement this September in response to Desiderio desideravi:
“On the day that Desiderio desideravi was issued, Pope Francis received in audience Nancy Pelosi, and on that day, she received Holy Communion at a papal Mass. Francis responded to the Press, ‘When the Church loses its pastoral nature, when a bishop loses his pastoral nature, it causes a political problem. That’s all I can say.’ This response rebukes Archbishop Cordileone for his justified application of Canon 915 causing scandal to Catholics over all the world” (Maike Hickson for LifeSite News).
Signatories include a large list of eminent prelates and scholars some mentioned here: Most Rev Joseph Strickland Bishop Tyler TX, Most Rev René Henry Gracida Bishop Emeritus Corpus Christi, Most Rev Robert Mutsaerts Aux Bishop S’Hertogenbosch Netherlands, Most Rev Athanasius Schneider Aux Bishop Astana Kazakhstan, Anthony Esolen PhD, Fr Gerald E Murray JCD, Dr Claudio Pierantoni Universidad de Chile, Dr John Rist emeritus professor U of Toronto, Edward Schaefer president The Collegium, Wolfram Schrems Mag theol Mag phil, Eric Sammons Editor Crisis Magazine, John-Henry Westen Co-Founder Editor in Chief of LifeSiteNews.com.
At what point does the truth of Revelation make an appearance to those who have swallowed whole the sweet poison of pluralism?
Perhaps Francis once he finished with his trip to Khazakistan can now find the time to meet with the four “Dubai Cardinals” who requested a meeting with him some 4-5 years ago. (Oh, I just remembered that two of them have since died.)
That was meant to read: “Dubia Cardinals.”
As a refresher, here’s a link including the complete dubia from 2016:https://www.ncregister.com/blog/full-text-and-explanatory-notes-of-cardinals-questions-on-amoris-laetitia
Even when Francis tackles a valid subject, as Father Morello’s comments make clear, it’s always hard to take Francis seriously given his history. I just can’t believe he approaches any subject from much greater concern than personal vanity.
Dialogue has its place clearly, but it’s hard to accept it in a meaningful way from a Pope who will not dialogue with his own Cardinals on whether there are God given moral absolutes embedded in the negative prescripts to the natural law, who calls attempts to convert others a sinful act, and who has equated sketchy reports in secular Italian newspapers of domestic violence, assuming the protagonists are Catholic, as the moral equivalency to Islamic acts of beheading Christians and therefore a justified basis for not speaking out against the beheading.
i.e. “Dubia Cardinals.”
I think I was mistaken in thinking I’d read an article by Phil Lawler on this topic. I’ll have to go with just Bishop Schneider.
A krist je rekao da će doći mnogi krivovjrni proroci. I došli su. Da li i njihovo sljedbenici traže Boga?
There is ONE WAY TO THE FATHER. To deny that or spin it in any way is to call Jesus a liar—exactly what Vatican II did and its “spirit” does. Whether or not pagans or Protestants go to hell is up to God. And we should work with men of good will to further the ends of Jesus Christ. But to claim God wills or desires any religion other than the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is heresy. It’s time to admit Vatican II was an abject failure and consign it and all its rotten fruit to the fire to be burned to ash.
“In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph. 1:9) by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (see Eph. 2:18; 2 Peter 1:4). Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (see Col. 1;15, 1 Tim. 1:17) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11; John 15:14-15) and lives among them (see Bar. 3:38), so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself. This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them. By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation.” (Dei Verbum, 1)
“Christ is the Light of nations. Because this is so, this Sacred Synod gathered together in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature,(1) to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church. … Christ, the one Mediator, established and continually sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope and charity, as an entity with visible delineation through which He communicated truth and grace to all.” (Lumen Gentium)
“The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come,(20) namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear. It is not surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned truths find their root and attain their crown.
“He Who is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), is Himself the perfect man. To the sons of Adam He restores the divine likeness which had been disfigured from the first sin onward. Since human nature as He assumed it was not annulled,(22) by that very fact it has been raised up to a divine dignity in our respect too. For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human choice(23) and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin.
“As an innocent lamb He merited for us life by the free shedding of His own blood. In Him God reconciled us(25) to Himself and among ourselves; from bondage to the devil and sin He delivered us, so that each one of us can say with the Apostle: The Son of God “loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20). By suffering for us He not only provided us with an example for our imitation, He blazed a trail, and if we follow it, life and death are made holy and take on a new meaning.” (Gaudium et spes)
Thank you Carl Olson. If you sleep with dogs you will get fleas or something like that.
Amen!
“Interreligious dialogue”… Pope Francis has such charmingly quaint outlooks and expressions. With him, it always full-steam ahead to the 1970s.