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Sangath, www.sangath.com, is looking to build a centre for services, training and research and seeks to buy approx 1500 to 2000 sq mtrs land betweeen Mapusa and Bambolim and surrounding rural areas. Please contact: [email protected] or [email protected] or ph+91-9881499458 http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2009-July/180028.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 'A law should govern church properties' TNN 29 July 2009, 01:21am IST PANAJI: Church properties should have a law governing them, but the law should be created in consultation with the church. That was what speakers at a seminar on Should there be a law to protect church property?', held on Tuesday had to say. "There is only one possible answer -- Yes. The reason is, any activity ungoverned by law is lawlessness and would lead to arbitrariness," said retired Supreme Court judge justice K T Thomas, the key note speaker at the seminar. Article 26 of the Constitution guarantees religious denominations the right to establish and maintain institutions and to own and acquire properties. "This is a very crucial right. You may own and acquire properties, you may maintain your institutions, but in the matter of administration of your properties you have to abide by the law," said Thomas. Pointing to the objections to such a law, Thomas said there are two objections, one that some churches (Episcopal) have their own rules and regulations and second that the laws passed may appropriate the properties. "According to me, both objections are without any force. The mere fact that some denominations have their own internal regulations is not sufficient to say that they are governed by the law envisaged in Article 26 of the Constitution. The second objection is a misplaced apprehension. No such law can be passed by which properties of any religious denomination can be appropriated," said Thomas. Commissioner for NRI affairs, Eduardo Faleiro said the present law regulating relations between the church and the state as well as administration of church properties was created by a concordatta or treaty signed between the Vatican and the Portuguese government in 1940. The law has been repealed in Portugal as it was deemed unconstitutional after Portugal gained democracy in 1974. Faleiro said the existing law in Goa should be modified to the extent it was modified in Portugal. "The legislative assembly is competent to enact a new law as this is within the legislative powers granted to it by the concurrent list in the seventh schedule of the Constitution," said Faleiro. "It will be a mistake to bring in a law and make the church adhere to it. There should be consultations between the state and the church before drafting the law," Faleiro said. The seminar was organized by the All Indian Catholic Union (Goa state) and the Goa Cultural and Social Centre. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/City/Goa/A-law-should-govern-church-properties/articleshow/4831876.cms
