KOCHI: In a bid to strengthen the protests demanding an ordinance to prevent taking over of their churches, a 151-member protest coordination committee was formed by the Jacobite faction of Malankara Church.In a meeting held on Wednesday at Puthencruz, a decision has been taken to direct the members of the Jacobite faction to re-enter the 52 churches which were taken over by the Orthodox faction.
The committee also decided to strengthen its protests by convening meetings of vicars, trustees, and representatives of these 52 parishes. A relay satyagraha will be staged in front of all the churches taken over by the rival faction on Sunday. On December 13, the believers will re-enter their churches for offering prayers. “No court has ruled against the believers from entering their churches. The Orthodox faction has forcefully taken these churches.
Even the Supreme Court has identified churches as a trust and the parishioners as beneficiaries of the trust, therefore they cannot be prevented from offering prayers in their churches. Next week the parishioners belonging to the church will enter for prayers,” said Fr Sleeba Paul Vattavelil, priest trustee of the Jacobite Church.The protest committee includes members of the working and managing committees of the church. The chairman of the committee is Metropolitan Joseph Mar Gregorios, who is the metropolitan trustee of the church.
According to Jacobite sources, protests will be held in three phases. Relay satyagraha will be staged in the first phase and in the later phases the Jacobite believers will re-enter 52 churches and a protest march will be taken out to the Secretariat.Meanwhile, authorities with the Orthodox factions said that they were not against any believers entering the church for prayers and they have not refused any. “It is a deliberate attempt by the Jacobites to portray us in a bad light. We have never refused any believers from entering the churches,” said an official with the Orthodox church.
Refusing to cede ground
During a meeting held at Puthencruz, it was decided to direct the members of the Jacobite faction to re-enter all the 52 churches taken over by the rival Orthodox faction in a move which showed no quarters will be granted