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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
