Friday, December 25, 2015

Big bigger biggest

Had  been  to  this  church  recently   and  I  was  just  stumped   by  the  lavishness  with  which  it  was  built. 



I am talking about the St George church at Edappally Kerala.  
Later on,  I  was  told  that  the  total  cost  for  building  the  church  was  somewhere  between  35  crores  and  50  crores (Rupees)  


I was just wondering about the source of the money. Obviously it has not come from thin air. Are the parishioners so rich?  Then I started hearing stories. 



An auto rickshaw driver of this parish wanted a date to be fixed for his first born child to be baptized. The vicar refused to baptize the child unless he cleared his dues of Rs 35000/- for the rebuilding of the church. The helpless man mortgaged his auto rickshaw,  paid Rs 30000/- to the church and got his child baptized.   



Also heard that the "fees" for getting married in this church is Rs one lakh.
There may be many parishioners who may be finding it difficult to make both ends meet, but are coerced to contribute for this “big church”  (there are two other churches already standing in the same compound) 

the original church dated AD 593

So it’s a case of big, bigger, biggest.

The Malayalam daily Mangalam says it has a height of 146 feet covering an area of 85114 square feet and adds “instead of making it a place of peaceful worship, they made it an eye-popping posh architectural extravaganza” 




While  I  sat  in  the  church  I  was  reminded  of  the  black  and  white  drawing in  the  Old  Testament  (it was our text book for the catechism class in school)


I was hoping that Jesus would appear once more and do something similar  to  chase away all the people responsible for this blunder.

The things people do in the name of religion.

24 comments:

MadSnapper said...

this building is absolutely stunning and i agree with you 100 percent on your comments. I am sure there are people starving in poverty all around this building. i once visted a church here and was so shocked at the money involved, i could not listen to the service for thinking of all the money wasted putting in marble on the floors. i read in their news letter that the newly renovated bathrooms cost 1 million for the women and 1 million for the men. the walls and floors were real marble and golden faucets.... they built a very expensive playground for children and fenced it and locked it and i have never seen a child in it... thanks for stopping by my blog. that is a statue my son and his wife gave me about 15 years ago, they bought it at a flea market and it was really cheap. not marble but ceramic that looks like marble.

A Lady's Life said...

What a terrible story!

If I was that man I'd find another church to baptize my baby.
Jesus did not believe in this.
The money would have been better spent on people.

This is where I say one needs to shop around for the right church and the right priests.
These false men, give religion a bad name.

KParthasarathi said...

Parishioners should go to churches they can afford instead of spending beyond their means.
There is nothing wrong if some donors have contributed liberally for building a church on lavish scale.But the church can extend its service to the people in the vicinity at affordable rates.

Unknown said...

Reminds of the parable of the poor woman who donated 2 copper coins...Ostentatious desires in the guise of religious belief

Anonymous said...

This is exactly why I feel that the church is failing - Robin Tom

Rabbit said...

We humans tend to be extravagant & ostentatious in what ever we do. And, when it comes to religion we do it with devotion. Thankfully, nothing is permanent in this world.

Anonymous said...

What a terrible way to get people to have faith in the church, people are going to loose faith completely - Dr Bella

Cloudia said...

It is a fine building, but I too agree with your opinion!






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magiceye said...

Ah people being religiously extorted. A major malaise afflicting our society today.

Unknown said...

Next time I visit Kerala I must go see this church.
Very extravagant indeed !!

Liakada said...

Wow I can't believe this story, so crazy!

Ash | Liakada

Lowell said...

It's grotesque in light of your stories. How can we help people see that there's no horrible god to send your unbaptized child to hell, that this is the opposite of what the Jesus figure taught? How can we help people tell those mercenary clergy to go to hell?

Linda said...

I love the architecture!

A Cuban In London said...

It is one of the contrasts of our civilisation. And no one has managed to suss it yet.

Greetings from London.

Ankita Singh said...

It's hard to believe they wasted the money which could've instead been used for upliftment of needy. Thanks for sharing.

Julia said...

Que bonito, felicidades.Te espero en elracodeldetall.blogspot.com con dos rituales del Feng Shui que podrán ayudarnos a despejar las energías negativas y estancadas en nuestro hogar y nuestra vida, invitando a que la salud, el amor y la prosperidad estén presentes en este año 2016 que esta por comenzar.

Mrs. W. said...

Hello,

I wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog during the Christmas holiday and leaving me a comment. How nice to meet you!

Yes, I would prefer to be in a humble little church full of the love and the Spirit of God.

Wishing you a Happy New Year!
:)Hope

DeniseinVA said...

It looks a magnificent place and your photos are incredible. Thank you for sharing it with us. Happy New Year :)

Unknown said...

When I say that I do not believe in religion, people often assume that I do not believe in God. Nope. Man is God-made. Religion is man-made. God doesn't need massive homes to live in. Man needs religion for extortion. What a sad, sad story.

Unknown said...

All religion today has become a money making business. Irrespective of the religion, the spirituality has given way to greed and one-upmanship. People are ready to donate millions of rupees in places of worship, but not ready to give a rupee to help a fellow human in need. I personally, have become completely disillusioned with religion in its present form....

GratefulPrayerThankfulHeart said...

The building is beautiful but never what God intended for his followers. So sad. Your photos are lovely.

My Unfinished Life said...

Thats unfortunate!!

www.myunfinishedlife.com

Petra Pavlátková said...

It's a breathtaking building looking rather like a theatre than a church...
I agree with you, money should be spent reasonably and not at the expense of others.

Johnny Dcruz said...

Its a beautiful gift to God The Loving Father from his children.May God Bless all the donors and their family members. Remember the words of Jesus to Judas, the poor will be always with you till the end of the world, Let her anoint though its very expensive. God the Father want to have a place for the children to gather and worship to hear HIS WORD(Jesus). Feeding WORD is more important than feeding the sheep with material food .ITS TIME FOR PEOPLE TO COME TO HEAR HIS sWORD, then only end will come. Dont Make the poor Lazy. Encourage them to work and live with dignity.