Writing on this subject is a hundred times more painful than any other pain, because it relates to one’s faith – Christian faith. It concerns those Christians that have destroyed a culture which was to be garnered for society – a destruction of Christianity. It is destructive no matter what one does but if not settled it most certainly will be the end of one’s belief, especially the elderly who’s years and years of toil in garnering up that faith will be wasted, hence the need to bring the matter out and cleanse, if cleansing is what one needs, from its infection.
Does anybody understand, will anybody understand what the purpose and the goal of life are? Perhaps life is all about the transformation of one value from another culminating in the triumph of the noble values, mostly the opposite values of what we cherished all along as we were living, the triumph of the metaphysical values over the physical ones. But now, what is unfolding before our eyes is the transvaluation of every Christian value and the attempt is being undertaken with all means, all instincts, and all genius to make the opposite values triumph.
Earlier there was only this talk of the wrongs of the “Christian Way” there has never been this open unassailable condemnation against the actions of those that sat upon the chair – he Cathedra, the Bishop’s chair. Now we are seeing the corruption of the seat reserved for the Bishop and its staring us in the face, at least at those of us that belong to the All Saints Cathedral at Shillong in fact to all those that fall within the umbrella of the Church of North India. Christianity no longer sits upon that “Chair” greed, vanity, and pride does. Christianity has become an event without meaning for some leaders, every teaching has been in vain, and they have cost Christianity dearly, they have inverted and perverted its teachings in every way possible these days.
With regard to the All Saints Cathedral in Shillong, there can be no denying that from the mid of the second decade of this millennium, virtue has lost its power in speech and action and a moral decay has transfused through some of the Priests. Everything that matters – the integration and growth of the congregation – is now disintegrating and the only reaction to prevent this disintegration from getting any worse, is to act against the one the congregation believes is behind the entire mess. Hitherto there has only been this great love and high esteem for the Presbyters and the Bishop of the Diocese of North East India, just like the congregations in any other Diocese, but now even the Moderator, the highest authority at the Synod of the CNI is openly admitting the alarming corruption in the CNI.
I quote an extract from the contents of his letter CNI : SYN : MODERATOR : M-63-2023-285 date – 25th October 2023 “……As you all are aware of the problems of the sale of church land all over the CNI is increasing and the misuse of finances in various schools and colleges in almost all the Institution of the CNI……..an increase in FIRs and Court Cases in all the Diocese in which the of CNI Office Bearers are also made party. Therefore a Committee of the following members is formed to look after the above mentioned problems…..The Most Revd B.K. Nayak, Moderator CNI Synod.”
Sadly the contents of the above letter has a direct bearing on the Diocese of North East India – two FIRs have been lodged in the Diocese, one in Guwahati and one in Shillong, and criminal investigations are underway into the charges raised. The letter from the Synod admittedly points an accusing finger at the Office Bearers of the CNI for the disintegration in the life of the congregation. In Shillong, the congregation believes the Bishop has lost sight of the whole higher status that he is given by the congregation and he has now become the cause and the consequence of the entire disintegration. He seems to have forgotten that Christianity – the process of cultivating a Christian spirit in the congregation – is the goal or the objective of Christianity, he seems to have forgotten that the clergy, especially himself, is duty bound to this cause – and not the laymen or the Committees constituted in the Pastorates and Deaneries.
Christian leaders are needed who are themselves sound in their Christian faith and morals, inwardly and outwardly, upright and pious intellects, who can prove that they are themselves faithful to their calling, that they are ripe and mellow products of the faith at every moment of their lives in word and in gesture – not the self seeking superior “wet nurse” who we now look up to as the Bishop of the Diocese. I am not aware of what the congregations in any other Diocese have done but with regard to the Diocese of North East India we have repeatedly informed the Moderator of the illegal transfer of land by way of sale, mortgage and power, and the unreasonable withdrawals of crores of Rupees from the schools in Tezpur and Shillong, and the calamity in the hospitals which, if they were run by the government would have resulted in the suspension and immediate dismissal of the delinquent authority, but for some reason the Moderator/Synod continues to trust the delinquents, and the latter, discovering the restrained and susceptible Holy man at the Synod unashamedly continue to carry out their nefarious intentions.
With rare exceptions the honourable and pious Priests are totally lacking in the entire CNI these days; hence the decline of our religious culture. One of those rarest exceptions is the highly respected former Moderator of the CNI and Bishop of the Diocese of North East India – The Most Right Reverend Dr. Purely Lyngdoh; to him above all is the Diocese indebted for the growth and the upliftment of the religious culture of the people in the Diocese and the cordial relationships that were encouraged between the different Christian denominations, even the cordial relationships between the leaders of the different faiths in Meghalaya. All this has been blotted out with the arrival of this present Bishop. Every church member is asking what it is that has brought about the decline of the Diocese of North East India; the answer is that “priestly activities” is no longer priestly as we knew it.
The fact is greed has culminated in the transferring of church lands and swindling of school funds with impunity. What followed from all this? That the congregations were appalled but their faith in the Church did not wane, it prompted them instead to fight against the cause of so much uncleanness – to fight against the Bishop by instituting an FIR, which was the last thing the fair ladies and gentlemen of the congregation wanted to do. They were left with no other option – it appeared that the Synod members had been compromised. The Diocese had witnessed the magnificent spectacle of a tiny stream of believers spread out before them swell year after year along a bed which it had made for itself, but which now is so agitated that one thinks at times it is trying to flow uphill. And yet because we in Shillong love our Cathedral more than ourselves, the whole of Shillong does, how can we not fight back? Right now this is our foremost duty.
