DIOCESE FUNDS EMBEZZLEMENT

Charge sheet on Bishop K P Kuruvilla

Date: 12/10/2010

Dear Bishop,



You came to this office with a good majority and with enormous good will of people. But you belied their expectations, betrayed their trust and made a mockery of this very sacred vocation. The last three and a half years of your tenure has been marked by fraudulent land deals, misappropriation and mismanagement of church property and funds, arbitrary and vindictive exercise of power, flouting of the C.S.I constitution, creating dissention and divisiveness within the church and parishes, demeaning and debasing the ordained ministry of the church, spreading falsehood without any moral compunctions, and administrative inefficiency and incompetence.



Your pathological preoccupation with your own self-importance and egotism has led the Diocese to a situation of spiritual and moral bankruptcy and crisis in administration, thus leaving us, the laity, with no other option except to organize and fight this moral and spiritual rot and stem the tide of a total collapse in the administration of the church.



Instead of maintaining and nurturing “the historic episcopate in a constitutional from” (CSI Constitution, Chapter 2-11), you have made the CSI constitution redundant, the constitutional offices and bodies irrelevant, and the democratic functioning of the diocese a far cry. Using threats and inducements, the Executive Committee, the Pastoral and Ministerial Committee and such other constitutional and elected bodies have been turned into instruments that serve your nefarious interests and designs. Besides the elected officers, a Working Committee constituted of shady characters with ill repute function as a coterie that implement your designs.



Democracy, which is a product of Reformation and Enlightenment, a historical legacy of Protestantism, can flourish only when dissenting voices are respected and encouraged. But, you have been trying to scotch them through threats of punishment and even summary removal from “the full, privileged membership of the church”, an epithet for excommunication; and through arbitrary and vindictive transfers of pastors and other employees in church institutions. This has caused dissention and division within parishes and great anguish to people who are deprived of the loving touch and nurture of a ‘good shepherd’. In this regard, you don’t seem to emulate the model of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The demoralized situation of the parishes in Puthiyara, Kozhikode (Cathedral Church and St Mary’s Church), Elamkulam and Kalamassery, to name a few, bear ample testimony to the consequences of your model of shepherding. Each week new parishes are being added to this list. This is spreading across-the-board destabilizing the unity and integrity of the pastorates.



The whole pastorate committee of Puthiyara was dissolved and five members including three members of the pastorate committee and one member of the diocesan council were removed from the “full, privileged, membership” of the church for acts which had apparently been described as indiscipline.  Spate of such actions continued on members of pastorate committees and members of diocesan councils in Cathedral Church, Kozhikode and Christ Church, Munnar. Instead of acting as an arbiter and reconciler, in all these instances, one finds you becoming part of the problem and supporting ministers in charge, who are devoid of any character and caliber. Then, without following the constitutional provisions and procedures of natural justice, you act without any effort for mediation and reconciliation. After having been so merciless in destroying the “sheep”, you lament about the 14 court cases filed against you but hide the fact that you are also a litigant and it is you who has gone on appeal, spending what was given by us as offering.



You have been vindictive towards Rev. Thomas John, a clergy who is held in high esteem in the ecumenical circles and in the public life of Kerala. First, you asked him to relinquish charge of the Holy Trinity Church, Aluva, at an odd time of the year, without showing any cause. Then you removed him from the Clergy Roll on the basis of a letter alleged to have been written by him asking for such removal. Why did you not listen to his plea that he had not written such a letter and that he be reinstated in the Clergy Roll? It would be clear for anyone with a sense of proportion and moral sensitivity that the action taken on him was premeditated and with malicious intent. Again, you transferred Rev. P. J. Jacob just after one year of his service in the Kalamassery Parish when the clearly laid out norm for transfer is three years of service or more. The pastorate committee and the whole congregation did not ask for such a transfer, but in fact, asked for his continuance in the parish. You treated this request with utmost disdain. This is nothing but a vindictive action against Achen for not complying with your clandestine deals associated with the leasing out of valuable properties in Fort Kochi for a pittance.



In this and many of the above mentioned actions, your derision to the rights of pastorates is obvious. While CSI constitution and the ecumenical convictions uphold the status of the pastorate as “representing in that place the same one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church” and that “every pastorate shall have general administrative authority within its area, shall have certain responsibilities in Church discipline, and shall have an opportunity of expressing its judgment both as to the appointment of its pastor ---“ ( CSI Constitution Chapter. 2-11), you were not willing to listen to the pleas of the congregations of Elamkulam and Kalamassery not to transfer their pastors. Rather, you were abusive and threatening. The Elamkulam pastorate, after being deprived of proper pastoral care for many years, had only one request that they be given a better Presbyter than the one who was transferred to their pastorate and who, according to their perception, had serious flaws in character. But, since you saw transfers as means of rewarding loyalty, the unanimous representations of both the congregations were not responded to and therein forcing them to take recourse to legal remedies.



Further, on Sunday, 29 August 2010, you went to an aided mission school in Thripunithara, broke open the school building which was under the control of the Elamkulam parish, and made a mockery of divine worship with six persons in attendance and a large public as onlookers. Except displaying your pomposity, what have you achieved by this action in terms of Christian Witness? Similarly, on Sunday, 5 October 2010, you walked into the Elamkulam Church without any notice or invitation, accompanied by a group of subservient clergy and a permanent entourage of sidekicks gathered from other churches. The divine service was conducted with the members of the congregation and the choir standing outside. As you left the church, you also did not forget to take the offertory with you, an act that is highly reprehensible, but characteristic of you.



In the ensuing meeting, you declared that you are dissolving the duly elected pastorate committee and constituting an officiating pastorate committee, while there are  very clearly laid out procedure given in the constitution for such an action (North Kerala Diocesan Constitution, Chapter 2-10 a, b, c). You had no qualms in initiating such an unconstitutional act which is unbecoming of a bishop. When the head of a Church is behaving in such an irrational, unpredictable, illegal manner, what recourse is left with the congregation except to seek the protection of the secular court?



In all these extra-constitutional ecclesiastical visits, you had the entourage of the same group of clergy who had left their flocks to themselves. Instead of being a good example to the clergy, you have debased their standard to that of your attendants rather than ministers of Jesus Christ and good shepherds of God’s flock. When sycophancy and servility are emphasized and rewarded, the quality, uprightness and moral fiber of the clergy is compromised. This using of clergy, particularly the younger ones, as pawns in your game plan will have long term and deleterious consequences for the diocese extending beyond your period of service. In the final instance, you will create a class of clergy who will be a disgrace to the Church and its witness in a rapidly changing world.



For a Christian, even in a legal battle, there is a certain standard of ethics one has to follow such as truthfulness and genuineness of the cause we are fighting for. Even persecutions in a court of law are, for a Christian, occasions for Christian Witness. But, it is surprising that you had no qualms in making false statements in your affidavits and counter affidavits. You made a sworn statement that there are no clearly laid out norms when the Executive Committee and the Pastoral and Ministerial Committees had concurred on certain norms as evidenced by the minutes of these committees.  You claimed that Rev. Thomas John is not a presbyter but only an honorary presbyter, when you know very well that there is only one ordination in CSI and that is to the position of presbyter. It has become obvious to us that you have no moral compunction in uttering blatant lies. Kindly note that this is not befitting the position that you hold; you are consecrated for a role, the measure of which is Jesus Christ. By these lies, you may or may not win a legal battle but it will be a moral defeat for the cause of Christ.



It has become rather clear that corruption in many forms is flourishing under your administration. It is public knowledge and your own financial statements reveal that the church does not have the necessary capital to start the four Higher Secondary Schools that the government has granted to the diocese. Surely getting the sanction for four Higher Secondary Schools by staying close to the corridors of power is not a mean achievement, but it is despicable that the finance to build these schools is being raised through donations of huge sums of money (according to Malayala Manorama Rs. 30 lakh per candidate) for the appointment of teachers in these schools. We understand that about 60 vacancies are being filled in this manner. In its news report, Malayala Manorama has highlighted how the church leadership/private management-politician nexus indulge in practices that are not only corrupt but also endanger the future of many prospective teachers who try to get employment by paying hefty sums.



The corporate managements of schools in Wayanad and Malabar, and the CMS Schools are mired in corruption and incompetence. When there are very competent lay persons with integrity and long years of educational and administrative experience in the diocese, you have found only two incompetent pastors to hold this position, whose prominent qualification is their subservience to you. This has led to a spate of departmental interventions and court cases as transfers were made on the basis of bribes and as punishments, in total violation of the Kerala Education Rules. As your genuine followers they cannot be blamed if they think of themselves as above the laws and rules of this country.



It has become evident to all and sundry, and even your records show, that you sold 2.75 acres of church property in Thalikulam for Rs. 2.75 crores when that property would have fetched CSITA by the least estimate close to Rs. 10 crores. You have done this without following the procedures for selling a trust property such as advertising it in prominent dailies; against the expressed instruction from the CSITA not to sell it; without power of attorney; and by a false statement that “CSI meeting has authorized you to sell it”, when there is no such constitutional body. Moreover, while you show Rs. 2.75 crores as the amount received from the sale of the said property, the sale deed shows Rs. 95 lakhs as the total price received for the land. Thus, you colluded with the buyers in creating a fraudulent document for the pecuniary benefit of both parties and causing heavy loss to the state exchequer. Now, civil and criminal cases are pending in the courts of Thrissur and Chavakad.



A similar attempt was made to sell a piece of land in a scenically beautiful location in Thariyode, which had been stalled by the timely publicity given by us and the subsequent intervention of the CSITA. Lease agreements signed or not signed or delayed in various places as in Munnar and Fort Kochi highlight the clandestine nature of these dealings and the resultant alienation of valuable properties in various locations in our diocese for inconsequential amounts. To begin with, you fell 300 mature teak wood trees from our property in Vaniamkulam worth Rs. 1 crore and the platry sum that the diocese received was only Rs. 5 lakhs. Then, you fell another 6o immature teak would trees under the pretext of constructing the Bishop’s House. Subsequently, we came to know that you fell another 12 rather big teak wood trees from the Trichur Bethel Ashram compound apparently for the same reason. These actions had been initiated without the permission or consultation of any of the constitutional bodies.



By your inaction, you have made obvious your complicity in the action of those who defrauded the All Saints Church of funds worth Rs. 13.5 lakhs as per the audited statement of accounts of 2005, 2006 and 2007. Consequently, a criminal case had been filed against the prime accused and yourself in the court of Judicial First Class Magistrate, Trichur.



You have initiated construction of the Bishop’s House and many school buildings without technical and engineering clearance, without proper estimates and appropriate administrative sanctions from the Executive Committee or other appropriate constitutional bodies. It is known to all that construction and “developmental activities” are misnomers for swindling money when they are carried out without transparency and authority.

You have made the Executive Committee and other constitutional bodies irrelevant and have been running the administration of the diocese with a coterie of corrupt people around you and in accordance with your whims and fancies. Now you are trying to undermine the democratically conducted election and the installation of the new Diocesan Council in connivance with one Bhagyaraj from Munnar through judicial wrangles. You could have replied to Bhagyarj’s complaint in 14 days from the date of election, whereby the stay granted by the court could have been vacated. Instead, you did not even bother to file a counter affidavit in the Devikulam Munsif Court and thus, inordinately delaying the installation of the new Diocesan Council.



Your arrogance, administrative incompetence, and lack of statesmanship are visible in the kind of wrangles and even physical violence that have taken place recently in congregations such as the St Mary’s Church in Kozhikode. You joined hands with the vicar and a section of the community to remove a portrait of Mary that has been there for a very long time, disrespecting the sentiments of the people in the pew. Spate of such judicial and extra judicial infightings will only multiply when the leader is unable to settle disputes with an attitude of Christian love and forgiveness.



It has become almost certain that, at least for a period, the diocesan administration is going into the hands of a Synod appointed administrative body. Day by day, the situation in the diocese is going from bad to worse. It is in this context that the 55,000 and odd laity in the North Kerala Diocese have decided to come together as a registered organization in the name of CSI North Kerala Diocesan Laity Fellowship.



We, the members of the CSI North Kerala Diocesan Laity Fellowship, appeal to you, the officials of the diocese, and the Executive Committee to constitute and install the newly elected Diocesan Council at the earliest. Till then, you and the committees may continue only as caretaker administrators and refrain from taking any crucial administrative decisions that will have long term implications for the diocese. Kindly refrain from taking any financial decision which is outside the routine and involves bigger amounts.



Kindly treat this as a final warning before we proceed with appropriate judicial and other remedies as per the provisions in the constitution. Our successive efforts to convince you of the dangers of the un-Christian path you tread have only fell in deaf ears. But we still pray and hope that good sense will prevail and relief and salvation for this diocese would be ushered in by our Lord. Crucial questions of episcopacy, the shape that it has taken today contrary to that envisaged by the CSI constitution; the notion of authority and obedience, the distinctiveness of our protestant-reformed tradition in understanding them; the role, powers and functions of pastorates; the status, functioning and role of CSITA; and the badly needed change in the polity of CSI in general are matters to be taken up at a more intellectual and broader platform.



Hence, kindly understand that our fight is not against you as a person, but more against the way you function within the existing system using more of its weakness to carry forward your designs in an arbitrary and dictatorial fashion, causing irreparable damage to the diocese and its spiritual and material development and more importantly, its mission in the world, the very basis of our existence as a church in the world.



Kindly facilitate a meeting of the CSI North Kerala Laity Fellowship along with some of the newly elected Diocesan Council members, presided over by you to seek ways of amicable settlement of these issues. We anticipate a positive response from you. If we don’t get a response to this letter within seven days of receipt of this letter, we reserve the right to go ahead with appropriate remedial measures.



Thanking You,

Yours Sincerely,



T. J. John

(Secretary, CSI North Kerala Laity Fellowship)

‘Mechanism soon to curb corruption in churches'

CHENNAI: A self-regulatory mechanism will soon be in place to check corruption in churches, said Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the principal leader of the Church of England and the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the 175th  jubilee celebration of the inception of the Diocese of Madras at St George’s Cathedral.

Responding to queries from the media on corruption in churches he said, “We know there are some reported cases of  corruption, which are pending in the court, and the Moderators of the churches are working to constitute a self-regulatory mechanism to look into the issue.”

The Church of South India(CSI), a member of the Anglican Communion consisting of 80 million Christians and 44 different churches, played host to the visiting Archbishop.  He will be here till October 24 andwill visit  member churches and leaders.

About the Church’s stand on Gay Marriages, The Archbishop said, “The church was against it. But, we need to be tolerant with such people.”

Earlier in the day, during an interaction with  economically disadvantaged members of the congregation at Vyasarpadi,  he said, “Am touched by what I see and I will cherish my Indian experience.”

The public reception in the evening was well attended by  the congregation and eminent representatives from all faiths like the Nawab of Arcot, N Ram, Journalist, Chinnappa, Archbishop of Madras - Mylapore Diocese of the Catholic Church, Bishop Devasahayam of CSI diocese of Madras, CSI Moderator Vasantha Kumar and Geetha Jeevan, Minister of Social Welfare.

Courtesy : Express News Service

Episcopal Goonda-ism Yet Again

 

It is rather unfortunate that bishop K. P. Kuruvilla, obsessed with his own self-importance, has been repeatedly exercising his ‘ecclesiastical authority’ to disrupt church services. On Sunday, 3 October 2010, without any prior notice to or invitation of the pastorate committee, the bishop, accompanied by Rev. Jacob John, Rev. Daniel John, Rev. Kurien Peter, Rev. Jacob Daniel and Rev. P. G. Denny (his five loyal henchmen who had been skipping their responsibilities towards their own “sheep” for the last few Sundays to accompany the bishop) laid siege on the CSI Christ Church, Elamkulam, and conducted a worship service against the wishes of the congregation. Anguished by the complete disregard shown by the bishop, the choir, the pastorate committee and large sections of the congregation boycotted the worship service.

As the congregation refused to enter the church in protest, the Bishop ensured that some of his loyalists from other churches in Ernakulam such as Jayan Samuel, Sawmini Jayan and Jacob Mathew filled the pew. In the ensuing melee and supposed “reconciliation talks”, the bishop declared the existing pastorate committee dissolved and a new officiating pastorate committee appointed. This was done when a newly elected pastorate committee has been awaiting confirmation and the whole matter regarding the rights of the pastorate remaining a subject matter before the court (sub judice). It is a matter of immense shame that the bishop and his loyalists left the Elamkulam church that day with the offertory.



While this apparently seems to be a matter of conflict between a bishop and a parish, both in the case of Kalamassery and Elamkulam, Save CSI has learnt that the conflict raises fundamental questions regarding the rights of parishes envisaged in the CSI constitution, which states: “every pastorate shall have general administrative authority within its area, shall have certain responsibilities in Church discipline, and shall have an opportunity of expressing its judgment both as to the appointment of its pastor and the selection of candidates for ordination from that pastorate. (CSI Constitution Chapter. 2-11)



The conflict arose in the context of the bishop’s disinclination to listen to the pleas of the congregations of Elamkulam and Kalamassery not to prematurely transfer their pastors without adequate reasons. Every delegation of both the congregations was met with abuses and threats. The case of Elamkulam parish was such that it was deprived of proper pastoral care for many years. In the context of the existing pastor retiring from service, a pastor with serious flaws in character was imposed on the parish. The parish objected to this and requested that they be given a better pastor, and until such a time, the existing assistant pastor be retained. However, for the bishop, transfers have been a means of showing his largesse to those pastors who remain loyal to him than meeting the unique needs and spiritual nurture of parishes. Hence, he did not feel the need to respond to the unanimous representations of the congregation, thereby forcing them to take recourse to legal remedies.



 The officiating committee that has been constituted in Elamkulam church is in flagrant violation of the North Kerala Diocesan Constitution. The NKD constitution stipulates the conditions for dissolving a pastorate committee and then concludes: “the bishop after conducting the enquiry by a panel constituted of the Executive Committee members (not exceeding three) and if satisfied shall dissolve the Pastorate Committee and shall appoint an Officiating Pastorate Committee in consultation with the Executive Committee”. (NKD Constitution, Chapter 2/10) Certainly, members of the congregation feel that the bishop is capable of fabricating an enquiry commission report, but even that cannot be done without showing cause to the existing pastorate committee and the newly elected pastorate committee, who are awaiting confirmation. Moreover, this action has been initiated when various related matters are pending before the honorable courts, including the High Court of Kerala.



A Repeat of Ecclesiastical Arrogance

Worship inside an empty church

On Sunday, 17 October 2010, the bishop returned to disrupt the church service yet again. This time, he was accompanied by his mannequin treasurer, Rev. B. F. Fenn and the “in-his-obedient-service” Rev. Daniel John, who has been skipping his responsibilities towards his parish for the last several weeks. The bishop and his entourage once again staged a worship service with a handful of members of the parish and outsiders. But this time, in protest, the congregation was determined to hold a parallel worship service outside the church. The joint chorus of the choir and the congregation drowned the discordant and empty voices emerging from inside the church. The day was concluded with the bishop, once again calling for a mock meeting with the congregation.

Worship outside the church

This incident once again raises the fundamental question as to the rights of the members of a pastorate who build churches out of their generous contributions and support the clergy and the bishop of the diocese with 60% of their contributions. There cannot be a division of the church into rulers and the ruled. It is the generous giving of the people that sustains the bishop and other entities in the administrative structure and they have no legal or moral authority to consider themselves as ‘rulers’. The ordained ministries of the church are for ‘equipping the saints’, the laity, for their ministry in the world. As the protestant tradition reminds us, they have no inerrancy and are fallible human beings who share in the sinfulness of the world. Hence, CSI only envisages a ‘constitutional episcopate’ – a bishop who functions as per the terms and references of the constitution. It is also important to note that there is no understanding of episcopal authority in the Bible but only the exhortation, “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.”



It is sad to note that under the leadership of bishops like Kuruvilla, the shepherding in the CSI is fast degenerating into the one that is described in Ezekiel, Ch. 34.

“The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.”