Death of a priest starts church war

AT St Mary’s in Gumtala, a village on the fringes of Amritsar, where the 74-year-old Father spent over last two decades, all is quiet. The securityman wants you out, and the sisters of Missionaries of Charity claim they have never seen the Father even though his homely rooms are a stone’s throw away. ‘‘Ask Father John, our director,’’ says Sister Grace, the petite principal.

Mark Mathews, the 25-year-old whose room lies next to the Father’s, is more forthcoming, but guarded. ‘‘He used to run a seminary for Punjabi Christians, but all the Brothers and nuns have left,’’ he says. Mathews was among those who heard the blast that killed the priest on the evening of February 13. ‘‘His stomach was ripped open,’’ he swallows, telling you how they rushed him to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on February 15. Police say Mark was filling empty cartridges with gunpowder when the blast took place.

The Father’s chapel, distinguished by a cross on the top, sits desolate with thick chains and a lock on the gate. A slim middle-aged woman in brown salwar-kameez who Mathews calls Sister Anjali approaches the gate but refuses to unlock it. ‘‘I already have enough trouble, leave me alone,’’ she pleads.

IN the cramped lane outside, a thickset Younis Masih ushers you into a corner house, which doubles up as the headquarters of Christian Welfare Council, a body arraigned against the diocese. ‘‘It’s monopolised by Keralites who look down on us. They’ve become the kaale Angrez in Punjab,’’ says Barkat Masih, president of Samajik Vikas Manch, who claims the diocese doesn’t do justice to the converts in the state. ‘‘My son wanted to be a priest but he was thrown out. Our children too are no longer given fee concessions.’’

But Father Michael, director of Trinity College in Jalandhar says there are at least six senior priests of Punjabi origin.

There are others like Dr Andrew who taught secular studies at Father Mark’s convent who complain that no one from the diocese came to call on the Father when he was on his deathbed.

It’s a grievance that finds an echo in Gurdaspur, where Kanwal Bakshi, member of the Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board, and a practising Christian, alleges the diocese had thrown out Father Mark 10 years ago.

Back in St Francis at Amritsar, its director Father John politely trashes all allegations, including the pro-Keralite tilt. ‘‘Education is an expensive affair, how can we subsidise it for everybody.’’ John says the body was buried on the St Mary’s campus despite the stay order against it by the lower court. ‘‘Mark never left his priesthood, he should be buried at the Cathedral church cemetery in Jalandhar as per rules,’’ he declares.

Calling the Father a messiah of the poor who had the ear of everyone, including the bureaucrats and Congress politicians for whom he happily canvassed, Kanwal Bakshi says Mark cleared and cultivated around 5,000 acres of forest land in the border belt of Ajnala and then distributed it among the poor. ‘‘He had kept about 80 acres with him, which may have become a bone of contention now,’’ he rues.

IT’S dusk by the time we reach Shikh Bhatti, a village three kilometres from the international border. The macadam roads turn into a dirt track as the land takes a primitive turn. But it’s here that the Father’s left an indelible mark. ‘‘He was a very holy man, he lived with us, farmed with us, even ate with us,’’ says Sarpanch Baljit Singh Manawala. ‘‘He wanted his land to be distributed amongst the poor Christians of the area but he died intestate, so we don’t know,’’ Manawalla shrugs.

In the village, an old man’s voice quivers as he moans the ‘‘irrepairable loss.’’ ‘‘He did a lot for us, right from setting up a carpet-weaving unit, to a piggery, and whatnot even though he worked independently of the bishop,’’ says Baba Lal. Talk about vandalisation of his grave and there is a collective sigh. ‘‘He deserved better, he never harmed anyone,’’ says Neelam Masih.

Meanwhile, Father Mark’s England-based sister, Anne Wakeling, who had flown down for his burial, has approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, pleading that the priest should be interred in the same spot, and an independent inquiry held to trace the culprits who vandalised his grave. The next hearing is on Monday, April 25.