No interefence, community tells Government

PRESS STATEMENTPanaji, Goa, 4th August 2009
Christian community rejects Government intervention in Religion
No Question of Govt. control on Church and community properties
Transparency in Church affairs an internal matter of Community; laws of land sufficient to check any irregularity
[The following is the text of the Statement issued on behalf of the All India Catholic Union by its Official Spokesman, Dr John Dayal, Member, National Integration Council, Government of India, and Immediate Past President, AICU, Secretary General, All India Christian Council, at a Press Conference in Panaji, Goa stating its formal position on the Media controversy suggesting Government control on Institutional and religious properties of the Christian community in the country.]
The Christian community across India, already reeling under the aftermath of the massacres in Orissa and persecution in Karnataka and other states, has been taken aback at the controversial suggestions in the media for government control on church and community properties. The controversy is entirely uncalled for, the suggestions and allegations are based on misinformation and disinformation, they do not help in the security and nurture of the Christian community as they in the final analysis and finally they only subserve the agenda of communal and sectarian political forces. The issue goes beyond Goa, and in fact beyond the catholic churches as it concerns all States and all Denominations of the Church, Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical. The Christian community of India rejects Government intervention in Religion in any form and in any guise. There is, of course, no question of Government control on Church and community properties
The temporal, or material such as holding property, aspects of the Christian Church in secular India after Independence are guaranteed under Article 26 of the Constitution. Church properties, whether they be places of worship, Educational or professional institutions etc and community land, are more than adequately covered under the Law of the Land, which include laws for the conduct of Societies, Associations, Trusts and Companies, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, as also concerned Special Laws in various states, municipalities or other civic authorities. These, and provisions of the Indian Penal Code, are also more than adequate to investigate and prosecute rare cases of corruption and, indeed, adequately oversee all aspects of the church's interaction with the State in matters of finance, properties etc.
The Christian situation differs radically and materially from that for Hindu, Muslim and Sikh religions, which has been cited by the proponents of such a Bill.. The laws governing properties and functioning of those religions are born out of individual histories of their faith before and after Independence. In Islam, for instance, the matter of Wakf is integral to their Faith. In Hinduism where Religious Boards exist for governing temples, their history traces itself to the ownership of such properties by erstwhile princely states which was subsequently vested in the Boards – which is th situation in Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In the case of the Sikhs, the Shiiromani Gurudwara Prabandhakl Committee laws were born out of protracted struggle by the people and the then British government against armed followers of `mahants' who would conquer rich Gurudwaras. The Sikh community in fact rejected the Act proposed by the Government and put forth its own reformed laws. I may also point out that leaders of the Muslim community have often complained of political and administrative interference from Government in the Wakf Board, an the SGPC is highly politicized with the Akali Dal in command in recent years. Above all, the SGPC and the Devasthanam Boards cover only a few prominent places of worship and their properties.
The Goa situation seemingly differs from the rest of the country because of its history as a former Portuguese colony re-conquered by India in December 1961, as held by the Supreme Court of India. Only those Portuguese laws remain operational in Goa as have been accepted by the Government of India, and those rejected by the Republic are no longer valid. In the case of the Church in Goa, the radical change of course is that while the colonial power in a way subsided the Catholic church, secular India does not. I have it on the highest legal authority that the “Concordata” once signed between the colonial government in Lisbon and the Holy See “is dead as a secular state does not finance or have any other relationship with the Church.” In practice, only the powers relating to Marriage and Annulment remain operational as the law of the land.
The Catholic Church in Goa has modern, detailed and foolproof written regulations in its two important documents :General Statutes of Confraternities” and “Rules and regulations of Fabricas / Cofres” , which guarantee transparency and responsibility in temporal transactions in great details. As in the rest of India, Church structures contain the participation of both the Clergy and the laity at various levels.” These inbuilt reforms and structures ensuring utter transparency in property and financial transactions, are not beyond the Law of the Land.
I may also mention that while the Church in Goa, some cities of Kerala and Mumbai may seem rich, elsewhere in the country, Church and community are exceedingly poor. Over 60 per cent of the Christian community is of Dalit origin, and 20 per cent of Indigenous tribes. Most of these groups are as poor as their brethren of other faiths. The Church works in the poorest areas of the country. Its schools and dispensaries exist where even the governments cannot ensure one.
A micro minority such as the Christian Church in India needs to breathe the air of Freedom and be beyond both reproach and fear to be able to fulfill its destiny,and continue its work in social action,particularly health and education, the care of orphans and the terminally ill. Government intervention, which is synonymous with political and administrative interference as is our experience and that of other communities, can only throttle this critical freedom.
The Church is responsible to the community at large, subservient to the law of the land, and above all, answerable to a Higher power.