KOCHI:A petition was filed before the High Court against the sacrament of confession in churches in the state seeking to declare compulsory confession as unconstitutional. Recently a group of priests had blackmailed and sexually abused a woman after threatening to make public her confession.
The petition was filed by C S Chacko, Varikoli, Ernakulam. According to him, a member of the churches, who has not turned up for confession before a priest has to live in apprehension their spiritual and temporal needs will be denied by the church whenever he/she requires the same. On majority of occasions, a member will be in need these services during a trying period in life. The threat of undeclared sanction by church and isolation from the society in which he lives instils fear in the mind of the members. The likelihood of getting himself and his family into trouble will emotionally compel a member to go and perform the confession before a priest. But this amounts to deprival of their Right to Privacy and violation of fundamental rights under Article 21 and 25 (1) of the Constitution.
The petition stated compelling a member to confess his sins before the priest, or any other person, was nothing else but infringement of ‘Right to privacy’. Though, no specific provision or procedure was prescribed in the Canon law as to how to determine whether a member of the faithful has performed the confession, the Latin Catholic Church, Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the Syro Malankara Church have adopted a practice of keeping a register known as ‘Atmasthidi register’ in every parish, which describes the spiritual condition of each member of the parish.
This was maintained by the pastor. This was an official register from which the parish priest can identify whether members of the faithful are following Catholic faith and administering sacraments from time to time. Based on this, the spiritual and temporal requirements of the faithful are met from the side of the church. Hence, the petitioner sought to declare confession cannot be made a precondition for any of the spiritual and temporal rights of the church member.
Behera reviews progress of case
Kochi: State Police Chief Lokanath Behera on Wednesday took stock of the progress in the case pertaining to the alleged rape of a nun by Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal. As per Behera’s direction, a police team led by Vaikom DySP K Subhash will leave for Delhi to arrest the bishop. Subhash said the team will leave on Friday. Behera will meet the probe team ahead of their visit to interrogate Bishop Mulakkal in connection with the case. Behera had called the meeting to advise the police team on how to go about the case. The arrest is imminent after the nun filed a detailed statement before the police. The probe team has collected all other relevant evidence from the state.
Fr James Erthayil of the Congregation of Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), who allegedly tried to influence the complainant in the rape case, secured bail from the Pala Judicial First Class Magistrate Court after he surrendered before it. The Kuravilangadu police had registered a case against him for allegedly trying to influence the nun. The incident came to light after an audio clip of his conversation with a colleague of the victim nun’s congregation surfaced. In the audio, Erthayil was reportedly speaking to the nun offering 10 acres and a separate convent if the complaint was withdrawn. Following the leak, the CMI congregation transferred him to Idukki.