Author: PNS Publication: The Pioneer Date: February 23, 2009 URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/158243/Catholic-Church-determined-to-oppose-law- reforms.html
Close on the heels of the objections raised by certain Muslim sects to some of the proposals of the Law Reforms Commission headed by retired Justice VR Krishna Iyer, the Catholic Church of the State has protested to some other suggestions of it indirectly warning the Left that any move to implement these proposals would have serious consequences as far as the coming Lok Sabha election is concerned. If the Muslims' objections were to proposals like better controls on polygamy, the Church is opposing the suggestions to put controls on couples' right to beget children, permit mercy killing (euthanasia) and to constitute trusts for managing church funds. The commission had submitted its proposals to the Law Ministry last month. Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil, Major Archbishop of Syro-Malabar Church, stated categorically that the commission's proposals were not acceptable to them. Inaugurating a seminar on the subject, Cardinal Vithayathil said that constitution of legislations harming the public good and freedom of society and individual was not appropriate as far as democracy was concerned. Reminding the Government that 99 per cent of Indians were believers, the Cardinal said any law, whether it be of the Government or the Church itself, should not be against the natural law of God, public good and common morality. He said the Catholic Church was opposing euthanasia, suicide and feticide because it considers life as invaluable. There was no justification for the proposal for constitution of new legislation for forming trusts when there were clear provisions in the Canon Law with regard to the management of the church's property and wealth. "Just like any other organization, the Church also is submitting all the details of income and expenditure to the Government. In that situation, we can't understand the meaning of the Government's move to constitute trusts for the church," Cardinal Vithayathil said. One of these proposals is not to permit more children than two per couple. The report clearly said that Governmental concessions need not be given to children born after the first two kids of the same couples. More than that there a fine should be levied from the couples for every child they begot after two children. This recommendation had come at a time when the Catholic Church in the State was searching for ways to encourage couples in the community to beget as many children as they could in a bid to prop up the falling Christian population growth. The church had even floated a new movement, Pro-Life, to encourage couples to beget as many children as possible in the context of the falling population growth rate among the believers. Bishop Mar Kallarangatt, who spoke in the seminar, said certain programmes the LDF Government was initiating in the garb of people's welfare were in fact shocking. He said the law committee's reforms submitted to the Government were immoral, violence-prone, harming individual freedom and promoting rejection of values. Infuriating some Muslim sects and religious scholars, the law commission had suggested that there was no need to permit polygamy. However, in special cases like lack of children in the relationship and non-curable disease of the wife, permitting another marriage for the husband could be considered. But for this, the husband must get the consent of the wife, the report said. Muslim leaders like Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliar of the Sunni sect had reacted sharply to the proposals saying they would not allow their implementation as they were against the principles of Qur'an. Observers are of the feeling that the Government is unlikely to implement any of these proposals lest it would prove harmful to the LDF in the coming election.
