The Hindu : Front Page : Law aims at dividing Church: Archbishop

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Monday, Feb 12, 2007
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Law aims at dividing Church: Archbishop

Staff Reporter

KOTTAYAM: Archbishop Susaipakiam, head of the Thiruvananthapuram Archdiocese of the Catholic Church (Latin rite), has come down heavily on the Government for "its efforts to create divisions within the Church and to alienate the laity from the hierarchy."

Speaking to mediapersons here on Sunday at the conclusion of a three-day general assembly of the Kerala Region Latin Catholic Council, organisation which is representative of the hierarchy and the laity, the Archbishop said the self-financing colleges Act brought in by the Government was part of a deliberate effort to take away minority rights. The provisions in the Bill were only a smokescreen to create an illusion that the Latin Catholic community would benefit by it, the Archbishop said.

The Archbishop admitted that the issue of reservation vs. minority rights was an area of `friction,' but held that the Church was not ready to give up one for the other.

He took serious exception to the `efforts to dub all private managements as corrupt' and said doing away with minority rights was not the way to fight corruption.

"The Government has the power and the machinery to bring the corrupt to book," he said.

"The provisions in the Bill were designed to help the creamy layer," he said. From the angle of social justice, the provisions were unscientific, he said.

The conference expressed apprehension about the functioning of the school development committees at aided schools. It also called against the trend by which party members were included in the syndicate of the universities.

The conference called upon the Union Government to constitute a commission on the lines of the Sachar Commission exclusively for the backward among the Christian community.

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