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!

Who is a Marthomite?

Yes! A simple question, I plead of you to ask yourself ?

For a Church which boasts of 2000 years of history - it might have been a very easy question to answer. But ask the average marthomite youth and you will find conflicting answers.

Is it because there is nothing called a marthomite identity? What can the Mar Thoma Church claim other than its so called link to St. Thomas - not to forget which is also claimed by every other Christian faction in Kerala (Syrian Christians) .

There was a time when the Mar Thoma Church had great leaders, who made an impact on society and took the Word of God to the outside world. There were leaders which inspired the society at large and dictated how the community lived. Marthomites became synonymous with honest hardworking people.

This community rose in social hierarchy, educated their women, entered positions of power for their honesty, led reforms, and became shining examples to a larger society which was to learn and respect this tiny yet foresighted minority. The marthomites went to foreign shores as teachers, civil servants, agriculturists, nurses and several 'service based professions'.

Today with more than 65% of marthomites settled outside Kerala, there is a clash of the generations. For the new generations who have been born and raised outside Kerala, the obstinate and unaccommodating stance of the Church in addressing several issues is beyond understanding.

The Church maintains it is a Kerala and Malayalam based church. Yet a rising number of young members do fall under this bracket and are neither affiliated to Kerala or speak the native language of the church - Malayalam. Then again in a feeble attempt, over the last few years a priest was assigned for the youths outside kerala - as a Outside Kerala Youth League Secretary. This however is limited to working in Bangalore and inside India. The Middle East or other Europe or Northern American parishes are thought of nothing more than money banks to fill the coffers of the Kerala Institutions and the Church.

The real issue here is that the Church or its leadership do not have a clear vision on what the future of the community is. There is no official stance of the Church on homosexuality, genetic cloning, war in Iraq, political situation in India (anything outside Kerala will be welcome), acceptance of other churches and faiths.

There is a general feeling that the Church is a train running in full speed without a driver. There is danger of derailing if there is no serious attempt to do something and turn the tide of this downslide.

More in the next post....... Comments welcome!