Christians protest against ´rude´ Catholic schools

Published Date: July 9, 2009

The head of the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh has promised to look into the grievances of a Christian group that recently organized prayers for Church schools to treat people with dignity.

Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal told UCA News on July 8 that he would look into the matter but expressed his disapproval of Christians airing their grievances against Church schools in public.

Archbishop Leo
Cornelio of Bhopal

On July 5, about 150 members of Christian Adhikar Manch (forum for Christian rights) prayed and sang hymns for two hours in front of St. Joseph Girls Senior School, a Catholic school in the state capital of Bhopal.

The protesters also carried placards, some of them with the words, “God forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.”

The group also threatened to hold similar protests in front of all Catholic schools in the state if the Church authorities fail to resolve their grievances.

The protesters, made up of Catholics and Protestants, have sent a memorandum to Archbishop Cornelio to take corrective steps to improve the system.

The prelate views the protest as an “outcome of denial of admission.” He noted some reputed Catholic schools in the state face a “huge rush for admissions” that is beyond their capacity to cope. “That makes people hostile and level allegations,” he said.

But Sheela Santiago, president of the ecumenical group that organized the protest, said that they prayed the school authorities would treat people more politely. School principals, she alleged, treat people arrogantly and rudely. They do not bother to see Christians who want to meet them and sometimes ask their security guards to chase visitors away, she said.

Santiago says her group decided to act after Christians found the humiliating treatment too much to bear.

One of the complaints from protesters is they have difficulty getting their children admitted to the schools, even though the children are Christians.

Madhya Pradesh has some 500 Catholic schools, according to Father Anand Muttungal, the Church spokesperson in the state.

John Antony, a Catholic parent who did not join the protest, said more than 90 percent of Christian schools in the state mistreat people. He said he has also noticed a “general trend” of rudeness and arrogant behavior by Christian school authorities across the state. “Even if they don´t give admission, they should behave properly with regard to the parents,” he asserted.

Santiago said her group had informed the archbishop about the problem earlier and he had instructed the principals to give preferential treatment to Christians. However, the principals continue “their dictatorial attitude,” she added.

Archbishop Cornelio says the principals have been dealing with people in a proper manner after he issued his instructions.

Father P.P. Joseph, secretary of the archdiocese´s education commission and principal of Bhopal School of Social Science, said the protest was unwarranted. “Even if they had some genuine grievances they should have taken it up with the authorities concerned,” he said.

He asserted Church schools always treat Christians well and denied any impropriety or “aberrations as the protesters claimed.”

The principal of St. Joseph Girls Senior School was not available when UCA News tried to contact her.

Sister Mary Sebastian, principal of another school in Bhopal, said Christian schools always face these allegations whenever they deny admission. She also said Church schools try their best to admit as many Christians as possible. “There is no point in running schools if we don´t care for our people,” she asserted.

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