Rift in Church over dismissal

The Catholic Church of Kerala seems to be divided over the issue of the dismissal of Prof TJ Joseph of the Church-run Newman College for preparing the allegedly anti-Islamic question paper. The rift in the Church came out with the open admission by Fr Paul Thelekkat, spokesman of the Syro-Malabar Church, that he felt that the punishment was not proportional with the mistake.

The Catholic Bishops’ Council of India (CBCI) was quick to justify the college management’s action against the professor but there was an opinion in its Kerala chapter KCBC (Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council) that the Kothamangalam Diocese should have discussed the matter with them before dismissing the professor, which it did not do.

The KCBC is of the view that the decision to sack the professor was taken by the Church’s Kothamangalam Diocese, which ran the college, and the council could not interfere in it. But, it felt that the diocese could have discussed with the council if it wanted to take such an extreme step.

Fr Thelekkat told a TV news channel that he was personally against the dismissal of the professor but did not intend to interfere. He said that the professor could approach the court if he felt that the punishment was against the rules.

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