Another church opens door for Eid prayers; screening of contentious film had snowballed into political row in the state
Differences within Kerala’s churches over screening of The Kerala Story came to the fore on Wednesday after a parish under the Catholic diocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly screened a documentary on the Manipur violence, titled Cry of the Oppressed, for students during their catechism classes.
The same day, the Church of South India opened its premises at Manjeri, in Muslim-dominated Malappuram, to the local Muslim community on the occasion of Eid-al-Fitr.
The screening of The Kerala Story on April 4 by the Catholic diocese of Idukki, a day before Doordarshan telecast the film, had snowballed into a political row, particularly after two other dioceses of Thamarassery and Thalassery decided to screen the film for its youth.
On Wednesday, a catholic parish under the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese screened the documentary based on the Manipur violence at St Joseph’s Church, Sanjopuram in Ernakulam district.
In an apparent dig at the screening of The Kerala Story, which portrays four women joining the Islamic State, parish vicar James Panavelil said, “Manipur (violence) is a fact, not a fable. Screening the film was a reminder that we should not forget Manipur. Kerala society is vigilant about propaganda movies.”
When propaganda stories are being propagated again and again, we should counter it by speaking the truth,” he said.
It is not yet clear whether other parishes under the Ernakulam archdiocese or elsewhere in Kerala will screen the Manipur documentary. A large number of priests in the Ernakulam archdiocese have been in revolt for years against the official leadership of the Church over alleged financial scandals involving the former Church head and Cardinal George Alencherry.
Meanwhile, the archdiocese of Thalassery, which had earlier announced its decision to screen The Kerala Story, changed its stand. Defying the archdiocese decision, however, its youth unit called the Kerala Catholic Youth Movement screened the film at Chempanthotty village in Kannur district.
Pro-BJP Christian group, Christian Association and Alliance for Social Action, also said it would screen the film across Kerala.
