Church land: Going, going gone……Bobby Anthony
Allegations of illegal sale of donated property stalk community as city stands to lose spaces for schools, hospitals
Allegations of illegal sale of donated property stalk community as city stands to lose spaces for schools, hospitals
Mumbai’s Catholic Church, believed to be the city’s third largest landowner if land belonging to more than 80 local trusts are put together, seems to be losing ground, literally. Several litigation and complaints with various authorities point to murky, illegal sale of church land by vested interests, often keeping the community in the dark.
Things have come to a point where one of the topmost Catholic functionaries, Cardinal Oswald Gracias now stands accused of serious charges in a land deal case, which will come up for hearing in the Thane judicial Magistrate’s court shortly.
Two months ago, the Bhoiwada metropolitan court had summoned Auxiliary Bishop Agnelo Gracias in connection with a land deal involving Our Lady of Salvation Church (Portuguese Church, Dadar).
Mid Day found at least four parishes in the city — Thane, Mahim, Mazgaon and Dadar — where people have complained to the court or church authorities in writing about illegal sale of church land.
So, what does Mumbai lose if church land is sold off illegally?
This land has been donated to the church by patrons over the years purely to be used for the benefit of the community and mankind, and not for a few individuals. Thus, not just Christians but the ordinary Mumbaikar is losing out on the prospect of quality schools, colleges, hospitals, green spaces and other such crucial amenities, which we do not have in abundance anyway.
The Cardinal Case
The Cardinal has been made co-accused in a case where three separate pieces of church land in Thane adding up to the size of a large mall has allegedly been sold off illegally.
The Cardinal has been made co-accused in a case where three separate pieces of church land in Thane adding up to the size of a large mall has allegedly been sold off illegally.
The Thane court has admitted the complaint of William Mascarenhas, a Catholic businessman and parishioner of St John The Baptist Church, Thane, who has made Cardinal Oswald Gracias the main accused in a criminal case (no. 548 / 2010).
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, along with others in the St John The Baptist Church, faces charges of criminal conspiracy, giving false evidence, intentional omission, criminal breach of trust, forgery and cheating under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Mascarenhas in his complaint has accused that Cardinal Oswald Gracias and others sold off land belonging to the trust in collusion with builders and developers for his personal gain, “by concealing the true and correct facts before various authorities”, acting against the principles and objectives of the trust.
He has also stated that former parish priest Fr John Rumao had deliberately misguided the Charity Commissioner by stating that there were a number of structures on church land, when in fact the Bombay High Court had ordered the Thane Municipal Corporation to demolish all illegal structures on the land within six months.
According to his letter, if this fact were brought to the notice of the Charity Commissioner, the Church would have gained much more money and the community would have been benefited.
“The accused disposed off the said property for benefit of the builder and for their personal gain. Otherwise, there is no need for the accused to approach the Charity Commissioner, Mumbai for obtaining permission for the sale of these properties in such a fraudulent manner by concealing vital facts. The accused has defrauded the court and cheated the Catholic community,” Mascarenhas alleged in his petition.
Voices within
Developments in Thane came to light when an prominent parishioner recently wrote to His Excellency Salvatore Pennachio at the Apostolic Nuncio at Chanakyapuri, New Delhi (the Pope’s ambassador to India). He wrote that the parish priest of the St John The Baptist Church, Thane, and the priest who is the principal of the adjoining parish school allegedly came to blows over spoils of property deals done with the knowledge of the hierarchy in charge of the archdiocese. There are reports of an administrator being appointed to monitor the parish.
Developments in Thane came to light when an prominent parishioner recently wrote to His Excellency Salvatore Pennachio at the Apostolic Nuncio at Chanakyapuri, New Delhi (the Pope’s ambassador to India). He wrote that the parish priest of the St John The Baptist Church, Thane, and the priest who is the principal of the adjoining parish school allegedly came to blows over spoils of property deals done with the knowledge of the hierarchy in charge of the archdiocese. There are reports of an administrator being appointed to monitor the parish.
Both parish priest Fr Milton Gonsalves as well as Fr Nicholas Pereira, principal of the parish school, categorically denied that any such fisticuff furore had broken out.
“There was nothing of the sort. We merely have some very minor differences, which are being resolved amicably. This is purely an internal matter on which I would not like to comment,” Fr Nicholas Pereira told MiD DAY. Fr Milton Gonsalves also denied reports of any fisticuff.
The Charity Commissioner has appointed an administrator to monitor the financial affairs of St John The Baptist Parish Trust. Sources also revealed that parish priest Fr Milton Gonsalves may even be transferred out of Thane parish, amidst reports that Fr Nicholas Periera has decided to approach the high court.
According to parishioners, information about how much money comes in or goes out from these 84 trusts is impossible to come by.
Parish priests are the sole trustees who run these, but based on instructions from the Archbishop’s House.
Communication gap
Parishioners allege that hardly anything about land sale is advertised in The Examiner, an English weekly widely read by the Catholic community. But now it has come to light that the Examiner Press Building at Dalal Street, Mumbai, itself is in the process of being sold, that too without any such detail mentioned in its own newspaper, according to advocate Arcanjo M Sodder, a parishioner of the St Michael’s Church, Mahim.
Parishioners allege that hardly anything about land sale is advertised in The Examiner, an English weekly widely read by the Catholic community. But now it has come to light that the Examiner Press Building at Dalal Street, Mumbai, itself is in the process of being sold, that too without any such detail mentioned in its own newspaper, according to advocate Arcanjo M Sodder, a parishioner of the St Michael’s Church, Mahim.
“The application put up before the Charity Commissioner for sanction or sale of this building states that the rent receipts are less than the expenses incurred on the building. This is absolutely ridiculous. What next? Are they going to sell off the newspaper itself?” Sodder asked.
But this does not seem to be the first time that Church authorities have sold off lands and properties donated by their forefathers to the Church for the community’s welfare without the knowledge or consent of the community. “It has been going on for a long time now. Hapless Catholics tenants and residents of such properties are always the last to know about such deals and it is always too late for the community to do anything. They get to know that properties have been sold only after the builder puts up a notice on the premises or serves an eviction notice,” said Ronnie D’Souza, a Bandra resident who has taken up such a case with the Archbishop’s office.
He said there seemed to be a common modus operandi before such sales take place.
“First, they keep any such move a closely held secret. Then, the proposed sale is advertised in unheard of regional language newspapers like Bombay Samachar, which Catholics never purchase. According to rules, a notice of such sales must be published in at least one English newspaper, in addition to a regional language newspaper. Surprisingly, such information is never ever published in The Examiner,” said D’Souza.
Even when such information was advertised in other mainstream English newspapers, these were either very sketchy or rather small in size, so that people surely missed them, he said. “In the recent case of St Peter’s Chawl, Bandra, the sale was advertised in the Bombay Samachar, a Gujarati paper which Church authorities know very well is never purchased by the Catholic community.”
Not a new thing
The sale of church land at Marinagar, Mahim, raised a big storm in the community. “Only after we took out a morcha to the Archbishop’s House recently that they finally admitted that our land was sold. Now I am going to purchase even the least known regional newspapers and be on my guard for such sneaky advertisements. Or else, we will never get to know what will get sold next,” said advocate Sodder, who is also secretary of Our Lady of Vailankanni & Perpetual Succour (OLVPS) Co-Operative Housing Society at Marinagar, Mahim.
The sale of church land at Marinagar, Mahim, raised a big storm in the community. “Only after we took out a morcha to the Archbishop’s House recently that they finally admitted that our land was sold. Now I am going to purchase even the least known regional newspapers and be on my guard for such sneaky advertisements. Or else, we will never get to know what will get sold next,” said advocate Sodder, who is also secretary of Our Lady of Vailankanni & Perpetual Succour (OLVPS) Co-Operative Housing Society at Marinagar, Mahim.
Selling off church-owned lands surreptitiously at ridiculous prices is not a new phenomenon, say parishioners. It began in the late 1980s, which was also the time when Barrister Gerald Coelho who is 83 today began to campaign against such sales by clergymen.
The Other Side
When MiD DAY asked about the complaint against Cardinal Oswald Gracias in relation with St John the Baptist Church Trust (Thane) land deals, Fr Anthony Charanghat, official spokesperson of the Archbishop, said “I am not aware of it. I was in the United States for three months and I have just returned. In my absence, somebody else was appointed in my place”.
When MiD DAY asked about the complaint against Cardinal Oswald Gracias in relation with St John the Baptist Church Trust (Thane) land deals, Fr Anthony Charanghat, official spokesperson of the Archbishop, said “I am not aware of it. I was in the United States for three months and I have just returned. In my absence, somebody else was appointed in my place”.
Fr Neil Dos Santos, the secretary to Cardinal Oswald Gracias told MiD DAY, “I am not aware of this”.
The name of Joaquim Reis — the lawyer and member of the Archdiocese Finance Committee that clears all land deals above Rs 4 lakh — comes up in Marinagar, Thane and Portugese Church deals.
The name of Joaquim Reis — the lawyer and member of the Archdiocese Finance Committee that clears all land deals above Rs 4 lakh — comes up in Marinagar, Thane and Portugese Church deals.
On the Portuguese Church land sale, he had told Mid Day: “It is unfortunate that a wrong complaint has been filed to pressurise Bishop Agnelo Gracias in the backdrop of the fact that the same party filed a suit in the high court in respect of the same property. The decision on property matters is taken by the local church, subject to approval of the Archdiocese Finance Committee and if we approve it, the consultors of the bishops have to approve it and thereafter the Charity Commissioner.”
URL: http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/oct/061010-catholic-church-land-illegal-sale-cardinal-oswald-gracias-news-mumbai.htm
URL: http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/oct/061010-catholic-church-land-illegal-sale-cardinal-oswald-gracias-news-mumbai.htm