Bishop Condemns Vandalism of Church in Kerala

ICC Note

A church said, “…as Christians, we are exposed to the growth of different religious extremism, especially that of Hindu but also Muslim background.”

09/06/2011 India (Gulf Times)-A Catholic church in Kerala has been ransacked by masked vandals, a bishop said yesterday, denouncing “the growth of… religious extremism” in the country.

Stanley Roman, bishop of the Kollam diocese in Kerala, told the Fide Catholic news agency that on Sunday 20 masked men had entered the small church.

They proceeded to destroy the altar, the priest’s vestments and the small confessional rooms, added the bishop who visited the damaged church on Monday.

“Some Catholics who live nearby went to the church because they heard noises, but the criminals threw them out, threatening them, and then they escaped,” he added.

He stressed that he was “concerned that, as Christians, we are exposed to the growth of different religious extremism, especially that of Hindu but also Muslim background.”

The bishop said that the church plans to build a larger church on the site in Kottenkulangara.

“Perhaps this project has alarmed the Hindu extremist groups that already, indirectly, seek to intimidate us. We have had, in recent years, a growth of these Hindu extremist groups in Kerala and we begin to suffer the consequences,” he said.

Small Islamic groups are also proliferating. “And all this could endanger social peace and religious identity that has always characterised Kerala,” the Catholic bishop warned.

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