Church has betrayed faith of converted Christians

NEW DELHI, March 30: On the occasion of Good Friday, the Christian Organization ‘Poor Christian Liberation Movement’ (PCLM) has demanded compensation because of the betrayal of converted Christians.

Christian leader R.L. Francis says that instead of development of converted Christians and equality under the church system, it is fighting for the tag of scheduled caste from the government whereas there is no place for casteism in Christianity.

Those nuns and priests who talk about rights of converted Christians are victims of discrimination and exploitation. The Indian church has completely shunned Jesus Christ and is indulged to fulfill its imperialistic ambitions. The decision of the second Vatican council and Canon Law has not been implemented.

Converted Christians are a major part of the total Christian population in the country and eighty percent of them come from the Dalit and tribal communities. However, the number of Catholic Dalit Bishops is just four out of 168.

Out of 13,000 diocese priests, 14,000 religious priests, 5,000 Brothers and more than 10,0000 nuns, only a handful of them are Dalits. They, too, are marginalized in the church system.

Francis says the church has indulged in accumulating huge property, misutilising the freedom given by the Indian constitution. But, there is no system to monitor such things. However, in western countries there are laws that control such activities. There must be some regulation to check these things.

The church has the largest land-holding after the government of India and many such properties are in posh colonies. They control 22 percent of the educational system and 30 percent of the health system; despite that poor Christians are dying and our church leaders are busy fighting for religious freedom and to get special status for their institutions.

PCLM President says that Dalit Christians have left far behind than Hindu Dalits. Hindu society had provided them opportunities to grow whereas the church remained busy in building its empire.

The Poor Christian Liberation Movement demands from Pope Francis and the Supreme Council of Vatican and World Council of Churches (WCC) that funds which are spent of evangelization should be spent on the welfare of Dalit Christians. The power to elect Bishops should rest with Christians. Power of churches should be transferred to Christians and fund obtained from church institutions should be spent on the welfare of Dalit Christians.