Joseph Kallarangatt

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Gregorian University
, Rome

Syro-Malabar Catholic Church serving as the Bishop of the Eparchy of Palai since 2004 succeeding Mar Joseph Pallikaparampil
.

Prior to Kallarangatt's ascent as Bishop he served in various roles in the Eparchy as well as in the Seminary including as the President of the Paurastya Vidyapitam in Vadavathoor. After his installation as Bishop, He serves as a Substitute Member of the Syro Malabar Church's Permanent Synod and was the head of the church's doctrinal commission .[1][2]

Early life and career

Joseph Kallarangatt was born on 27 January 1956, in Kayyoor located in the

Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.[1]

Pastoral ministry

2004–2018: Rise to prominence

On 18 March 2004, Kallarangatt was appointed as the 3rd Bishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Palai, after the resignation of Bishop Joseph Pallikaparambil. His episcopal consecration occurred on 2 May 2004 conducted by Archbishop of Changanacherry Joseph Powathil and his enthronement was conducted by Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil.[1] Later he also received an appointed to the chairmanship of the Synodal Commission for Family, Laity and Life. The diocese (eparchy) of Palai has the largest concentration of Syro-Malabar Catholics in Kerala, from where Kallarangatt's clout in the church grew considerably and he became known as an authority on theology, eventually authoring 30 books on the subject.[2]

The 31st plenary meeting of the CBCI was held at Alphonsian Pastoral Institute Pala from 5 to 12 February 2014 under the patronage of Joseph Kallarangatt as the local host.[3]

On 28 August 2016, Kallarangatt was sent to

doctrinal committee of the church, which produced a report concluding that the practice of yoga was incompatible with Christian beliefs. The report stated that yoga could be practised for health benefits but to interpret results from it as spiritual benefits had far reaching and dangerous consequences.[6]

2018–2021: Controversies in the church

In early September 2018, the church became the subject of a major controversy after a group of nuns led protests over inaction against Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of having raped and sexually exploited a nun multiple times over a period of 2 years. The nun was complaining to various authorities in the church hierarchy since 2017 but it had elicited no response. She eventually lodged a police complaint against Mulakkal on 28 June 2018, the protesting nuns stated that Mulakkal had powerful supporters within the church.[7] Bishop Kallarangatt was one of the first church authorities she had confided to back in June 2017.[7][8] During the police investigation, he was brought in for questioning and stated that the nun had only made a verbal complaint with him and not a written one.[8] Mulakkal was later arrested in September 2018 and the Palai diocese extended its support for him.[9]

On 3 February 2020, Kallarangatt presided over the consecration function for Jose Pulickal's appointment as the 4th Bishop of the

neonatal care to women giving birth to their fourth child in Church run hospitals, and scholarships for the fourth and subsequent children of families who get admitted at Church run engineering colleges.[12]

2021 Love and narcotics jihad controversy

On 8 September 2021, Bishop Kallarangatt sparked a major controversy during a sermon at

Oriental Orthodoxy expressed the strongest condemnations stating that Kallarangatt had fallen into the design of the Sangh Parivar and was creating divisions among minorities with conspiracy theories at a time of growing fascism in India which threatened all of them.[17] Metropolitan Theodosius Mar Thoma, the head of the Eastern Protestant Saint Thomas Christian denomination also openly derided Kallarangatt for attempting to aggravate communal divisions in Kerala.[18]

From within the Syro-Malabar Church, the former spokesman of the Synod, Father Paul Thelakkat criticised Kallarangatt for having a

irreligious back to the faith. She alleged that he was trying to strengthen an extremist faction of clergy within the church and dishonestly trying to realign it with the Bharatiya Janata Party to meet his own ends. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is traditionally aligned with the Indian National Congress in its opposition to the Communists in the state.[21] The Catholic oriented Joint Christian Council (JCC) and the Kerala Catholic Reformation Movement (KCRM) criticised Kallarangatt on similar lines, raising concerns that the controversy was purposeful to distract from the sexual assault and corruption allegations surrounding the church's top leadership and created to forge an alliance with the Sangh Parivar in exchange for warding off investigations from agencies of the Narendra Modi government.[9]

There were also strong condemnations from Muslim organisations who stated that such remarks coming from a bishop was unexpected; criticisms of his statement were made that described it as promoting prejudice against Muslims among Christians and involved varied demands for retraction, apologies, evidence and clarifications.[2][22] Some of them organised a protest march in Palai to the Bishop's House demanding legal action against him, it saw the participation of 200 people. It led to a counter protest by supporters of the bishop along with the involvement of several local politicians. Both the marches were broken off by the police and participants charged for violation of COVID-19 protocols.[23] The Hindutva proponent right wing Bharatiya Janata Party extended its full support to the bishop claiming that he was revealing the "truth" of a widespread conspiracy that everyone else was trying to hide, several senior state functionaries of the party visited him at his residence after the protests. Joseph Perumthottam, the Archbishop of his ecclesiastical province, Changanacherry had also granted his support to Kallarangatt. He endorsed the bishop through an article in the church controlled newspaper Deepika. The Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council (KCBC) in which Kallarangatt and Perumthottam held influential positions released a statement declaring that it stood by the bishop.[24] The JCC stated that the two clashing protest marches could have led to a riot,[9] and held a protest of their own demanded Kallarangatt to release a apology and raised concerns that the Changanacherry lobby was hijacking the church.[25]

The Pala diocese issued a clarification stating that the bishop did not imply that all Muslims were doing so but only a small minority of extremists who were true believers. The same message was reiterated in communications from the KCBC and Archbishop Perumthottam.

Left Democratic Front, the communist led ruling coalition in Kerala also extended his support, criticising opponents of the bishop and accusing them of misrepresenting the bishop's statement.[26]

The

Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the largest party in the Left Democratic Front stated that it was the first time he was hearing about such a thing as "narcotics jihad" and that Kallarangatt being an influential and learned man should think before speaking and remember his civil obligation of not creating divisions in society, an obligation which all religious leaders have.[27] In addition, he stated drug trafficking and consumption of narcotics were are a serious criminal and social issue respectively but could not be tied to religious affiliations, and that allegations of "narcotics jihad" and "love jihad" were delusional with no evidential support, citing data on interfaith marriages and on suspects and convicts in narcotics cases whose affiliations did not have any unusual ratios and reflected the general distribution of religious identities in the population of the state.[28] Responding to demands of legal action, he stated that the government will not initiate any as the bishop was within his rights to address his sermon's attendees and because he did not intend to cause any communal enmity.[19]

A case was registered against Kallarangatt by the Kerala Police in November 2021 over his remarks.[29]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Bishop of Palai Diocese, Joseph Kallarangatt". Union of Catholic Asian News. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Varma, Vishnu (21 September 2021). "Explained: Kerala Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt and the row behind his 'love and narcotic jihad' theory". The Indian Express.
  3. ^ "H. E. Mar Joseph Kallarangatt". Eparchy of Palai. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Kerala's Syro-Malabar Catholics get new diocese in UK". The News Minute. Press Trust of India. 29 July 2016.
  5. ISSN 0971-751X
    .
  6. ^ "Yoga and Christian beliefs cannot go together: Catholic Church". Mathrubhumi. Mananthavady. 4 April 2018.
  7. ^ a b Konikkara, Aathira (26 September 2018). "He prayed like a holy man as she shed tears: Bishop Franco Mulakkal and a nun's fight for justice". The Caravan.
  8. ^
    ISSN 0971-751X
    .
  9. ^ a b c John, Haritha (17 September 2021). "The right turn by a section of Kerala's Catholic church is sheer opportunism". The News Minute.
  10. ISSN 0971-751X
    .
  11. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Catholic church in Kerala announces welfare scheme for families to have more children". Mathrubhumi. Kottayam. 27 July 2021.
  13. ^ Das, Wimal Mary (27 July 2021). "Pregnancy package of Indian Catholic Church, sparks controversy". SMGLJT.
  14. ^ "Indian bishop's promotion of large families sparks controversy". Union of Catholic Asian News. 28 July 2021.
  15. ^ "Kerala bishop claims Muslims have launched 'narcotics jihad', faces criticism". Scroll.in. 10 September 2021.
  16. ^ Philip, Shaju (10 September 2021). "Non-Muslims are targets of 'narcotic jihad': Kerala bishop". The Indian Express.
  17. ^ a b c Krishnakumar, R. (8 October 2021). "Pulpit polemics: Bishop's homily on 'narcotic jehad' catches Kerala by surprise". Frontline. The Hindu Group.
  18. ^ a b Dayal, John (17 September 2021). "Internally bleeding Indian church too weak to face challenges". Union of Catholic Asian News.
  19. ^ a b Raghunath, Arjun (16 September 2021). "BJP's efforts to cash in on 'narcotic jihad' row in Kerala suffers setback". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  20. ^ "Nuns in Kerala Stage Walkout Protesting Priest's Speech Against Muslims". The News Minute. 13 September 2021.
  21. ^ Henry, Nikhila (14 September 2021). "'Narcotics Jihad': Why is a Catholic Nun Asking a Kerala Bishop to Apologise?". The Quint.
  22. ^ "Kerala Bishop Says Non-Muslims Are Targets of Organised 'Narcotic Jihad', Draws Flak". The Wire. 10 September 2021.
  23. ^
    ISSN 0971-751X
    .
  24. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  25. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  26. ^ Philip, Shaju (13 September 2021). "CPM ally Kerala Congress (M) extends support to bishop". The Indian Express.
  27. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  28. ^ "Kerala CM cites data to refute claims linking religion to 'narcotics, love jihad'". Scroll.in. 23 September 2021.
  29. ^ "Kerala: Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt Booked For 'Narcotic Jihad' Remarks". The Wire. Retrieved 15 November 2021.

External links

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