KOCHI: After the Idukki eparchy screened 'The Kerala Story', three more eparchies of the Syro Malabar Church in Kerala have decided to screen the controversial film.
The Kerala Catholic Youth Movement (KCYM), the youth wing of the Syro-Malabar Church, units of the eparchies of Pala, Thamarassery and Thalassery, have taken the decision to air the the movie to youths in the parishes under their jurisdiction.
"A decision has been taken by the KCYM units of Thamarassery, Thalassery and Pala to screen the movie from April 13 onwards," says Richald John, president of KCYM Thamarassery eparchy. He said the call made by the Idukki eparchy has been taken up by other eparchies of the church. "The screening will be held in Idukki once more. The earlier one was held by the Catechism Department of the church and hadn't reached the youth in the eparchy," says Richald.
As to whether KCYM's decision has the backing of the eparchy higher-ups, Fr Sebastian Kavalakkat, chancellor of Thamarassery Eparchy, says, "They have the wholehearted support of the church authorities. The KCYM unit of the Thamarassery Eparchy mainly is located in the Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. There is no political angle to it as some political parties have misinterpreted."
Speaking more about the screening, Richald says, "The screening will be held by the individual units of KCYM in the parishes of the eparchy. There are 120 such units in the eparchy." Citing the reason behind the screening, he adds, "The theme of the film is very much relevant for us. We have been seeing love jihad happening in our parishes. It should be noted that the secret ministry operating in the eparchy has identified 325 cases of religious conversions. And we have only 120 churches. Well, the numbers highlight the seriousness of the issue."
When asked about conducting classes for adolescents like what has been done in Idukki, Fr Kavalakkat, says, "They targeted adolescents. However, the target group in the eparchy is the youth. And now is a fitting time since all the youth are home since it is the summer vacation."
Meanwhile, Akhil C Jose, president of KCYM, Thalassery Archdiocese says, "There is another agenda behind the screening of the film. Of course, everyone knows that the film is available on the OTT platform and many of us have even seen it. But when political parties and others began criticising the Idukki Eparchy's decision to screen the movie as part of their religious studies, we decided to follow suit in solidarity." According to him, the Idukki eparchy had done nothing to vilify any other religion. "All it wanted to do was make its children aware of the pitfalls of love. Why should anybody question that? Hence it became very important to protect our people," says Akhil adding that the screening of the film began on Tuesday.
The chain reaction began after the Idukki Eparchy held a three-day gospel convention under its catechism department for students of classes XI and XII with the theme being love. The topics covered in the booklet and also the screening of the film raised hackles.
