The role of churches in the State’s socio-development sectors is memorable and great, Minister for Culture K.C. Joseph, has said.
The Minister was inaugurating the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Kerala Council of Churches (KCC) at a function held at the Jerusalem Mar Thoma Church at Niranom, near Thiruvalla, on Sunday.
Mr Joseph said Kerala was known for its secularism, unity in diversity, and comunal harmony.
However, signs of disturbance to this secular social fabric of the State has began to surface occasionally in recent times, he said.
Mr Joseph said the State had also been witnessing growth of social evils and strained family ties in this age of chaos.
The negative impacts of the visual media on the society were another dangerous trend of the modern times and it was high time the churches jointly launched public awareness campaigns against these social maladies, he said.
Presiding over the function, the KCC president, Gabriel Mar Gregorios Metropolitan, said the ecumenical establishments had a key responsibility to strive for justice for the marginalised sections of the society.
The Mar Thoma Metropolitan, Joseph Mar Thoma, delivered the jubilee message and Leby Philip Mathew, who has been elected the new national president of the Young Men’s Christian Association, was felicitated on the occasion.
Archbishop Julian Hanna Iydin of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Germany, Archbishop Kuriakose Mar Savarios of the Jacobite Syrian Church, Bishop Thomas Samuel of the Church of South India, Geevarghese Mar Coorilos Metropolitan, Fr Kurien Daniel, organising committee chairman; Prakash P.Thomas, Mar Thoma Sabha trustee; T.O.Elias, trustee of the Knanaya Church, and Fr Reji Mathew, KCC general secretary, also spoke.
