The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in Kerala is set to treble the production of wine at its facility in Thrikkakkara near Kochi, once again triggering debates over the appropriateness of the production and consumption of wine - though as sacramental article - within the Church while bodies associated with it are fighting against the menace of alcohol.
The State Excise Department has reportedly decided to renew the licence of the Church's 'Mass wine' production facility with permission to increase the capacity from the present 1,600 litres per annum to 5,000 litres as desired by Syro-Malabar Church's Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry in his application submitted to the department less than a week ago.
The sacramental wine produced at the Thrikkakkara facility is supplied to all Syro-Malabar churches in the State for Holy Mass. As per the licence issued in 1986, the Church was allowed to produce 800 litres of wine per year and the Excise Department gave permission to increase this to 1,600 litres in 1992.
The Cardinal had requested the Excise Department for permission to increase production on the ground that there was considerable rise in the number of churches, chapels, priests and followers under the Syro-Malabar rite of Kerala's Catholic Church. Church sources claimed that it had not asked for production hike in the past 23 years.
"There is no space for any controversy in this matter," said a senior priest of the Church. "Mass wine is not consumed in the Church as an intoxicating agent. For the Church, it is a sacred article symbolizing the blood of Jesus Christ. It is an essential part of the Holy Mass. This is purely a matter of religious custom and belief," he added.
After the inspection of the wine plant at Thrikkakkara, P Jayarajan, Excise Deputy Commissioner, Ernakulam had given recommendation to renew the licence with permission to increase production, which the department has reportedly accepted.
A Government order is expected to be issued in this regard shortly. Reports said that department had taken a quick decision on the application received less than a week ago because of the special interest shown by Congress's Excise Minister K Babu. Observers say that the Congress-led UDF Government took the decision quickly as it did not want to antagonize the influential Church as major elections are to take place within a year.
However, the Church's plan to increase wine production and the department's permission for it have already triggered heated debates on the imbalances in the Congress-led UDF Government's liquor policy which envisaged total liquor ban within ten years. All the bars - except those in five star hotels - were closed down on March 31 as part of this policy.
"They have every right to perform their religious customs and rituals but there is an issue of appropriateness," said John Mathew, a follower of the Pentecost Church. "The Catholic Church should think about what kind of a message it is sending to the society when it is hiking own wine production and leading an anti-liquor war at the same time," he said.
In August last year, Philipose Mar Chrysostom, Senior Metropolitan of Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, had proposed that it was not necessary that wine should be used for Holy Mass by pointing out that grape-in-water was in use for the purpose earlier. But the Syro-Malabar Church and several other Christian churches had vehemently rejected this proposal.
The high priests of almost all the Christian denominations in Kerala had also rejected as "immature" and "nonsensical" the suggestions like replacing Mass wine with something symbolic as part of a reform process like the Hindus had stopped sacrificing cocks and started using ash cucumber for the ritual.