The fading human face of the church in wake of its new corporate awatar

The fading human face of the church in wake of its new corporate awatar
(part-1)
Through this article,im not trying to say that church is the biggest evil or that any other community is too good.i take the liberty to criticise the church because i too am a member of the church and would love to see it back in right track.

The essential aspect of any article appearing neutral and comprehensive is certainly the bilateral approach to the topic.But inspite of my generous approach ,i vehemently oppose any positive discussion on the church i too am baptised with.A dichotomous approach has been burnt off the agenda by the resilence burning inside my senses.I will be unilateral and authoritative on my views very much synonymous with the nature of the institution im dealing with.There are no two sides to this coin.The dark side has absorbed whatever lustre left with the bright side so much that i virtually fail to see any positives with the church.

church wants more kids and voters!!!

The essential trigger which makes me spill ink today is the latest KCBC directive on the number of kids in a catholic family.The directive of the church (read as christ as per KCBC)is to promote more children in affordable families.life is a gift of god and no efforts to denourish it must be promoted.The church would pour out benefits on de 2nd kid and more on de 3rd kid.The educational and healthcare expenses would be subsidised.all these because the latest census shows a dwindled 19% christian population from the earlier 19.5%.
That was the last nail on the coffin of my pro-church thoughts.If it means ,the bishops decide how many times to get your wife pregnant,what more can the word 'undue interference' mean? The anti birth control dogma propagated by the church has defied scientific logic and only time can predict the dire consequences of this illogical policy to church and society as as whole.Nothing more derrogatory may be expected of de followers of the medievial roman clergy who punished Galileo for his 'earth moves sun ' theory.
The church wants to drag me back to the times of my grandparents when 6-10 kids were no rarity.Endorsement of a more kids policy in the 21st century is a direct call to jeopardise the birth control measures of the govenment and a testimony to their ignorance inspite of being the runners of most centres of higher education for decades.
Or is the question on the relative scale which means are muslim and hindu women carrying more than our women? Or else are the christians showing an increased enthusiasm to the birth control methods? Or is it that the increased educational status of christians proving to be a bane in disguise?
The lamentable part is that the church has has started looking at its mass in pure terms of numbers or even voters.The quality of life among christians,arguably the best in the state much to the work of the church right from the early century should no longer be a concern.If the strongest community is that with the most numbers ,the church should open its eyes only to find no examples.
The audacity with which this directive has been issued should be read in side on terms with the current political scenario in the state.For the first time since the 1957 liberation struggle, the communists and the clergy are headed face to face,the church more openly understandably.The endorsement of the new policy ws preceeded by detailed in church surveys where the actual questionaire would buttress the thoughts expressed earlier.It was designed in such a way that the number of eligible voters in next assembly elections could be tallied.There have been reports of the clergy insisting on each one of folk excercising their electoral rights.A church initaited merger of the various warring factions of the kerala congress( the prominent pro christian party in the state) is on the cards and such an action is clearly in favour of the new school of thought which presses on for an enhanced political clout.

the fourth estate and the church

The church was the pioneer in the field of press being the founders of the oldest newspaper in the state,deepika.for decades the newspaper degraded the art of journalism and the church reduced its mouthpiece to a communal newspaper .The newspaper is said to be suffering from heavy losses which prompted it to accept donations from faris abubakkar literally transferring major shares to him.The priests have to still beg and compell its folk to subcribe to deepika.
The much fantasised entry of the church into visual media with the launch of jeevan tv is no longer talked about.The channel is said to have swapped hands between a no of buissines houses including the joy alukkas group.I can still recall the church circular i heard in my 8th std asking my parents to buy shares in the new venture.we need an answer ,fathers!!!

the professional college fiasco.

With the antony govts policy of allowing pvt proff colleges ,the communal organisations went on a rampage to claim their share only to see the birth of greatest riddle the state has seen for a decade.The church ,arguably the strongest and easily the richest claimed the maximum share with a pro christian govt at power.

Being a medico i directly know what happens in the four medical colleges run by the church and i can only sympathise with my fellow medicos in the church run medschools.The capitation fees ranges from 25-35 lakhs which can peak to even double the above amount in the last few days of admission.Bookings start as early as 8 months to the admission date and most seats are bagged by rich NRI parents and desi buissiness men whoose kids can be a disgrace to the profession they fell in willingly or otherwise.Mostly dummy exams are conducted in the name of admission tests and the question papers reach the students well in advance.This year ,the church has announced 15% seats for economically poor which will never materialise by my wildest dreams.pushpa giri medical college gives no receipt for the illegal fees collected.
Fr: Francis Alappat who runs jubilee mission medical college insists on a Rs:5 lakh advance to the seat which he would not reimburse if the admission is forfeited later.He is one of the brains who has built the premier church run hospital in the state into a medical college where godliness is just limited to pictures and statues of jesus.All kids of the family running the kolenchery medical college are now enrolled their as students and i bet they will never fail an exam there if they dont attend it.Amala medical college is run by CMI community who can be termed the most immoral clergy clan in the state and naturally the richest with assets running into crores.Pushpagiri medical college boasts of the worst group of medicos who pass percentages make university wonder for itself.50% students who are admitted on merit are not supported in any way in jubilee medical mision even if it means they cant continue the course on financial grounds.The managements never allow any sort of student unions inside campus which leaves the merit student left with only themselves to speak for.There have been accusations of managements students scoring more internal marks compared to the merit students.This is in addition to all other disadvantages suffered by pvt colleges and church too can claim credit in bringing out a new class of docs with no commitment to society.

The claim of all community leaders in establishing higher education centres is their so called ardent interest in providing quality education to their folks and making sure that their community does lag behind in professional fields.Both these arguements may be refuted when one comes to know that there is no absolute reservation for christians in the church run medschools and the only criteria there is a rich dad with a loaded wallet.The christian community has one of largest pecentage of doctors in the state and are self sufficient in producing more of them with no actual help from the dioceses.
Engineering students are luckier as med schools have attracted all the clergy greed.

'brides of jesus'

As a kid ,i was always asked to pump out an extra ounce of respect to the clergy,a class you cannot ignore in the catholic mecca i grew up.But then i new the fathers or the male clergy were the bigger thing.A sister would never prefix her name with a reverent tag.She never holds important positions in the church and could not even celebrate a sunday mass.Priests can continue to attend the functions at their homes and keep in touch with their family while its all prohibited for nuns.All stratergic decisions are solely made by the male clergy,leaving one to wonder what the role of nuns are than being their own beast of burden.A priest's ordination was always a bigger function.Even on the part of the family,renouncing a son for the church was a bigger sacrifice than a daughter.They work in the most toughest of circumstances running palliative homes and i have seen them even in pig husbandry.They have been reduced to clerical posts and apprentices in church run institutions which is as dismandling as the fact that little resistance have come from the women clergy itself.Even the fact that the system of nunhood was being compared to the ancient devdasi system by a section of media has failed to convert to any sort of debate in the church in defence or offence of the topic.

The male chauvanism in the church is a part of the renaissance traditions in Europe bestowed upon us by the papal hierarchy.if the sex of the God is male,it is no conjunction to the 2nd grade nuns now enjoy in the church.Xtians as a community might have been the most progressive as far as women empowerment is considered, may be a century ago.If our progress was 'x' den,we are stagnated der evading a 'y' whereas 'z' should have been reached long ago.Even de term 'bride of jesus' is gross understatement of der position and contradictory considering the church raised call 4 celibacy of jesus.'nun'hood as of nw is 'none'hood.
(to b CONTD...........)