Immaculate Conception Cathedral: This Puducherry church replaces the Vedapuri Ishwaran Temple destroyed by the Jesuits and the French Governor’s wife Madame Dupleix (as attested by Ananda Ranga Pillai) . The Puducherry bishopric is one of the wealthiest in India and even operates an unofficial money lending business.
This report by D.P. Satish was made in August 2009. We are reprinting it here with reference to the RBI’s interest in obtaining gold from Hindu temples to shore up the rupee. The Catholic Church is the largest landowner in India and a conservative estimate of its holdings is Rs 7000 crores plus (2009). Much of its land and wealth was appropriated from Hindu temples during colonial times. Yet there is no government over-site of Church administration, and no interference from the government in the appointment of bishops who are the wealth administrators. This must change. The Indian Church acts like a state within a state in the Indian Union yet gives its feudal allegiance to the Pope in Rome. In a secular democratic republic, there is no reason why Hindu deities must give up their wealth to the state when Christian bishops and their vast, tax-free properties go scot-free. — Editor
A debate in whether church properties in India should be governed by the government. Some leading figures from the community demanded a law at the recently held All India Catholic Union Conclave [in Goa]. But, the bishops are not ready.
The Catholic Church in India owns the largest chunk of non-agricultural land, and is known as the second largest employer after the Government of India. It’s annual budget equals that of the Indian Navy but the Catholic community has been asking where is the money and where is the transparency?
Their conclave in Goa discussed the tangle. “All over the world churches are subjected to the law of the state. There cannot be a state within a state. Religious organisations cannot form a state within a state,” says Catholic leader and former Union minister Eduardo Faleiro.
But, the shocked clergy are not in a mood to change their system. They claim that the demand is absurd and allows government interference.
“If you have a Waqf Board you are giving too much control to the government. That will add to large-scale corruption as we have seen where ever government has been in control of religious properties and institutions either in Islam or even in Hindu temples,” claims Catholic community leader Dr John Dayal.
The Catholic Church in India is over 500 years old and has total control over its assets across the country. Some Catholics feel the bishops are not the right people to handle properties worth several lakh crores. But so far, the government has kept quite on the row. — IBN Live, 9 August 2009
See also
Filed under: india | Tagged: christianity in india, corruption, foreign funds, roman catholic church, syro-malabar church |
BHARATA BHARATI 
Chenna Keshav on 23 May 2020 on Facebook
Do you know which is India’s biggest corporate?
No not Ambani or Tata… there is one that is valued with over 3,00,000 lakh crores of assets.
It is The Syro Malabar Church which has absolute control over more than 10,000 establishments
So if you consider the Syro Malabar Church as a business organisation then TaTa and Reliance come no where near in financial assets value.
Don’t believe me?
Check out the statistics…
Priests – 9000
Nuns – 37,000
Members of the Church – 50 lakhs
34 – Dioceses
3763 Churches
71 – Seminaries
4860 Educational Institutions
2614 – Hospitals and hospices and clinics
77 – Monasteries
Total number of Establishments – 11,000
The most powerful Church Sect under the umbrella of The Syro Malabar Church is CMA.
The CMA alone has 1514 institutions under it. This includes schools, colleges, hospitals, orphanages etc
The Syro Malabar has 77 such sects under its jurisdiction.
The Church has has at least 50 establishments that can be listed in the stock exchange by value of their assets.
The Church has a presence all over India and in most countries abroad.
The Syro Malabar Church is an autonomous body under the Roman Catholic Church and holds it’s HQ in Kakkanad Mount St. Thomas.
All the members of this church are Malayalies
The real estate value of the land they hold all over India and outside comes to over 1000s of crores.
This too is outside the realm of auditing.. In India, the minority tag and secularism has its uses…
As such the Syro Malabar Church cannot be considered as just another religious organisation.. it is a powerful business organisation that lies outside the scrutiny of government agencies.
None of its land or profit making organisations are taxed or even recorded.
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Every concerned authorities should participate in making it a better tomorrow.
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It is a sheer daylight plunder by anti-Hindu / anti-national. All such land must be recovered by the Govt. Church must follow law of the land.
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Not just the Catholic church,the Communist Party Of India (M) is also the richest landlords..
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Yet another case which exposes the blatant dubiousness of Indian secularism. While Hindu temples’ property and affairs are totally controlled by the govt, the non accountability of thecChurch goes totally unquestioned. The Church’s huge wealth goes into the funding of proselytizing activities across India. It is just one of the cases of double standards adopted in india’s secularism
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