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Syro-Malabar Church Establishes ´Green´ Spirituality As High Priority

Updated: September 13, 2005 05:00 PM GMT
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The Syro-Malabar Church, one of India´s two Oriental Catholic rites, plans an "aggressive" campaign to promote sustainable development and ecological awareness among its members.

The Church´s synod of bishops has decided to promote sensitivity to and respect for the natural environment as part of a Christian way of life.

The synod met Aug. 28-Sept. 2 at the Church´s headquarters in Ernakulam, a major town in Kerala state, 2,595 kilometers south of New Delhi. Another Oriental rite, the Syro-Malankara Church, also is based in Kerala. They and the larger Latin rite make up the Indian Catholic Church.

In a Sept. 8 statement, Syro-Malabar spokesperson Father Paul Thelakat urged Church members to protect the environment and promote healthy habits.

"The synod discussed the environmental crisis looming in the state and decided to promote eco-sensitivity among its members. We need a green spirituality for sustainable development," the statement reads.

Earlier, the synod asked Bishop Mathew Arackal of Kanjirapally to study the issue and suggest ways for the Church to intervene.

Bishop Arackal, an expert on biodiversity and sustainable development, submitted his recommendations in an 80-page book written in Malayalam, the local language. The major thrust of the book, whose title translates as "For the fullness of life," is in promoting "green" spirituality among Catholics. It was released during the synod.

In his introductory remarks to the book, Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil of Ernakulam-Angamaly, who heads the Syro-Malabar Church as its major archbishop, observes that the lackluster performance of the agriculture sector in Kerala has seriously affected its people.

The crisis has driven many farmers into a "debt trap," leading some to commit suicide. "The development of science and technology and over-exploitation of nature and its resources have destabilized the checks and balances of the ecosystem," the cardinal wrote, stressing the need to regain "the balance of the ecosystem."

According to the prelate, the Church is "very much concerned" about environmental degradation, which he said threatens human existence.

Bishop Arackal, 60, says the Church plans to create "awareness among our members, especially among the youth, about sustainable eco-development and a new spiritual approach for better living."

In his words, the Church will lead an "aggressive campaign" to promote environmental spirituality and biodiversity. It has a "moral duty" to warn its members about "imminent disaster" stemming from environmental degradation, he told UCA News Sept. 12.

"Our ancestors never used chemical fertilizers in the soil. They never looted the environment for their benefit," the bishop said, adding that he is only reiterating their stance.

Greed has driven people to pollute the air, water and earth, and to destroy forests, Bishop Arackal observed, though recent calamities have opened people´s eyes to the realization that "nature is taking vengeance on us."

As a priest, before becoming bishop in 2001, he headed a development society in the diocese that promoted environmental awareness among farmers in Kerala´s Idukki district. In 2003 the Indian government appointed the bishop a consultant to its National Planning Commission, headquartered in New Delhi.

One point the bishop stresses in his new book is the need to preserve Kerala´s traditional sacred groves. Most of these estimated 800 wooded areas near places of worship are found around Hindu temples. For centuries they have protected a variety of animal and plant species, and conserved water.

Bishop Arackal says the groves symbolize the "eco-sensitivity of our great-grandfathers," while the current neglect of the environment betrays the present generation´s ignorance. "We must realize that sustainable development comes only through eco-friendly living. God created man and put him in Eden as its custodian, but he sinned against God. The first sin is the first attempt of man against God and nature," explained the bishop, who has urged farmers to return to organic farming.

Environmentalist E. Kunjikrishnan, a Hindu, welcomed the Church´s move to promote green spirituality among its members. "It will have a good impact among the agrarian community and help create new awareness about environmental protection," he told UCA News.

However, some other environmentalists expressed skepticism about the Church´s motive. In the view of Sethu Aravindan, environmental protection and biodiversity have become "gold mines" for NGOs. "So when the Syro-Malabar Church talks about environmental protection, I doubt its sincerity, as (the Church) has a chain of NGOs in the state," he told UCA News.

Aravindan, who filed a series of public-interest litigation cases against land grabbers in Idukki district, observed that some influential Church members are behind massive forestland encroachment there.

"Now the predators of nature are playing the role of the protector," he remarked.

Bishop Arackal dismissed Aravindan´s remarks as cynical, though he acknowledged Catholics were the majority among the initial settlers who cleared forests in the hilly regions of central and north Kerala.

"The government at the time encouraged Christian settlers to encroach on forest land for cultivation as the state was facing food shortages. It´s unfair to blame the community now for the service and sacrifice it had made for the society," Bishop Arackal said.

Christians from central Kerala began migrating to the northern Malabar region in the late 1920s. In 1962, the government encouraged another wave of migration to the High Range region in central Kerala.

Some see the Church campaign as a form of repentance for earlier misdeeds. Christian planters from Kanjirapally and Palai dioceses "looted nature and its resources, Joseph John told UCA News. So it is good, the 25-year-old Catholic said, "that (the) Kanjirapally bishop is (now) trying to reverse its impact."

END

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