{"id":62306,"date":"2018-07-27T05:39:36","date_gmt":"2018-07-27T05:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/?p=62306"},"modified":"2018-07-29T05:41:27","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T05:41:27","slug":"kerala-malankara-orthodox-syrian-church-objects-to-panels-proposal-to-ban-practice-of-confession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/?p=62306","title":{"rendered":"Kerala: Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church objects to panel\u2019s proposal to ban practice of confession"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kerala BJP leader George Kurian on Thursday warned that any move to abolish the practice will be met with opposition.<\/span><\/h2>\n

The National Commission for Women\u2019s\u00a0recommendation<\/a>\u00a0asking the government to abolish the practice of confession in churches has drawn criticism from several quarters. The commission said that the practice, which is meant to be a secret under church laws but was allegedly used to blackmail people, hindered the \u201csecurity and safety of women.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Baselios Marthoma Paulose II said in a statement on Friday that the NCW chairperson has no right to interfere in religious affairs. \u201cIt is an attempt to deny people\u2019s right to practice their religion,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marthoma Paulose II said the church had taken a stand that the priests should be punished if they are found guilty. \u201cIt is not correct to blame all the priests in the church based on allegations,\u201d he said. Following the allegations, the church\u00a0sent<\/a>\u00a0the accused priests on leave.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kerala BJP leader George Kurian on Thursday warned that any move to abolish the practice will be met with opposition. \u201cFeminist ideology has crossed its limits with the move,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kerala Catholic Bishops\u2019 Council termed the statement as irresponsible and made with an ulterior-motive. \u201cThe commission made the statement without consulting any Church, that too on a subject that is out of their jurisdiction,\u201d said the council\u2019s spokesperson Varghese Vallikkatt. \u201cThis is against the Constitution and comes as a shock to all those who stand for freedom of religion,\u201d he said, according to\u00a0The Times of India<\/a><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The NCW recommendations<\/span><\/h3>\n

The commission\u2019s chairperson, Rekha Sharma, said the commission has also sought an investigation by a central agency into the two scandals that surfaced in Kerala last month \u2013 one involving\u00a0four priests<\/a>\u00a0of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church blackmailing and sexually abusing a woman and the second one in which a Catholic nun\u00a0accused<\/a>\u00a0the Bishop of Jalandhar, Franco Mulakkal, of rape.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have recommended that confession be abolished from the church,\u201d\u00a0The Indian Express<\/a><\/em>\u00a0quoted Sharma as saying. \u201cIt is being misused by the priests. Many women are suffering. Women cannot share their private life with priests,\u201d Sharma said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharma also said the commission has recommended an investigation into the cases \u201cbecause such incidents are on a rise in Kerala\u201d. \u201cThey [investigative agency] should go deep into it to see how many churches are involved in these incidents,\u201d Sharma said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The National Commission of Women constituted an inquiry committee to look into the alleged sexual assaults against women in churches, and has sent its report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi and the DGP of Kerala and Punjab, PTI reported.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kerala BJP leader George Kurian on Thursday warned that any move to abolish the practice will be met with opposition. The National Commission for Women\u2019s\u00a0recommendation\u00a0asking the government to abolish the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-news","category-priests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62307,"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62306\/revisions\/62307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/malankaraorthodox.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}