Verdict in fine tuning:

Hon Supreme Court Verdict with regard to Malankara Church Disputes: How to make unity implementable?

  • The recent  unanimous  verdict  pronounced  by the   apex  court may be  seen  as the best  opportunity  for the  warring factions  to declare  loudly the  serenity  prayer for  the cause  of  peace , justice  and development.
  • It is very  clear  that  the present verdict is totally  unambiguous .It  said among others ,unambiguously  that no  sharing or  partition of the listed  parish churches or any arrangements  for alternate  Sunday  worship, alternate  timings  for  worship and  cemetery use  by anyone other than  those  who  owe  allegiance to the   1934  constitution  of the  Orthodox Church.
  • It is illegal and tantamount  to trespass by anyone if they  have  a semblance of the same  dress code  for priests and   bishops and  same  rituals like the  Orthodox clergy! What does it mean fairly and squarely? It says only one thing namely fall in line with the law established of the land.
  • . It is only prudent to repeat this serenity prayer namely “God, grant us the serenity to accept the things I cannotchange; courage to change the things I can-and wisdom to know the difference”. Let’s make the challenges our opportunities.
  • This is the challenge to the Orthodox Syrian and Syrian Orthodox churches in the present context alike.
  • CBM—Confidence Building Measures- are to be promoted consciously by design.
  • Special efforts are to be in place to bring awareness among all to convey that it is the victory of the law of the land and nobody is defeated in the But the final   victor is the church and its future   generations.
  • One strategy  is  to  educate the  ordinary  gullible  people among the  target  areas to  say that no  one will be outside the  spiritual  purview of the  faith and  order on account of the  implementation of the  Mass  campaigns  must be in place where leading and respected  persons    to be  persuaded  by the  Orthodox  Church to  address  as  many  sensitisation  meetings to  explain the  gist  of the  verdict in the most  vulnerable  areas where  people may be manipulated  by vested  interest  groups.

It  is  clear that the 1913  agreement and the  2002  church  constitution  are  declared  null  and  void by the  apex  court  and  as such  only  1934 constitution and the  1995  and now the  2017  verdicts are  the  only  final and binding documents- Magna Carta of the  Church.

  • All priests and  bishops  of the  Patriarch  faction are to be  reassured  that  they  will be  accommodated  with  honour and   respect  as  per the   verdict  without  any  animosity, malice  or ill 
  • Dioceses may be redrawn based on geographical and administrative considerations to accommodate all the bishops of the unified church. Relatively juniors may be considered for posting as   Assistant Bishops to help   very senior bishops. Spiritual  institutions like  Sunday  School, Servants  of the Cross,  Mothers  Forum,  Monastery , Nunnery, Healing  Ministry  set ups, seminaries,  Gospel outreach,  etc, etc may be  considered  for bishops  postings  to  accommodate   them all.
  • Relatively weak  priests in  theology  training  may be  sent  for  quick refresher  courses to make  them  thematic and 
  • Mr George  Paul, Lay  Trustee  of the  Orthodox  Church may   be given  free hand to  select  appropriate   people to  various  committees who  will   facilitate  the  smooth reunification 
  • From the existing bishops  HG  Dr  Athanasius  of Muvattuuzha and HG  Joseph  Gregarious  of  Kochi may  be  considered  to  be  elected/ appointed  as successor   to  
  • Rev Dr. KM George  may be  sent  as  the  emissary  of the  Catholicose  to  HH  Patriarch  ASAP  to brief  him about  the reunification strategy and  to   facilitate  the  meeting  between  Patriarch and Catholicose at  a  suitable  The meeting agenda may be worked  out  by Rev Dr  George  KM  in consultations  with  Mr  George  Paul  may be  finally  approved  by HH Catholicise.
  • HH Catholicose  may  visit  HH Patriarch ASAP  to discuss  the  judgement  to  avoid bloodshed in the  streets  and  premises of the  various   parish  churches in the  Malankara  Please recall gullible people may be manipulated to become martyrs!

 

  • Once the judgement  is  well  examined and  scrutinised  from all  angles, it may  be widely  published  though mass media  for  education  of  the ordinary  Again it may serve the purpose of nipping in the bud any other malicious   propaganda stuff. (Good work done in today’s Manorama News paper).

 

Dr KM George,

President and CEO of Sustainable Dev Forum,

+91 99 47 67 08 87

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