Another Catholic Church vandalised

Another Catholic Church was vandalised by miscreants on Sunday, September 4.

An armed gang wearing masks attacked the Velankanni Matha Church at Chavara Kulangara, Kollam.

Sources said the miscreants destroyed the altar, vestments and the confessionals, and fled the scene before police arrived.

Stanley Roman, bishop of the Kollam diocese in Kerala, confirmed to Fide Catholic news agency that 20 masked men had ransacked the church.

"Some Catholics who live nearby went to the church because they heard noises, but the criminals threw them out, threatening them, and then they escaped," he said.

He expressed concern over Christians being "exposed to the growth of different religious extremism, especially that of Hindu but also Muslim background."

The bishop disclosed that the diocese had plans to build a larger church on the site.

"Perhaps this project has alarmed the Hindu extremist groups that already, indirectly, seek to intimidate us. We have had, in recent years, a growth of these Hindu extremist groups in Kerala and we begin to suffer the consequences," he said.

Bishop Roman urged his parishioners to "not react and endure violence and persecution with patience."

Meanwhile, a complaint has been filed to identify the culprits.

The incident has come just two weeks after a Syro-Malankara Catholic church in Hyderabad was targeted by vandals who set fire to the altar and burnt copies of the Bible.

The unidentified vandals burnt the Cross, hymn books and other sacred objects. They also burned an expensive sound system of the church.