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    Self-styled bishops usurp prime Church of North India properties 
        
    Actions divert church resources, bishop says.
     
    
    Posted on September 14, 2015, 4:59 PM  
    
        

        
    
 
   

      
 
        
            
      
          
                   
         
        
           
        
        
          

        
                        
                 
       
          
                                   
                  
                  New Delhi: 
          Self-styled bishops are claiming ownership of the vast assets of 
the Church of North India and causing confusion among members, said the 
head of a Protestant church grouping in northern India.

"Our 
properties are on prime locations in India and worth billions of rupees 
[and] are vulnerable for grabbing," Bishop P. K. Samantaroy of Amritsar,
 moderator of the Synod, the church's highest decision-making body, told
 ucanews.com. The church's vast land holdings were inherited from the 
colonial British authorities.

The sole intention is to divide the
 Christian community and confuse church members, the bishop said, 
alleging that these self-proclaimed bishops had links to land mafias.

These
 self-styled bishops make parallel management bodies of legitimate 
church institutions and claim to be their rightful owners, he pointed 
out.

"They have relentlessly tried to mislead government 
officials and the public at large to fulfill their nefarious designs," 
Bishop Samantaroy said.

"The government ought to see the 
authenticity of the ownership and make efforts to protect church 
properties and institution by all means," he said, adding, "We do not 
have the resources to do it."

The Church of North India was 
formed on Nov. 29, 1970, with the uniting of the Anglican Church and the
 Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon. Since that day, these 
churches ceased to exist in northern India and the properties they 
independently owned came under the administration of Church of North 
India, officials explained at a press conference in New Delhi Sept. 12.

The church has 27 dioceses across the country with an equal number of bishops.

The issue of self-styled bishops has been troubling the Church of North India 
for some time now.

In
 March this year, Rockus Sandhu, who proclaimed himself as the 
Metropolitan of Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon and chairman
 of the Indian Church Trustees and four others were sentenced to three 
years imprisonment for selling a piece of land belonging to the Church 
of India's Amritsar diocese.

"It is high time we bring this issue
 out in the public. People like Sandhu are misleading members of the 
church and their actions could have serious implications for its 
educational and medical institutions," said Alwan Masih, the Church of 
North India's general secretary.

Sandhu, who is now on bail, is 
also trying to destabilize the Church of North India's Delhi diocese as 
he has declared one of its priests as the bishop of the diocese, he 
said.

Bishop Samantaroy said his diocese is fighting more than 
100 cases related to the sale of property and that there were seven 
self-styled bishops operating in his diocese alone.

"It is very 
unfortunate that the money which should be used for health care, 
education, uplifting the poor and tribal communities goes to fighting 
such battles in court. It is a total wastage of money," he said.

Source: UCAN





                                          

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