Parishioners at the Kadavanthra St. Joseph’s Church were in a for a surprise during the Mass last Sunday when the newly-appointed vicar said lay leaders would make announcements on money collection, besides handling them. He also said he wanted to confine himself to the spiritual affairs of parishioners.
The new vicar, Father Benny Maramparambil, also said he would no longer accept money for Mass celebrated for any purpose.
Accordingly, those who want a Mass to be celebrated can inform him about the intention, and the Mass will be celebrated. The money can either be put in the common collection box or given to the poor, said the vicar, who has won praise for his decisions on social media fora.
However, Father Maramparambil said he would not shirk his joint responsibility for monetary affairs.
The social media attention on the vicar’s words comes in the wake of debates in the State about the Church Act, which envisages bringing Church property administration under supervision. A draft of the proposed Church Bill was uploaded on the website of the Law Reforms Commission. The proposal has widely been criticised by the Church hierarchy, while several fora voiced their approval of the Bill.
Church sources said Father Maramparambil was not the first to decide not to accept money for Mass or stay away from handling money collection at parishes.
They recalled the action taken by Father Jimmy Poochakkatt, then vicar of St. Martin’s Church, Thevakkal, who opened the collection box of the parish for people to take whatever they wanted in the wake of a severe shortage of currency notes in the wake of demonetisation in November 2016.
A senior priest of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese said he too did not take into consideration any fee for celebrating Mass. Money is not a criterion, and even the poor will have the Mass celebrated. However, there is an established rule regarding payment for a Mass, and he did not consider himself worthy of rewriting the rule.
