Church Reports

• Church – Society

1. Chikkaballapur: Dist admin clears Jesus statue and cross built on govt land

Key Points:

1. The district administration cleared an illegally built Jesus statue and cross at Sosepalya in the taluk here. Chikkaballapur Assistant Commissioner Raghunandan along with tehsildar Tulasi and team led the clearance operation.
2. Speaking to Udayavani Raghunandan said that the clearance operation was done after High Court directed the district administration to do so after determining that the statue and cross were illegally built on government land.
3. Police had cordoned off the area as the local Christian community protested against the clearance and shouted slogans against the government and the officials present.

(udayavani.com, 23 September 2020) (News Link)

Related Article: Illegal Christian Cross and Jesus statue removed from government land following High Court order in Karnataka:

• Church – Kerala

2. Kerala: (communist) government wants to reconcile Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Jacobite Church

Key Points:

1. For decades, the two Orthodox communities have been fighting for ownership of churches and property. The Jacobites are excluded because they are followers of a “foreign” rite (the Antiochene one). The dispute over the Church properties involves 1700 sacred buildings. After clashes, demonstrations and hunger strikes, the Keralan government has now opened a negotiation table to resolve the situation. The Catholic Church has opened its churches to the Jacobites.
2. For the first time in the history of Christian Churches, a government led by the Communist Party – in Kerala – is attempting to bring peace between two Eastern Churches: the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church.
3. On 22 September, the Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, called the respective heads of the Churches to open a discussion and resolve disputes that have lasted for decades.
4. The Syriac Orthodox Church and the Jacobite Church were one Orthodox Church until 1912, when they split; the first declaring autocephaly and following the Chaldean rite; the other remaining under the authority of the Patriarchate of Antioch and following the western Syriac rite.
5. On 21 September, the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, which follows the Antiochian rite like the Jacobites, celebrated its 90th anniversary of its reunion with the universal Catholic Church.
6. Fr Abhilash, who works in the diocese of Mavelikkara, told AsiaNews: “The Catholic churches of Kerala have already expressed their solidarity with the Jacobite faithful. They are brothers and sisters of the Syro-Malankara Church. They too have the right to preserve their faith in a secular country like India. The decision to open our churches to the Jacobites is a way to express unity and fraternity”.

(asianews.it, 29 September 2020)  (News Link)

• Church – Sex abuse

1. Japan Catholic Church sued for damages in alleged sex abuse

Key Points:

1. A woman has filed a suit against the Roman Catholic Church in Japan alleging that a priest raped her four decades ago, as the church’s unfolding worldwide sexual abuse crisis gradually reaches Japan.
2. The civil lawsuit, filed this week in Sendai District Court, seeks 56.1 million yen ($534,000) in damages. It accuses a priest, who has not been charged or penalized, as well as a bishop who counseled the woman in recent years about the alleged abuse.
3. The suit, which also accuses the Diocese of Sendai in north-eastern Japan, says the church refused to take the complaints seriously, causing psychological pain.
4. “I have filed this lawsuit to claim back the dignity I have lost, and to try to end this serious crime that is a violation of humanity,” said Harumi Suzuki, who has gone public with her name. She said she lived through “more than 40 years of hell,” but wants to raise her voice for other abuse survivors. “You are innocent, and you are not alone,” she said in a statement.
5. Yuma Sato, Suzuki’s attorney, said Japan’s justice system makes it very difficult to claim damages from sexual abuse unless acted on within a few years.
6. “But I hope this case sends a message about an effort to create change,” Sato said.
7. “We also want Japanese society to learn more about the problems in the church, its secrecy, its coverups and how perpetrators are going unpunished.”

(indianexpress.com, 26 September 2020) (News Link)