The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church of Kerala suffered a huge embarrassment on Thursday when a scheduled meeting of the council of priests of its Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, which was to consider a report on the land scam rocking it, had to be postponed amidst dramatic developments after the Church head, Major Archbishop Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, was allegedly blocked by some influential members of the laity from attending the meeting.
In a letter written to the council’s secretary, the Cardinal reportedly said he was forced to postpone the meeting as he was blocked by certain influential members of the laity from attending it.
The meeting was called specifically for discussing the report of an Archdiocese-appointed commission that found grave lapses from the part of the Church, particularly Mar Alencherry himself, in the controversial land sale carried out by the Church.
Church representatives claimed that the meeting was not abandoned but had been put off on the basis of a decision that the council’s meeting need not be held before the pastoral council comprising the Cardinal, bishops, other priests and representatives of the laity met. They also claimed that certain people had interfered to ensure the cancellation of the meeting and had blocked the Cardinal with this objective.
While a section said that nobody had blocked the Cardinal but a drama was being staged to avoid discussions on the commission’s report on the land scam that had pushed the entire Syro-Malabar Catholic Church into a crisis of credibility, supporters of Mar Alencherry said a conspiracy was going on to tarnish him. Sources said that a scheduled meeting of the priests’ council was postponed for the first time in the Church’s history.
As per the report of the six-member commission, the rules of the Church had not been abided by in the controversial sale of Church lands and the deal was held without the knowledge of the concerned committees and councils of the Archdiocese. The commission has reportedly concluded that the Archdiocese had suffered a loss of over Rs 30 crore in the land deal.
The report said that Cardinal Alencherry had committed serious lapses in the deal as he was in charge of the entire sale process. Though the decision to sell the lands was taken by the Archdiocese in order to repay a Rs 58-crore bank loan, the processes that followed had been carried out without the knowledge of the various councils.
The controversy pertains to the sale of over three acres of prime land belonging to the Archdiocese in Kochi city worth tens of crores of rupees to private persons. The lands were sold in two schedules to 36 persons in September, 2016 and between January and August last year and Cardinal Alencherry himself had signed in all the sale documents.
The Archdiocese had suffered a loss of huge financial losses through the land sale for which a middleman, whose credibility has now come under suspicion, had been engaged. Cardinal Mar Alencherry has also been accused of taking the initiative to bring in the middleman, Saju Varghese Kunnel.
The Church had decided to sell the prime land for Rs 27 crore – it could have fetched a much bigger price – but it was sold for Rs 13 crore as per the sale documents. However, the amount that had reached the Church’s account was only Rs 9.30 crore. A section of the laity – and even certain priests – have already aired suspicions of stamp duty evasion and role of black money.
The controversy had worsened with a section of the laity petitioning the Pope against the Cardinal and a believer from the Archdiocese lodging a complaint with the police seeking an investigation into the alleged irregularities involved in the deal. There are allegations that there had been stamp duty evasion and play of black money in the land sales.