THE FOURTEEN COMMANDMENTS TO THE SYRO-MALABAR CATHOLIC CLERGY
Facinating, fascinating indeed! Suppose every one who reads this sends his/her own version with additions, modification and corrections! There would be awful lot the world would have to meditate and learn from. Aren’t each one of us the greatest wonders of creation?
Congrats to Pamplanil for leading by example. Only one request: keep the 10 commandments to number 10, not 14 or 100.
Vox populi = Democracy!
Church Citizens are meant to grow into World Citizens modeling the SON OF MAN uniting the whole of humanity as brothers and sisters in one Family of love and care for unity, peace and prosperity!
The presented item can become VOX POPULI only when the Majority have spoken, if we have to follow the accepted norms of democracy. So we wait for the rest of us to speak up without fear or favor. Your servants are waiting to listen and learn from. james kottoor, editor ccv.
Varghese Pamplanil
In the name of Humanity, on the strength of the power of REASON inherent in the human brain, the Citizens of the Syro-Malabar Church, having been endowed with Free Will, call up on you, the clergy of the S.M church, to amend your ways. Be aware that the Citizens of the Church who have been suffering for too long, your incessant harangues in the guise of your sermons, preachings, and other verbiage, without giving any one any opportunity to react effectively; thus keeping the Citizens silenced by your threat of social isolation by means of excommunication and other punitive measures HAVE NOW SPOKEN. Your efforts have all along been calibrated to keep the members of the Church in perpetual mental ondage of superstition and dreadful fear. Be aware, the world has changed irrevocably during the last two thousand years. On the pretext of your claim of divinely ordered diktats , you have taken the non-clericals for rollercoaster rides for too long and too much for any one’s comfort and wellbeing.
Remember you are not the salt of the earth but it’s curse.
The promulgation of the commandments has become inevitable in the context of the 21st century, particularly in view of the scrooge, the pandemic Coronavirus in its avatar as Covid – 19, rampaging the whole world.
Bear in mind , ethnically, we are mostly Dravidians; and predominantly agriculturists and petty traders , and that WE ARE NOT SEMITIC SHEEP HERDERS; and that we have nothing in common with the Israelites and their fierce god, YAHWEH – the god of vengeance . Also note that the myth of the Ten Commandments purported to have been given by Yahweh to Moses, the Egyptian, who escaped from the place of his birth, for reasons of his own, in some remote past, has no relevance to us, the inhabitants of India living in another cultural milieu and environment. Also remember that Judaism of yore was a religion of hate and perpetual warfare and turmoil.
On the strength of the inalienable Universal Fundamental Right of Liberty and Equality and Self-determination, conferred on all humans by the U. N. Charter, we hereby promulgate unequivocally, the Commandments as under for your adherence and compliance.
(1). Thou shalt say only the prayer “Our Father in Heaven” as in the version of Matthew. Thou shalt avoid the prayer as in Luke, where “sin” has been interpolated. Thou may say the prayer of St. Francis – “ make me an instrument of peace” too.
(2). Thou shalt never ever address the Citizens of the Church directly or indirectly or by implication,“sheep” and thou as “shepherds”. It is a gross violation of the tenets of civility and “HUMAN DIGNITY”
(3 ). Thou shalt keep away from people and maintain “social isolation” by keeping a distance of at least two metres from others as mandated by W.H.O to prevent the spread of Covid- 19. This pandemic is likely to be with the humans for a considerably long time; hence the need for certain essential precautions.
(4). Thou shalt always wear the prescribed face-mask in the public space and wash thine hands with soap in the recommended manner frequently. Thou shall also carry with thee alcohol (60%) based hand sanitiser all the time. Thou shall wear cotton garments, as the virus tends to stay alive in wearings made of synthetic materials.
(5). Thou shalt prohibit children below the age of 10 and elders above the age 65 as well as those having medical problems such asthma, cardiac disabilities, diabetes and other life threatening illnesses from attending church services.
(6). Thou shalt not administer “water dunking” a.k.a. “baptism” on any body more particularly infants. Those above the age of 18; may be admitted as members of thine church on voluntary basis.
(7). Thou shall never conduct person to person “auricular confession” as Coronavirus is likely to be deadly in proximity and more so in the confined space of the confessional box.
(8). Thou shalt never place into the mouths of worshipers, by thine bare fingers, the thin wafer made out of refined wheat or some such material masqueraded as holy communion and touted to be the living body of thine deity – a remanent of Mithraism- under no circumstances.
(9). Thou shalt never conduct brain washing catechism instructions to the young and adolescents with the aim of instilling in their minds perverted views of the human condition and the world at large.
(10). Thou shalt ban forthwith gimmicks and jamborees aimed at money making by persons such as : man from the rabid dog infested compound, the mad cap, the crooked bodied one etc. (Incidentally in which hole under the earth these characters are now hiding from Covid-19 for their dubious lives.)
(11). Thou shall not not keep inside the church premises people for more than say 15 minutes and THOU SHALT NOT CAUSE POLLUTION BY THINE VERBAL DIARRHOEA OF INANITIES BY WAY OF LONG WINDING SERMONS.
(12). On no account the congregation shall exceed 100 persons even in a large church. They should sit or stand keeping a distance of two meters.
(13), Thou shall never read in public the Old Testament, the dipraved story of Hebrews; it may at best be read in private as smut literature
(14). Thou have turned to be parasites, leaches, moochers and pariahs, with no worth-while role to play in the human domain; thou never eat by the sweat of thine brows; thou shall always be aware of thine irrelevance in the human realm.
VOX POPULI
