The Udupi diocese has appointed laity members to head commissions in the
Catholic Church, a step seen as bridging the gap between the laity and
the clergy.
Bishop Gerald Lobo appointed four laity members to head commissions which were earlier reserved for clergy.
For
the first time in India, laity has been admitted into the
administration and financial matters of the church, which has been seen
as a first step towards ending the century old feud between the two
groups for their roles in church administrations.
Bishop Lobo
headed a silent revolution towards empowerment of laity through the
Canara Organisation for Development and Peace (CODP) in many forms.
His
experience in social work came handy in including laity in Church
administration, which might raise a few eyebrows in the neighboring
Mangalore diocese.
“It was a tribute to the golden jubilee of the second Vatican council,” said Fr. Chetan of the diocese.
After
starting a movement in 2011 by motivating the laity to raise demands
with the clergy to share the power of church with them, reformist
leaders from Bangalore, Panaji, Chennai, Ernakulam, Hyderabad and Mumbai
converged in Mangalore on January 26, 2012, to impress up on the clergy
the need for sharing economic and administrative powers of the church.
“This
is being done to bring equality between the two classes of
Christianity. There were already glaring differences in the management
and administration of the church between the laity and the clergy,
especially in economic powers,” said Patrick D’Sa, vice-president of the
Federation of Concerned Catholic Christians.
“But the Udupi diocese has shown a light and this spirit should spread all over India,” he said.
Reformist
leader Gordon Jacobs from Mumbai felt this could be a new beginning and
said the Federation would be happy if the laity were allowed to
participate in every facet of the church administration.
"The
clergy manages the wealth properties of the church in accordance with
the Cannon law. But we feel it should be managed as per the law of the
land. The Bombay High Court order of 1960 had instructed the church to
have more than one trustee, but in many states, there is only one
trustee in the committee, which is either the bishop or the parish
priest of the church. But, with Udupi diocese appointing members of the
laity to four important commissions, a new order is on the making,” he
said.