The Jacobite faction of the Malankara Church has said that the Kerala High Court directive on Wednesday to Ernakulam Collector S. Suhas to take over the Mulanthuruthy Marthoman Jacobite church was “unfortunate.”
Metropolitan Trustee Joseph Mar Gregorios of the Jacobite Church said the verdict was unfortunate and that around 2,500 parishioners of the Marthoman church were emotional about their attachment to the church. He said the people had previously resisted the takeover of the church and that their reactions could be emotional.
Father Jose Abraham Konatt, official spokesman for the Orthodox faction of the Malankara Church, reiterated that the Orthodox group did not want to oust anyone from the church but that the Jacobite group members were going out of the church on their own.
He said that the court directive on Wednesday was serving the cause of justice. There was no plan to expel any member from the parishes. All the members would have the full right to the parish and they would also be participating in the elections that would be held in the future, he said.
Wednesday’s directive to the District Collector came on an appeal from the State government against an earlier order for the church takeover.
A single bench of the court had on Tuesday directed that the authorities could take the help of Central forces, if required, to take over the church. The single bench observation had come because the State submitted that with the COVID-19 pandemic and flood situation in Kerala, the authorities were not in a position to take over the church.
Meanwhile, Peter K. Elias, Jacobite Church secretary, said that the experience of the Jacobite group was that once the Orthodox group took over a church, they would expel their rivals as was seen in the case of the St. John’s Church, Kanyattunirappu, near Kochi. He reiterated that the Jacobite group was not against the Supreme Court verdict or any other court order.
