കഴിഞ്ഞ കുറേക്കാലങ്ങളായി അമേരിക്കയിൽ മുത്തോലത്തിനാൽ നടമാടിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്ന സഭാ സാമുദായിക വിരുദ്ധ പ്രവർത്തനങ്ങളുടെയും മനുക്ഷ്യാവകാശ ലങ്കനങ്ങളുടെയും സഭയിലെ സാമ്പത്തീക കുറ്റകൃത്യങ്ങളുടെയും വ്യക്തമായ രൂപ രേഖകൾ പല രൂപത്തിലും പല ഭാവത്തിലും നിരവതിപേർ സഭയുടെ ഉന്നതാധികാരികളുടെ ശ്രദ്ധയിൽ പല തവണ പെടുത്തിയതാണ്. അൽമായർ മുതൽ വൈദീകർ വരെ തെളിവുകളുടെ അടിസ്ഥാനത്തിൽ അയച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന ഒരു പരാതിക്കും ഇന്നുവരെ യാതൊരു നടപടികളും എന്തിന് മറുപടിപോലും കൊടുത്തതായി കാണുന്നില്ല. ദിവസ്സം തോറും പുറത്തുവരുന്ന പരിശുദ്ധ ഫ്രാൻസ്സീസ്സ് പാപ്പയുടെ പ്രഗ്യാപനങ്ങളുമായി താതാമ്മ്യം പ്രാപിക്കാൻ ശ്രമിക്കുന്ന യാതൊരു ശ്രമവും സഭാ നേതൃത്വത്തിൽ നിന്നോ പിതാക്കന്മാരിൽ നിന്നോ കാണുന്നില്ല. കുഞ്ഞാടുകളുടെ വിശ്വാസ്സ പരിസംരക്ഷണത്തിനായും സഭയിലുള്ള കൂറ്‌ അചഞ്ചലമായി നിലനിർത്തുന്നതിനുമായി പരിശുദ്ധ പാപ്പായോട്‌ ഐക്ക്യപ്പെടുന്നതിന്‌ പകരമായി സഭയിലെ ക്രിമിനലുകളെ സംരക്ഷിക്കുന്ന നയമാണ് ഇന്ന് സഭാനേതൃത്വം കൈക്കൊള്ളുന്നത്.
ഒരു വൈദീകന്റെ ദുഷ്കർമ്മങ്ങൾക്ക് വെള്ള പൂശാൻ അറിഞ്ഞു കൊണ്ട് നിന്നുകൊടുത്ത ബഹുമാനപ്പെട്ട ഷവലിയാർ ബന്നി പുന്നത്തറക്ക് ഒരു തിരിഞ്ഞു നോട്ടം തീർത്തും ആവശ്യമാണ്‌. ക്നാനായ രീജ്യനിലെ വൈദീകരിൽ ചികാഗോയ്ക്ക് വെളിയിൽ നിന്നും വന്നത് വെറും അഞ്ചുപേർ മാത്രം. അവരിൽ എല്ലാവരും തന്നെ ധ്യാനം തീരും മുൻപ് തിരിച്ചു പോയി. ചില ഇടവകകളിൽ നിന്ന് മാത്രം നാമമാത്രമായി മൂന്നോ നാലോ അൽമായർ മാത്രമാണ് വന്നത്. ഈ ധ്യാനത്തിൽ പങ്കെടുത്തവരുടെ ഇടവക / മിഷൻ അടിസ്ഥാനത്തിലുള്ള കണക്ക് ഉടൻ പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിക്കുന്നത് നല്ലതായിരിക്കും. ചിക്കാഗോയിലെ പ്രാഞ്ചികൾ എന്ന് മുദ്രകുത്തി വിളിക്കപ്പെട്ടവർപോലും പങ്കെടുക്കാതെ മാറി നിന്ന ഈ ധ്യാനത്തിന്റെ വിജയത്തിനായി നാൽപ്പതിലതികം രജിസ്ട്രേഷൻ ക്നാനായ സമൂഹത്തിന് വെളിയിൽ നിന്നാണ് മുത്തു തരപ്പെടുത്തിയത്. പിന്നെ എന്തിനാണ് ക്നാനായ രീജ്യൻ ധ്യാനം എന്ന് പേരിട്ടത് ? കൊട്ടിഘോഷിച്ച പിതാക്കന്മാരെല്ലാം എവിടെപോയി ? ഇവിടെ തിരസ്കരിക്കപ്പെട്ടത്‌ ശാലോമിന്റെ ധ്യാനമല്ല മറിച്ച് മുത്തുവെന്ന കപട സന്യാസ്സിയുടെ മൂടുപടമാണ്. ക്നാനായ രീജ്യന്റെയോ ക്നാനായ ജനത്തിന്റെയോ ഉദ്ധാരണമല്ല മറിച്ച് തന്റെ രാഷ്ട്രീയ അജണ്ട നടപ്പിലാക്കുകയാണ് ഈ ധ്യാനത്തിലൂടെ മുത്തു ചെയിതത്. ഞായാറാഴ്ച വിശുദ്ധ ബലി മദ്ധ്യേ നടത്തിയ അതി ഭീകരമായ മുത്തോലത്തിന്റെ പ്രസംഗത്തിലൂടെ മൂന്ന് ദിവസ്സത്തെ ശാലോം ടീമിന്റെ കഠിനാദ്ധ്വാനവും വിശ്വാസ്സികളുടെ ആൽമീയ നിർവൃതിയും ഒരു നിമിഷം കൊണ്ട് തകർന്ന് തരിപ്പണമായില്ലേ.
ദൈവ വചനത്തിലും കർത്താവിലും മാർപ്പാപ്പയിലും ഒന്നും വിശ്വസിക്കാത്ത അനുസ്സരിക്കാത്ത പുരോഹിതരെ നിങ്ങൾ ആണ് ഇന്നത്തെ ഏറ്റവും വലിയ നിരീശ്വരവാതികൾ. കാപട്യത്തിന്റെ മുഖം മൂടി അണിഞ്ഞ് തിരുവസ്ത്രങ്ങൾ ഉടുത്ത് അർപ്പിക്കുന്ന ബലികൾ എല്ലാം പുരോഹിതരില്ലാത്ത വിശ്വാസ്സികൾ മാത്രം അർപ്പിക്കുന്ന ബലികലാണ്. നിങ്ങളുടെ മാറ്റം ഇന്ന് സഭ ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നു - ആവശ്യപ്പെടുന്നു. ക്നാനായ സമുദായത്തിന്റെ നിലനിൽപ്പിനും സഭയുടെ വളർച്ചക്കും മൂലക്കാട്ട് പിതാവിന്റെ രാജി ചോതിച്ചു വാങ്ങാൻ കോട്ടയം രൂപതാ വൈദീകർ തയ്യാറാകണം. എങ്കിൽ മാത്രമേ മുതോലത്തെ പോലുള്ള സമുദായ ദ്രോഹികളെ നിലക്ക് നിർത്താൻ കഴിയൂ. കുറച്ചു മാസ്സം മുൻപ് ചിക്കാഗോയിലെ കുറേ പേര്‍ ചേര്‍ന്ന് മുതോലത്തിന് എതിരെ തയ്യാറാക്കി പിതാക്കന്മാര്‍ക്ക് കൊടുത്ത സുദീര്‍ക്കമായ പരാതികൾ ചുവടെ കൊടുക്കുന്നു.
Memorandum
To: His
Excellency Mar Bishop Jacob Angadiath
From: Parishioners
of St. Mary’s Church, Morton Grove and Sacred Heart Church, Maywood
Date: December
28, 2012
Subject:
Petition For Removal of Fr. Abraham Mutholam as Vicar General, Fr. Abraham
Mutholam of Knanaya people in U.S.A
The Vicar General, Fr.
Mutholath (“VG”), has betrayed the people of the Knanaya Community in North
America, especially the people of the Knanaya Community in Chicago. Rev.Fr. Abraham Mutholath is failed
to do his duty as a Parish priest as well as “VG” of Knanaya Region. His
primary duty is to lead the faith community towards our Lord God and his every
action is proving that he is a crooked Politian. As
such, the Parishioners of St. Mary’s Church in Morton Grove
and Sacred Heart
Church in Maywood petition Your Excellency to remove
Fr. Abraham Mutholam as Vicar General and Parish Priest. We believe that many Knanaya people become
political pawns in the hands of the
VG. We have lost confidence in our Vicar
General who has been cheating ordinary people in the name of God. We believe he engaged in intentionally
mislead the Knanaya people just to get donations and secure his positions and
personal gains. In support of this request, the Parishioners state:
In 2006, in order to form
the “Knanaya” Church in Chicago, Fr. Abraham
Mutholath announced during mass and many meeting that any Church purchased in Chicago by the Knanaya
people shall be endogamous. Using this
same propaganda, the VG convinced Knanaya people in many other cities in the United States
to build “Knanaya” Churches. Many members of the Knanaya community, when
deciding to donate money for Knanaya Churches, relied on VG’s assurance that
the Knanaya Churches would be endogamous.
Subsequently, just a few
months ago in Chicago, the VG announces that a
Knanaya person who marries someone outside of the community will continue
his/her membership in the Knanaya Church and the spouse and children of this person
shall not be members of the Knanaya
Church. This is referenced to by many in the Knanaya
Community as the “Moolakattu Formula”. This contradicts the propaganda the VG used in
2006 to convince people to donate money to build “Knanaya Churches.”
Consequently, many Knanaya
people suffered great distress and harm when receiving Your Excellency’s
pastoral letter, stating the Knanaya Churches are not strictly endogamous. Essentially, this letter insinuates there is
no difference between the Syro
Malabar Church
and Knanaya Mission. This contradicts
the propaganda the VG used in 2006 to convince people to donate money to build
“Knanaya Churches.”
We,
the undersigned,
absolutely agree and believe that the practice of endogamy is mandatory
to future existence of the Knanaya people. Basically, where there is
Knanaya, there must
be endogamy. This is a tradition that is
centuries old and must be maintained in our community.
Unfortunately, we believe
that many Knanaya people become political pawns in the hands of the VG.
We have lost confidence in our Vicar General who has been cheating
ordinary people in the name of God. We
believe he engaged in intentionally mislead the Knanaya people just to get
donations.
In supplement to the foregoing, please find below
additional acts of deception and fraud conducted by the VG:.
- Through the Church bulletin and Sunday homely
he stated several time our children will be lost if they continue going to
Latin Church and their moral will be lost as American Community. This is
the way he attack Latin
Churches and Our
nation’s dignity. He openly criticizes & discourage people attending
mass at Latin churches, whereas during weekdays he offer Latin mass &
lives in Latin church.
- When he was a Parish priest in Maywood Sacred Heart
Church, he collected
and saved almost $650000-00 to build youth center and spent this whole
money to renovate the Church without the proper permission from Diocese.
This money has been collected through our kids piggy bank and other fund
raising events to make our kids attached to our faith community. This been
a big wound in our young people and still everybody is very much upset. He
cheated our kids and young generation. He always proclaims that our Bishop
Angadiath is not going to do anything and he have the command over him. What
ever he says, Bishop going to approve in spending. There is a big
financial mismanagement in both church.
- Please do personal hearing from
previous Maywood
Church accountant
about financial fraud he done before he left the church as a parish
priest. He was very upset when accountant ask for some clarification
regarding spending and that lead him to ask for volunteer step down due to
mental torture. He always handle church money for his personal benefit and
we request you to kindly audit
through your office and understand how he disobeyed your office.
- Since “Family unity is our primary concern ’’
He is acted several times to destroy some families through making quarrels
in between husband and wife. There are number of families have issues and
those problems created through Fr. Mutholam when the guys are not listening
to him, he went and threaten their wives through Bible Quote.
- Started a new practice of offering money to departed person’s body/soul in
the name of spiritual flower and discouraged the offering of real flower.
We can see a collection box near by coffin in the church during the wake
and funeral Mass. Collected money go to his private limited Agape
Movement.
- He
collecting money through Religious store from both Chicago Churches
and putting it in the Agape Account.
- He
is taking all and unlimited religious offering money to Agape Movement and
not paying the fair share of Diocese portion. Estimated monthly income
religious offering is more than $ 10,000.00. This is excluding personal
donation.
- He
is taking the Agape fund to Eastern
State of India and
Kottayam to glorify himself and conducted several inaugural meetings with
powerful politicians and clergy men to get fame. Since St. Thomas Syro
Malabar Diocese and its Churches are with Tax exempt status, there is no
need of transferring church money to Agape.
- Always facilitating illegal
contributors and encouraging through Holly Alter and Church/Region media.
- Holly Alter is using to tarnish his
political opponents through bad phrasing and threatening with Holly Bible
quoting.
- Misusing and abusing the Holly Alter and
precious offering through his camera and media and publically proclaiming
as long as he have his camera and his personal controlled media, nobody
can do nothing to him. Also he publically stated several times that he is
a politician and he will use his people according to the situation and if
anybody wants they can use him as well.
- One time, he refused to offer Christmas mass
in a rented church where we used to have regular mass every Sunday, saying
Jesus will be born only in our own church. But after a persistent
complaint to the Bishop, he later agreed to say the mass.
- He refused to announce publicly in the church the
names of Knanites marrying non knanya in the past and now he says it is
okay to tell the names publically.
- Recently, a Knanaya youth had to get
attorney's help to get a wedding "kuri" (permission), because
the priest was asking for money in exchange for the"kuri". This
happened under his leadership.
- Once a youth invited him to attend a wedding
at the Syro Malabar Cathedral
Church but he
refused, saying that he will attend only wedding at Knanaya Churches. But
in another case, he did attended wedding in a Latin Church. Such acts have discouraged many youths
to not attend Knanaya Churches.
- In the past, he discouraged to allow Malayalam
speaking priests who serve Latin Churches/Syro Malabar Churches to say
mass in Knanaya Churches and now he has joined Syro Malabar
Church and say Mass
now in Knanaya church.
- There is a retreat that will be held the
summer of 2013 at a five star hotel. Several people had raised concerns
regarding this retreat because this event is against KCCNA and Fr.
Mutholam plans to have a cultural program during the retreat. He has
called these people with concerns and threatened them by using abusive
language.
- About 5 months ago, there was a memorial mass
that took place at Sacred Heart Knanaya Catholic Church in Chicago. Fr. Abraham
Mutholam had ordered to put the collection money that was received during
that mass into his personal account. You can ask any of the 2012 officials
for verification of what happened.
- He has been removing the Knanaya priests from their positions
in North America since they have had differing opinions, and sending them
back to India.
An example of this would be the Knanaya Priest that served in Houston, Fr.
Jose Illikunnumpurath and the Knanaya Priest that served in Miami, Fr. Stephen
Vettuvelil.
- Few months ago, he told parishioners that
there will be a memorial mass for all the dead in the past the next day.
To the surprise of parishioners who came with photos of their beloved ones
the next day, they saw a mass celebrating birthday of the wife of a rich
parishioner
- Fr. Abraham Mutholam is a crooked politician.
For the past 4 years we haven't had elections for the Chicago Knanaya
community. This year we did and he took part in the elections. He's been
dividing the community. We do not want a politician leading the church,
instead, we would like to have dedicated priest.
These examples show Fr.
Mutholam has been practicing in a manner that is contrary to the wishes of his
Parishioners and the Catholic Church. We
fear that leaving him in charge of pastoral care of Knanaya people will jeopardize
the Catholic faith and practices of the Knanaya people. Therefore, we
respectfully request Your Excellency please remove Fr. Abraham Mutholath from
the post of Vicar General serving Knanaya people in the USA.
ക്നാനായ രീജ്യനിലെ ചില വൈദീകർ അയച്ച ഒരു പരാതി കാണാൻ ഇവിടെ ക്ലിക്ക് ചെയ്യുക
ഇനി മുത്തോലത്തിനെതിരെ കൊടുത്ത മറ്റൊരു പരാതി നോക്കൂ. ഈ പരാതിയുടെ കോപ്പി കാക്കനാട്ട് ആലഞ്ചേരി പിതാവിനും കോട്ടയത്ത്‌ മൂലക്കാട്ട് പിതാവിനും പിന്നെ പണ്ടാരശ്ശേരി പിതാവിനും കൊടുത്തിരുന്നു.
Date: February 22, 2013
Subject: Petition for removal of Fr. Abraham Mutholam
as Vicar General and as St. Mary’s Parish Vicar
Dear Your
Excellency Mar Jacob Angadiath,
As you know, the Knanaya community in North America has been going
through some tough times for the last 27 years and it has been, especially,
hard for the last few months. I would like to take this time and point out that
the source of our recent hardship and stress, unfortunately, has been the
betrayal by our own Vicar General Fr. Abraham Mutholam.
When the Knanaya churches were being established, the
community stood solidly behind Fr. Mutholam and contributed, both, financially
and emotionally, to the success of the project. The community has been working
with him throughout the last 7 years to establish more Knanaya churches around
the country. The community supported all the actions by the VG with the hope
that the church leaders were working hard to accomplish our eventual goal of a
Knanaya diocese as promised by the VG. Recently, it has been revealed that the
VG was betraying the community with no real actions towards accomplishing this
goal and, in some cases, working against the goal. This triggered me and many
of the community members to take a hard look back at all the actions and
statements from Fr. Mutholam during the last few years.
We were all surprised to find out that the VG was not only
betraying the community but also misleading the Syro-Malabar Eparchy and the
Kottayam Arch-eparchy. We had identified
a few of these in the memorandum submitted to your Excellency in December,
2012. Since then, we continued to monitor VG’s actions and statements and I
felt it is my responsibility, as a lay person, to bring to your attention some
of the recent abuses conducted by Fr. Mutholam.
These are listed below:
1. A very clear abuse of
power by using the Syro-Malabar “Palliyoganadapadikal” for his own selfish
goals and use them only when it is advantageous to himself.
a. An example of this is
the recent purchase of a new car without the concurrence from parish community
and, above all, without the sanction from the Syro-Malabar Hierarchy in North
America. The expense was $26000.00. This is a clear violation of the rules
specified in the “Palliyoganadapadikal”.
i. When this was
questioned at the St. Mary’s parish pothuyogam, recently, his response was that
according to the rules, he is not required to explain that to the community.
b. But whenever the
community takes an action to protest against activities that the community
deemed hurtful, the VG uses the rules to invalidate those protests.
i. An example of this is
the recent community wide protest against the pastoral letter. Fr. Mutholam
informed the community that all the actions they have taken are invalid
according to the rules of the diocese because the parish priests were not
present or leading the meetings when the protests were voiced. Note that the
actions by the community were unanimous and very emotional but the VG, not
only, ignored them but actively worked against them by asking the priests to
not participate in the meetings.
2. The VG has continued
to violate the church rules and, this time, being insubordinate and insulting towards
the Chicago St. Thomas eparchy and the Kottayam Arch-Eparchy.
a. An example of this is
the recent letter circulated to all Knanaya priests to be read in the parishes
(published on Sunday, Feb. 17th). The content of the letter was, in
itself, an in-subordination and I will provide the details of that next. It is
my understanding that such an official letter must be sanctioned and published
by the diocese officials only. This is, especially, true due to the fact that
the Knanaya region is not an autonomous governing entity within the
Syro-Malabar diocese.
b. As far as the content
of the letter is concerned, the VG has indicated that he himself does not agree
with the Knanaya formulae proposed by His Excellency Mar Mathew Moolakatt even
though he was in full agreement with it when it was published and also, was
actively, promoting it to the community. It was surprising to the parishioners
when he indicated, in the letter, that he is against the formulae. This is a
clear in-subordination and insult to the Kottayam Arch-Eparchy.
c. In the letter, the VG
also referred to the recent protests against the circular published by your
Excellency. It is our understanding that the circular verbiage was developed in
consultation with him. But, once the community disagreed with the circular, he
also turned against it by signing on to the protest resolution from St. Mary’s
parish council. He also drafted and distributed a resolution (published on
Sunday, January 20, 2013) directing that the least acceptable solution is the
“Moolakatt Formulae”. By this resolution, he not only insulted the community
but also discredited your Excellency.
d. Besides these
specific examples, in the past, there have been many instances where the VG
acted like an independent head of the Knanaya region (parallel to the Eparchy)
by publishing many circulars and directives violating the protocols of
Syro-Malabar Eparchy.
Fr. Mutholam has been acting as an independent administrator
without sub-ordination to either Chicago Syro-Malabar Eparchy or Kottayam
Arch-Eparchy. In the past, he has made statements that showed his unwillingness
and arrogance to listen to any constructive criticism from other priests or the
parish community. In many pothuyogams, he has publically humiliated anyone who
shown courage to offer constructive criticism. He, especially, disliked anyone
who expressed the knowledge of church rules and regulations. This is such a
common knowledge among the community that, even today, no one dares to ask or
provide feedback to him in public. As further evidence, to avoid any
questioning or criticisms, he has handpicked his supporters to fill the various
church administrative positions including the parish and pastoral councils. In
addition, the VG has made sure that he is the sole interface to the diocese for
other priests and the parishioners. This prevented the real feelings and
emotions of other priests and the community from reaching the diocesan
officials which resulted in the miss-representation of community’s position on
issues.
In conclusion, due to the many betrayals to the community
and the insubordination to the Eparchy, Fr. Mutholam has lost all credibility
and privileges to serve the church in his current positions. I, humbly, request
that he be removed from all of his positions, effective immediately, so that he
is not the one representing the community and church in future dialogues and
discussions. Additionally, I request that your Excellency appoint an enquiry
commission to investigate his actions in the past including abuse of power,
abuse of other priests, individuals, and finally, the misuse of church funds.
In order to take the Syro-Malabar diocese and the community to the next level
and to calm the emotions, please appoint a new VG and a new St. Mary’s Church
Vicar who is trustworthy, dynamic, diplomatic, and, above all, spiritual.
During this holy lent
season as we prepare to participate in our savior’s suffering, sacrifice, and
the resurrection, it is with great sadness that I submit this petition to your
Excellency. Please accept my apologies, in advance, if I have crossed any
boundaries with this letter. I, also, humbly request that your Excellency keep
this petition confidential so that there will not be any repercussions to my
family or myself.
