Are Bishops entitled to these much luxury?

I have a mail from one of the readers from USA, who wanted me to put it up! Well this blog is all about giving a platform to different voices and opinions in order to let the Church know what the members are thinking.

If you disagree with the following or any posts - mail me or put in a comment and I'll publish that too! Have a wonderful new year ahead and God Bless!

~o~

Are Bishops entitled to these much luxury?

Should Bishops move around in luxury cars or should they be given only some form of average means of transportation so that they can move around.

Bishops need means of transportation to visit churches and to go places where they need to be. No problem with that. Well when I was in Kerala I remember the local bishop visiting our church the maximum once in a year. And in some year that might not even happen. However, you can find them oversees collecting money for "Gospel Work" for enrichment work! most of the time. To whom are they accountable? To the common lay member who thinks that the Bishops are visible representatives of God?

When I was a kid I remember my dad telling me that Bishops do not eat from lay men's houses and they don't even eat from the Parsonage. Now if you need to find bishops( especially overseas) you need to call lay men's houses. This is not a hypothetical situation. I have first hand evidence.

Bishops know the people who are affluent, the famous, the rich, the top brass. They do not even care about the ordinary laymen who constitutes the flesh and blood of the church.

Well I am not even sure whether the church has any significance. Of course the Marthoma church gave me the foundation on which I built my life. But more is to be done. This is a church that grew from nothing, from a few couple churches. Now it more like a multi-billion industry that produces CEOs who give handful of pay-outs for themselves ignoring the plight of the ordinary men and women.

We need to rise. What is the opinion of the church regarding homosexuality, materialism/consumerism, divorce, youths fleeing the church in hundreds( Next time when Bishops visit US, I earnestly pray that they visit a US church and see how many people attend those churches and how churches are being sold and leased out). When will the leadership arouse from its slumber. When will they realise that the time is ticking. Are the laymen taken into confidence. I am not surprised why in Europe large number of people have fled and still fleeing the church. The hierarchy cannot connect to the laymen.

Maranatha!