The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?
The one issue that attracted the attention of many in the last mandalam meeting was the Kuwait Episode. A perusal of the Questions & Answers printed and circulated among the Mandalam Members will prove this. Those questions were raised by:
1. Mr. Sajan Veloor of Dubai Mar Thoma Church(Qn. 6.II; Page: 5),
2. Mr. Shibu Oommen of Prayar Sehion (Qn.14.I; page: 10),
3. Mr. Samkumar G. of Pazhinjam St. Paul's (Qn. 20:II; page: 18),
4. Prof. Koshy Mathai of Othera St. Pauls (Qn. 24.III; Page: 22),
5. Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil (Qn. 31: III; Page: 28),
6. Rev. Koshy C.K. of Channappetta Bethany (Qn. 41. I; page: 37),
7. Mr. K.P. Philip of Kuriannur Mar Thoma Church( Qn. 47.II, page: 43), and
8. Mr. M.C. James of Vallamkulam St. Lukes (49.1, page: 44).
If 8 out of 49 were to seek answers to one single question, that's too many people and too big in terms of proportion and percentage.
If so vast a number had concern over this issue, it had to be of paramount importance and the Sabha leadership should have been upright and honest in their response.
But did we get any satisfactory answer to those questions enveloping such a grave matter? What are our rights and privileges as Mandalam members?
The Metropolitan told this asker that he does not want to talk about it as it is a matter of sub judice. Believing it, I withdrew my question but when I later found that he is evading questions, I got on my feet with a sub-question to another's but he said everything is done in order and claimed that the diocesean episcopa maintains a proper file for it, to which the concerned bishop nodded with grace. Then, waving the Kuwaitee brochure above my head, I asked it be put on the table when the Metropolitan said he has many copies of the same and that Kuwait people who are rich can afford to print such colorful notices, feigning(?) ignorance of the parliamentary procedure. Then we were told how the Kuwait marthomites sent a pentecostal emissary for compromise talk but how he refused to yield and threatened to take steps against Kuwait people to get them extridited from Kuwait for collecting money using Sabha's letter-head etc.- something that discounts the very decorum of the house. Since I did not have any further information on the subject, I had to leave the matter there but was tempted to think the reference to 'nanjool' and 'cultic movements' along with the statement, " ഈ സുഭിക്ഷത എന്നും നിലനില്ലക്കും എന്ന് വിചാരിക്കരുത്, സമൃദ്ധിയുടെ മേച്ചില് സ്ഥലങ്ങളില് നിന്നുകൊണ്ട് സഭയുടെ ദര്ശനതെയും ശിക്ഷനത്തെയും അവഹെളിക്കുന്നവര് തങ്ങളുടെ ജീവിതത്തില് വന് വീഴ്ചകള് അനുഭവിക്കുന്നു എന്നതിന് നമ്മുടെ തലമുറയില് തന്നെ ധാരാളം ദ്രിഷ്ടാന്തങ്ങള് ഉണ്ട്" in the presidential address was aimed at Kuwaitee Marthomites- a cheap and hollow threat resorted to by ecclesiastes from time immemorial for emotional and psychological upper hand over their opponents; an exercise in futility and of little significance and of zero effect, anymore.
Sabha, as mentioned above, has a vision? discipline? a BIG joke, it is!
For me, this is by and large, a privilege issue.. which needs to be settled... once and for all.
Now, there is this Big New Question in Kuwait:
Why did the three Marthomite priests in Kuwait boycott the Viewing/ Homage Service of a deceased Marthomite?
Were they expressly told/ ordered to keep away?
Who do the priests owe allegiance to- their superiors, Mar Thoma Church or a Higher Power? Who pays them for their services in their capacity as priests?
Please re-read my subject line:
Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it is in your power to act. Proverbs 3:27
And what are the allegations surrounding the stone-laying of the brand-new Pandanad Immanuel MT Church by the Suffragan Metropolitan? Defy the law of the land, including but not limited to, the encroachment of public property?
I am eager to know...
Thank you,
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Got a minute to think again?
I hear the metropolitan has been found guilty of not paying 85.51 lakhs to the Indian Income Tax Dept (tell me what's the total amount flowed in if that's only the tax due to the government? and how much money has come into the country without the IT Dept ever knowing it? So its only the tip of the iceberg!) and that he has bought land and cars in his own name though funded by the church and that the Disciplinary Directorate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants has found Mr. K.I. John of Cherian & Cherian (Mar Thoma Sabha auditors) prima facie guilty of professional misconduct in his audit of accounts. I hear a bishop with 25 cents of land at the time of his episcopal ordination is now the owner of more than 10 acres of prime river- front property. I hear another bishop has undisclosed amount of money given to businessmen to fetch higher interest and to conceal its existence. This goes on and on.....
I have heard about priests stealing big bills from the offertory... I have heard that when a bishop died several years ago, his family came up with a demand that the bundle of gold in his safe and the huge amount of money he had invested in blade companies belonged to that family. Another bishop who had been in that office only for a few years, and reportedly an honest one, had a lot of money in his accounts too when he passed away which convinced Mar Thoma Sabha about the large income that each bishop comes in charge of- the reason why the late Alexander Mar Thoma Metropolitan called for joint accounts of bishops with the metropolitan. A friend reported to me the statement of the owner of a leading private bank in Kerala that its big pool of money is from the priests and bishops of Kerala.
This issue was raised recently by Mr. P.P. Achenkunju, No. 18 ( see page # 15 of Questions and Answers of this year's Prathinidhi Mandalam).
His question:
" Who are the episcopas that have put into practice the joint account system as declared in the times of the late Most Rev Dr Alexander Mar Thoma Metropolitan?"
And the answer from the officialdom?
" Episcopas who were there in the times of Alexander Mar Thoma Metropolitan have put it into practice".. (Who are they, we ask again, don't they have names?) Unfortunately that leaves a lot of episcopas out of its ambit.
The Question is WHY?
Notwithstanding, the present Metropolitan said in the Mandalam that it is difficult to follow that rule as a bishop will have to see the Metropolitan each time he wants to withdraw money... which falls short of credibility. This would have been deemed true a hundred years ago, but not any more. Almost all of you have joint bank accounts: most commonly between husband and wife. Please tell me if one has to see/ meet/ get the concurrence/ clearance of the other to do banking... Nope.
Its called "Either/Or".
Joint depositors of an account have to agree only in the context of the premature closing of a fixed deposit.
So, the question is all the more relevant:
What is the degree of accountability by Bishops in the use/ misuse of the money that's entrusted with them? Does the money belong to them or to the Mar Thoma Sabha? To what extent is manipulation a probability? What can we do as a civilized body to oversee the proper use of our money? If you and you and you and I and Europe and America and the Gulf stop contributing limitless money to the church, where from do you think money will flow into their hands unnecessarily? Then only will they realize that YOUR MONEY RUNS THE CHURCH AND YOU ARE ITS BOSS with the inherent power to fire.
So once again, as the first step, I am requesting the laity to be really, really judicious in the money you contribute to the church... by limiting the amount you pay to the church and by demanding transparency in the purpose of collection; in the spending and use/misuse of the funds you contribute. Also be rational in buying the books the church pushes towards you through its outlet malls like the Maramon Convention, by all comprehension, a yard sale; most of those books are not worth the paper on which they are printed. You tell me how all these people with poor educational background, limited vocabulary, sub-standard ideas and little knowledge transform into authors, writers and thinkers within no time... it's indeed a source of illusion and a subject of wonder that need to be researched into. And it's a shame to see a few of them in seminaries- I was enthralled to read an e-mail from Rev. Sunni E. Mathew recently which befits the criterion for correction work in English composition by primary school students...
Here, will somebody tell me the meaning of the 8th para of the Metropolitan's presidential address in the Mandalam on 6/09/2011 which reads:
".... കാന്സര്, വൃക്കരോഗം, ഹൃദ്രോഗം, HIV/ AIDS ആദിയായ രോഗ ബാധിതര്ക്ക് സഹായം നല്കുവാന് ഒരു corpus fund രൂപീകരികണം എന്ന് നാം തീരുമാനിച്ചു എങ്കിലും കണക്കുകള് നോക്കിയാല് ആ തീരുമാനം കടലാസില് മാത്രം ഒതുങ്ങി നിന്ന് എന്ന് കാണാം. ഈ വേളയില് ഭദ്രാസനങ്ങള് വിവിധ പ്രോജെക്ടുകെള്ക്കും ഇതേ ആശയങ്ങളില് നില നിന്ന് ഫണ്ട് ശേഖരണവും വിതരണവും നടത്തി എന്നറിയുന്നത് ആഗ്രഹിക്കതക്കതല്ല. കൂട്ടായ തീരുമാനങ്ങളില് ഉറച്ചു നില്കുവാന് നാം ജാഗ്രത പുലര്ത്തേണ്ടത് അത്രേ...."
Question: Means what? So the episcopas of each diocese raise and utilize funds according to their whims and fancies? With absolutely no joint responsibility? Can you imagine another agency where it happens? Impossible!
Now you think about it again...
Thank you,
love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
I have heard about priests stealing big bills from the offertory... I have heard that when a bishop died several years ago, his family came up with a demand that the bundle of gold in his safe and the huge amount of money he had invested in blade companies belonged to that family. Another bishop who had been in that office only for a few years, and reportedly an honest one, had a lot of money in his accounts too when he passed away which convinced Mar Thoma Sabha about the large income that each bishop comes in charge of- the reason why the late Alexander Mar Thoma Metropolitan called for joint accounts of bishops with the metropolitan. A friend reported to me the statement of the owner of a leading private bank in Kerala that its big pool of money is from the priests and bishops of Kerala.
This issue was raised recently by Mr. P.P. Achenkunju, No. 18 ( see page # 15 of Questions and Answers of this year's Prathinidhi Mandalam).
His question:
" Who are the episcopas that have put into practice the joint account system as declared in the times of the late Most Rev Dr Alexander Mar Thoma Metropolitan?"
And the answer from the officialdom?
" Episcopas who were there in the times of Alexander Mar Thoma Metropolitan have put it into practice".. (Who are they, we ask again, don't they have names?) Unfortunately that leaves a lot of episcopas out of its ambit.
The Question is WHY?
Notwithstanding, the present Metropolitan said in the Mandalam that it is difficult to follow that rule as a bishop will have to see the Metropolitan each time he wants to withdraw money... which falls short of credibility. This would have been deemed true a hundred years ago, but not any more. Almost all of you have joint bank accounts: most commonly between husband and wife. Please tell me if one has to see/ meet/ get the concurrence/ clearance of the other to do banking... Nope.
Its called "Either/Or".
Joint depositors of an account have to agree only in the context of the premature closing of a fixed deposit.
So, the question is all the more relevant:
What is the degree of accountability by Bishops in the use/ misuse of the money that's entrusted with them? Does the money belong to them or to the Mar Thoma Sabha? To what extent is manipulation a probability? What can we do as a civilized body to oversee the proper use of our money? If you and you and you and I and Europe and America and the Gulf stop contributing limitless money to the church, where from do you think money will flow into their hands unnecessarily? Then only will they realize that YOUR MONEY RUNS THE CHURCH AND YOU ARE ITS BOSS with the inherent power to fire.
So once again, as the first step, I am requesting the laity to be really, really judicious in the money you contribute to the church... by limiting the amount you pay to the church and by demanding transparency in the purpose of collection; in the spending and use/misuse of the funds you contribute. Also be rational in buying the books the church pushes towards you through its outlet malls like the Maramon Convention, by all comprehension, a yard sale; most of those books are not worth the paper on which they are printed. You tell me how all these people with poor educational background, limited vocabulary, sub-standard ideas and little knowledge transform into authors, writers and thinkers within no time... it's indeed a source of illusion and a subject of wonder that need to be researched into. And it's a shame to see a few of them in seminaries- I was enthralled to read an e-mail from Rev. Sunni E. Mathew recently which befits the criterion for correction work in English composition by primary school students...
Here, will somebody tell me the meaning of the 8th para of the Metropolitan's presidential address in the Mandalam on 6/09/2011 which reads:
".... കാന്സര്, വൃക്കരോഗം, ഹൃദ്രോഗം, HIV/ AIDS ആദിയായ രോഗ ബാധിതര്ക്ക് സഹായം നല്കുവാന് ഒരു corpus fund രൂപീകരികണം എന്ന് നാം തീരുമാനിച്ചു എങ്കിലും കണക്കുകള് നോക്കിയാല് ആ തീരുമാനം കടലാസില് മാത്രം ഒതുങ്ങി നിന്ന് എന്ന് കാണാം. ഈ വേളയില് ഭദ്രാസനങ്ങള് വിവിധ പ്രോജെക്ടുകെള്ക്കും ഇതേ ആശയങ്ങളില് നില നിന്ന് ഫണ്ട് ശേഖരണവും വിതരണവും നടത്തി എന്നറിയുന്നത് ആഗ്രഹിക്കതക്കതല്ല. കൂട്ടായ തീരുമാനങ്ങളില് ഉറച്ചു നില്കുവാന് നാം ജാഗ്രത പുലര്ത്തേണ്ടത് അത്രേ...."
Question: Means what? So the episcopas of each diocese raise and utilize funds according to their whims and fancies? With absolutely no joint responsibility? Can you imagine another agency where it happens? Impossible!
Now you think about it again...
Thank you,
love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Your money runs the church ! You are the employer !! With the authority to say "You are fired" !!!
As you are aware, I made a gamble for the office of Mar Thoma Sabha Secretary but my wager did not carry the weight of currency as I asked the Episcopal Synod to intervene on my behalf by withdrawing two of its official clergy-nominees to the same office to exhibit at least an outward appearance of propriety and semblance of justice: since the laity have been kept out of this "sensitive office" (as emphasized by a priest - meaning what?) for more than four decades. They not only were in non-compliance with my demand which was the need of the hour but also made the election of a clergy as Sabha Secretary double-sure by rejecting my nominations on flimsy and frivolous technical grounds which will not stand either in fact or law about which I wrote to you earlier. That base and mean trick will not be resorted to even in panchayat elections, I'm pretty sure. The Metropolitan who thereafter told me that he will look into the matter more closely for evident foul play and will call me has not contacted me till date.
At this point, I have a few questions for those of you who attended the Prathinidhi Mandalam from the 6th to the 8th of this month:
How often the bishops and clergy transgressed into your self- esteem within the course of those three days?
How much did they trespass into your personal freedom?
To what extent did they deprive you of your constitutional rights?
How often did they try to tarnish your reputation and smother your voice?
How repeatedly they lied to you, knowing those were lies?
e.g. Kuwait issue, bribery in admissions and appointments in colleges and other institutions, the question regarding the total number of Marthomites before multiplication by three due to membership is several parishes at the same time...
How many times did they evade your questions with answers like "yes", "no" and "its not a question" like you are that negligible?
How far did they succeed in brainwashing you and buying you into their line of thought with day-labour speakers ?
How calculated were they in smothering your spirits? in stifling your beliefs?
in suffocating your interests? in gagging your opinions?
in suppressing your legitimate right to be informed?
Why did they disallow a point of order from an intelligent member- priest?
Do they know the meaning and significance of a point of order? For their information, let me state here that a POINT OF ORDER is a question as to whether the present proceedings are in order or allowed by the rules of parliamentary procedure. They should have known that a point of order, in other words, is a question raised in a meeting or deliberative assembly by a member as to whether the rules governing procedures are being breached. This is an essential element in Law and Parliamentary Procedure. If they are ignorant about it, they have no moral right to the office to which they are hanging to.
And, what is the logic in the ruling that there is neither point or order in it even without hearing it?
I urge you to ask these questions to your esteemed self and then aloud...
Let it thunder like the voice of the Baptist in the desert- "Make the way for the Lord" and see if you'll ever get an answer.
They were practising the art of elusive existence.
But those days are numbered.
The reason why I withdrew from presenting my Resolution Amendment on the floor on the second day was to protest against the authoritarian attitude of the church leadership, for not upholding the decorum of the body, including the many questions that were unanswered and the enigma surrounding the 'point of order' I referred to.
And I repeat, the privilege of its members was transgressed into:
Not a few... but many a time...
I need to reiterate here that I was standing for a cause. I have/ had nothing to gain by becoming the Secretary of the Mar Thoma Church as I had said that I will not accept salary if I am elected. It was not for fame as I already have it in abundance- in the East as well as in the West. Further, no prestige goes with the title of the Mar Thoma Sabha Secretary any more since it has lost its face and identity.
Perhaps my losses would have been trebled as now I believe that I would have lost my conscience, rationale, sincerity, innocence and intelligence, once I got elected as the Sabha Secretary. I believe in the honor that springs out of one's conduct; not titles. To me, character is destiny.
And to be at the helm of a Sinking Christian Denomination with no more than 4 lakh members is no honour as far as I am concerned. Whoever tells you that there are more than four lakh Marthomites on the globe is telling you a blatant lie. Its falsehood, full-blown.
Or, here I challenge anybody to prove that bogus, irresponsible, unsubstantiated claim. (A friend of mine who is a professor of Economics with a Ph.D. tells me that he will do the count in two months if he is furnished the answers to a questionnaire by the respective vicars of each parish).
So, brothers and sisters,
I am asking you to take up this legacy and go forward. Our Sabha, nurtured with the labour, sweat and money of the laity is an Augean stable now. The mortar used in the construction of this institution, viz. Mar Thoma Church, was mixed with the blood and sacrifice of the laity. Its fruit is now being swallowed by a few drones.
Let this fight for law, order, freedom, justice and self-worth continue.
Like Alfred, Lord Tennyson's brook that chirps:
"For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.."
This fight has to continue and it will continue...
Laity, a day not far from now, one of you will preside in the Mandalam Meetings and another from you will be the Secreatay of the Mar Thoma Church if it has an entity of its own then for which you have to sow the seed of a new creed. This continuity, this flow should go thicker and stronger.
I request all the laity and the clergy to join this struggle for equal rights, opportunity and justice. And I would like to remind the clergy that they will lose their voice for ever if they are silent and reluctant to stand up for the right cause now. Don't be an accomplice to be the receiver of instant benefits for which you are ineligible. And those clergy with a conscience, tell me for once: who are you afraid of and what are you scared about?
As the first step, I am requesting the laity to be really, really judicious in the money you contribute to the church... by limiting the amount you pay to the church and by demanding transparency in the purpose of collection; in the spending and use/misuse of the funds you contribute. Also be rational in buying the books the church pushes towards you through its outlet malls like the Maramon Convention; most of them are not worth the paper on which it is printed. You tell me how all these people with poor educational background, limited vocabulary, sub-standard ideas and little knowledge transform into authors and thinkers within no time... its indeed a source of wonder and a matter of magic that need to be researched.
And you heard the statement from the dais how the church played safe by contributing only Rs. 10,000 to the Jeevan TV and getting a representation on its Director Board but got some of you to contribute lakhs of rupees which is now on the verge of extinction. Will Mar Thoma Church pay back your money if they asked you to contribute it in the first place?
You have been ill-tutored to make those big contributions in the name of God...
Believe me, the Preserver of Israel doth not need your money. He is rich on his own.
"He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber";
no matter, you give the church your money or not.
So keep your money with yourself.
Give it to your neighbor to build a house, to educate another's child, to get yet another's daughter married of...
Remember:
"And the King shall answer and say to them, truly I say to you, in as much as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me".
I repeat, I am only a symbol representing an idea.
I am shapeless energy.
The race is not done; the fight is not finished.
Its a relay race... no more start-signals, get the baton... on your heels to get ahead in the next lap.
Thank you for being my reader...
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
P.S. If anybody wants his/ her name removed from my mailing list, please let me know and I will be too happy to do it.
At this point, I have a few questions for those of you who attended the Prathinidhi Mandalam from the 6th to the 8th of this month:
How often the bishops and clergy transgressed into your self- esteem within the course of those three days?
How much did they trespass into your personal freedom?
To what extent did they deprive you of your constitutional rights?
How often did they try to tarnish your reputation and smother your voice?
How repeatedly they lied to you, knowing those were lies?
e.g. Kuwait issue, bribery in admissions and appointments in colleges and other institutions, the question regarding the total number of Marthomites before multiplication by three due to membership is several parishes at the same time...
How many times did they evade your questions with answers like "yes", "no" and "its not a question" like you are that negligible?
How far did they succeed in brainwashing you and buying you into their line of thought with day-labour speakers ?
How calculated were they in smothering your spirits? in stifling your beliefs?
in suffocating your interests? in gagging your opinions?
in suppressing your legitimate right to be informed?
Why did they disallow a point of order from an intelligent member- priest?
Do they know the meaning and significance of a point of order? For their information, let me state here that a POINT OF ORDER is a question as to whether the present proceedings are in order or allowed by the rules of parliamentary procedure. They should have known that a point of order, in other words, is a question raised in a meeting or deliberative assembly by a member as to whether the rules governing procedures are being breached. This is an essential element in Law and Parliamentary Procedure. If they are ignorant about it, they have no moral right to the office to which they are hanging to.
And, what is the logic in the ruling that there is neither point or order in it even without hearing it?
I urge you to ask these questions to your esteemed self and then aloud...
Let it thunder like the voice of the Baptist in the desert- "Make the way for the Lord" and see if you'll ever get an answer.
They were practising the art of elusive existence.
But those days are numbered.
The reason why I withdrew from presenting my Resolution Amendment on the floor on the second day was to protest against the authoritarian attitude of the church leadership, for not upholding the decorum of the body, including the many questions that were unanswered and the enigma surrounding the 'point of order' I referred to.
And I repeat, the privilege of its members was transgressed into:
Not a few... but many a time...
I need to reiterate here that I was standing for a cause. I have/ had nothing to gain by becoming the Secretary of the Mar Thoma Church as I had said that I will not accept salary if I am elected. It was not for fame as I already have it in abundance- in the East as well as in the West. Further, no prestige goes with the title of the Mar Thoma Sabha Secretary any more since it has lost its face and identity.
Perhaps my losses would have been trebled as now I believe that I would have lost my conscience, rationale, sincerity, innocence and intelligence, once I got elected as the Sabha Secretary. I believe in the honor that springs out of one's conduct; not titles. To me, character is destiny.
And to be at the helm of a Sinking Christian Denomination with no more than 4 lakh members is no honour as far as I am concerned. Whoever tells you that there are more than four lakh Marthomites on the globe is telling you a blatant lie. Its falsehood, full-blown.
Or, here I challenge anybody to prove that bogus, irresponsible, unsubstantiated claim. (A friend of mine who is a professor of Economics with a Ph.D. tells me that he will do the count in two months if he is furnished the answers to a questionnaire by the respective vicars of each parish).
So, brothers and sisters,
I am asking you to take up this legacy and go forward. Our Sabha, nurtured with the labour, sweat and money of the laity is an Augean stable now. The mortar used in the construction of this institution, viz. Mar Thoma Church, was mixed with the blood and sacrifice of the laity. Its fruit is now being swallowed by a few drones.
Let this fight for law, order, freedom, justice and self-worth continue.
Like Alfred, Lord Tennyson's brook that chirps:
"For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever.."
This fight has to continue and it will continue...
Laity, a day not far from now, one of you will preside in the Mandalam Meetings and another from you will be the Secreatay of the Mar Thoma Church if it has an entity of its own then for which you have to sow the seed of a new creed. This continuity, this flow should go thicker and stronger.
I request all the laity and the clergy to join this struggle for equal rights, opportunity and justice. And I would like to remind the clergy that they will lose their voice for ever if they are silent and reluctant to stand up for the right cause now. Don't be an accomplice to be the receiver of instant benefits for which you are ineligible. And those clergy with a conscience, tell me for once: who are you afraid of and what are you scared about?
As the first step, I am requesting the laity to be really, really judicious in the money you contribute to the church... by limiting the amount you pay to the church and by demanding transparency in the purpose of collection; in the spending and use/misuse of the funds you contribute. Also be rational in buying the books the church pushes towards you through its outlet malls like the Maramon Convention; most of them are not worth the paper on which it is printed. You tell me how all these people with poor educational background, limited vocabulary, sub-standard ideas and little knowledge transform into authors and thinkers within no time... its indeed a source of wonder and a matter of magic that need to be researched.
And you heard the statement from the dais how the church played safe by contributing only Rs. 10,000 to the Jeevan TV and getting a representation on its Director Board but got some of you to contribute lakhs of rupees which is now on the verge of extinction. Will Mar Thoma Church pay back your money if they asked you to contribute it in the first place?
You have been ill-tutored to make those big contributions in the name of God...
Believe me, the Preserver of Israel doth not need your money. He is rich on his own.
"He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber";
no matter, you give the church your money or not.
So keep your money with yourself.
Give it to your neighbor to build a house, to educate another's child, to get yet another's daughter married of...
Remember:
"And the King shall answer and say to them, truly I say to you, in as much as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me".
I repeat, I am only a symbol representing an idea.
I am shapeless energy.
The race is not done; the fight is not finished.
Its a relay race... no more start-signals, get the baton... on your heels to get ahead in the next lap.
Thank you for being my reader...
Love,
Adv. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
P.S. If anybody wants his/ her name removed from my mailing list, please let me know and I will be too happy to do it.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
How old is too old and how senile is senility?
I'm getting a lot of queries as to why my nominations were rejected.
Answer: Fear of the Known.
And a forensic expert adds," Because the human body is not a machine, every person has variation in his writing. No two signatures written by the same person are exactly the same. External factors such as age, illness, writing position, writing instrument, and care of execution could affect a person's writing."
The signature in question is that of a 65 year-old retired post-mistress and a past member of Ranni- Pazhavangadi Panchayat, who is the sister-in-law of a respected retired priest of the Mar Thoma Church. If the Returning officer wanted to verify her intent, he could have called her over the phone which would have taken only a few minutes. She was only a phone call away. So, evidently, the returning officer has acted outside his jurisdiction. And the reason? A few self-styled leaders of the Mar Thoma Church were scared at the sight of the vast majority of laity and priests rallying behind me under the slogan of "Change" and anticipated the defeat of their two official clergy-nominees. They smelt in the wind that I am going to win the election, nothing less; nothing more.
The question follows if I am going to get my grievance redressed through a court of law. In my mind, the pendulum swings in between two questions:
1. Is it necessary to put a stop to the church-hierarchy's obstinacy and self-righteous attitude?
2. Is it worthy on my part to spend any more time on a rotten machinery, viz., the Church?
Will keep u posted on further steps.
In the meantime, I'm posing a question for you to contemplate:
Why don't our bishops retire at the age of 65 if the priests under them have to retire at 65?
Thanking you,
Love,
Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)