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