Parish priest told not to conduct mass at Irla church

Express News Service , Express News Service : Mumbai, Mon Jun 29 2009, 03:22 hrs http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/parish-priest-told-not-to-conduct-mass-at-irla-church/482594/

The parishioners of Our Lady of Health of Velankanni in Irla Village on Sunday marked their protest against the parish priest and alleged misappropriation of funds.

The Sunday mass took an ugly turn when for the first time in the history of any parish in Mumbai, the parish priest was asked not to conduct the mass by the parishioners till the enquiry of the commission on the various allegations were made public. The mass was instead conducted by another priest, Father Augustine Pallet, an observer from the Pontifical Institute for Mission Extension.

Earlier this month, the Archbishop's office had taken cognisance of various allegations against parish priest and trustee, Reverend Father George Thailammanal and for the first time, the Archdiocese of Bombay had instituted a three-member committee to probe the allegations. The protestors on Sunday demanded dissolution of the existing finance committee till the findings are made public. 

Some of the allegations that the parishioners have written to the Archbishop's office include lack of accounting of donations and collections that the parish receives in the form of cash, gifts, and religious articles. In a letter to the parish's parent body and also to the Archbishop's office the parishioners have pointed that as early as "between November 2003 and November 2004, a sum of Rs 4,74,250" was not even accounted and the issue remains till date."

Some of the former members of the parish have alleged that no details of any finance meeting or any accounts are maintained.

The allegations also point toward the prayer hall, which was brought down and reconstructed by the property owners of a neighbouring mall, allegedly without any proper BMC permissions and of which the parishioners were never informed about.

The three-member committee of the Archdiocese of Bombay will also have to probe into the allegation made by the parishioners into the renovation of the parish carried out at a cost of Rs 50 lakh, which they allege was done in an "undemocratic" way without issuing the tenders.