By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : A senior church official in Kerala Friday said the church did not want a confrontation with the state government over the issue of admission procedures in minority community-run educational institutions and was prepared for talks.
The statement by the supreme head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Moran Mar Baselios Cleemis Catholicos, came a day after Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan held out an olive branch to Catholic bishops, saying his statements on the issue were misinterpreted and there was no need for concern.
The Catholic church has of late been agitated over the ruling Left government's attempts to interfere in the running of minority-run educational institutions.
Thrissur Archbishop Andrews Thazhathu, of the Syro-Malabar Church, had last week come out with a pastoral letter saying that a "second liberation struggle" is warranted. Following this, Vijayan made a statement lashing out at the church.
In 1959, through a joint effort of the churches and the Nair community and help from the Congress and the Muslim League a "liberation struggle" had been launched that saw the downfall of the first democratically elected communist government headed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad.
A reason for the sudden face-off between the Catholic church and the Left government is the demand by the Left that sharing of seats in minority-run self financing professional colleges should be in the 50:50 ratio, with half under the government purview. The Supreme Court has ruled that such colleges can manage 100 percent seats.
"We welcome the statement of Vijayan that there is no need for confrontation. But we are concerned that the affiliations of three self-financing engineering colleges belonging to the Catholic church has been cancelled," said the Catholicos.
He said there were no differences on the issue with the other sections of the Christian community.
"In fact the Inter Church Council (group of all heads of Christian churches in Kerala) is meeting today. One reason why the Catholic church is more vocal in the matter is because we have more educational institutions in the state," said Catholicos.
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church has called an urgent clergy meeting on July 24 in Changanacherry to discuss the matter.