Mangalore, February 1: Members of the United Christian Association and Christian Reform Foundation staged a silent demonstration here on Tuesday demanding that some of the families residing in houses owned by the Catholic church be given ownership of the houses.
They demonstrated in front of the Bishop's house in Kodialbail. In a pamphlet distributed to journalists, the two groups said that instead of building 320 houses as planned, the church should transfer ownership of the land in which poor families are presently living rather than build new houses for them.
Allegation
The pamphlet said that 13 families residing in the compound of St. Anthony's Institutes of Charity were being evicted from their homes. Residents of the compound Irene and John were shown as beneficiaries of a housing project by the church as apart of its 125th anniversary celebrations, which was false, the pamphlet alleged.
The two organisations demanded an apology from the church on the issue.
The two organisations also alleged that churches harassed poor people if they failed to pay their annual subscriptions by denying burial services, or by demanding more donations when priests were invited to programmes by them.
The United Christian Association was represented by Secretary Jeevan Vas and the Christian Reform Foundation by Joint Secretary Augustine Rodrigues.
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