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Transparency in Church affairs is an internal matter and
laws of the land are sufficient to check any
irregularity, affirmed Christians in Goa who protested
governmental intervention in church affairs.
The following is the text of the Statement issued on
behalf of the All India Catholic Union by its Official
Spokesman, Dr John Dayal, Member, National Integration
Council, Government of India, and Secretary General, All
India Christian Council, at a Press Conference in Panaji,
Goa stating its formal position on the Media controversy
suggesting Government control on Institutional and
religious properties of the Christian community in the
country.
The Christian community across India, already reeling
under the aftermath of the massacres in Orissa and
persecution in Karnataka and other states, has been
taken aback at the controversial suggestions in the
media for government control on church and community
properties. The controversy is entirely uncalled for,
the suggestions and allegations are based on
misinformation and disinformation, they do not help in
the security and nurture of the Christian community as
they in the final analysis and finally they only
subserve the agenda of communal and sectarian political
forces. The issue goes beyond Goa, and in fact beyond
the catholic churches as it concerns all States and all
Denominations of the Church, Catholic, Protestant and
Evangelical. The Christian community of India rejects
Government intervention in Religion in any form and in
any guise. There is, of course, no question of
Government control on Church and community properties.
The temporal, or material such as holding property,
aspects of the Christian Church in secular India after
Independence are guaranteed under Article 26 of the
Constitution. Church properties, whether they be places
of worship, Educational or professional institutions etc
and community land, are more than adequately covered
under the Law of the Land, which include laws for the
conduct of Societies, Associations, Trusts and
Companies, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, as
also concerned Special Laws in various states,
municipalities or other civic authorities. These, and
provisions of the Indian Penal Code, are also more than
adequate to investigate and prosecute rare cases of
corruption and, indeed, adequately oversee all aspects
of the church’s interaction with the State in matters of
finance, properties etc.
The Christian situation differs radically and materially
from that for Hindu, Muslim and Sikh religions, which
has been cited by the proponents of such a Bill.. The
laws governing properties and functioning of those
religions are born out of individual histories of their
faith before and after Independence. In Islam, for
instance, the matter of Wakf is integral to their Faith.
In Hinduism where Religious Boards exist for governing
temples, their history traces itself to the ownership of
such properties by erstwhile princely states which was
subsequently vested in the Boards – which is th
situation in Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In the case
of the Sikhs, the Shiiromani Gurudwara Prabandhakl
Committee laws were born out of protracted struggle by
the people and the then British government against armed
followers of ‘mahants’ who would conquer rich Gurudwaras.
The Sikh community in fact rejected the Act proposed by
the Government and put forth its own reformed laws. I
may also point out that leaders of the Muslim community
have often complained of political and administrative
interference from Government in the Wakf Board, an the
SGPC is highly politicized with the Akali Dal in command
in recent years. Above all, the SGPC and the Devasthanam
Boards cover only a few prominent places of worship and
their properties.
The Goa situation seemingly differs from the rest of the
country because of its history as a former Portuguese
colony reconquered by India in December 1961, as held by
the Supreme Court of India. Only those Portuguese laws
remain operational in Goa as have been accepted by the
Government of India, and those rejected by the Republic
are no longer valid. In the case of the Church in Goa,
the radical change of course is that while the colonial
power in a way subsided the Catholic church, secular
India does not. I have it on the highest legal authority
that the “Concordata” once signed between the colonial
government in Lisbon and the Holy See “is dead as a
secular state does not finance or have any other
relationship with the Church.” In practice, only the
powers relating to Marriage and Annulment remain
operational as the law of the land.
The Catholic Church in Goa has modern, detailed and
foolproof written regulations in its two important
documents :General Statutes of Confraternities” and
“Rules and regulations of Fabricas / Cofres” , which
guarantee transparency and responsibility in temporal
transactions in great details. As in the rest of India,
Church structures contain the participation of both the
Clergy and the laity at various levels.” These inbuilt
reforms and structures ensuring utter transparency in
property and financial transactions, are not beyond the
Law of the Land.
I may also mention that while the Church in Goa, some
cities of Kerala and Mumbai may seem rich, elsewhere in
the country, Church and community are exceedingly poor.
Over 60 per cent of the Christian community is of Dalit
origin, and 20 per cent of Indigenous tribes. Most of
these groups are as poor as their brethren of other
faiths. The Church works in the poorest areas of the
country. Its schools and dispensaries exist where even
the governments cannot ensure one.
A micro minority such as the Christian Church in India
needs to breathe the air of Freedom and be beyond both
reproach and fear to be able to fulfill its destiny, and
continue its work in social action, particularly health
and education, the care of orphans and the terminally
ill. Government intervention, which is synonymous with
political and administrative interference as is our
experience and that of other communities, can only
throttle this critical freedom.
The Church is responsible to the community at large,
subservient to the law of the land, and above all,
answerable to a Higher power.
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