A Catholic layman will resume his legal challenge against the unique marriage rules of India’s Archeparchy of Kottayam.
Jestin John, a 31-year-old autorickshaw driver, took the archeparchy to the High Court of Kerala after it refused to give him a consent letter enabling him to marry a Catholic belonging to another diocese without forfeiting his membership of the archeparchy.
The case highlighted the distinctive approach to marriage in the Kottayam archeparchy, established in 1911 exclusively for Knanaya Catholics, an ethnic group tracing its origins to Jewish Christians who migrated from Mesopotamia to India in the 4th century.
Membership in the close-knit Knanaya community is determined by family lineage, so Knanaya Catholics are expected to marry someone within the community, a norm known as endogamy.
If a member of the Kottayam archeparchy marries outside of the community, they relinquish their membership in the archeparchy.
A high court judge closed the case Sept. 3, after the archeparchy finally granted John the consent letter, known as a “vivaha kuri.”
The letter was signed by Fr. Saneesh Kayyalakkakath, who serves at John’s home parish of St. Anne’s Knanaya Catholic Church in Kottody, Kasaragod District.
But according to Onmanorama, a news website based in Kottayam, Kayyalakkakath told John that he could not solemnize his marriage at the church.
Kayyalakkakath told Onmanorama that the vivaha kuri was issued because of a standing interim order of the high court.
“But we will not conduct his marriage in any Knanaya parishes. He is free to approach any other Catholic church,” he said.
“Jestin’s membership in Knanaya church after his marriage to a non-Knanaya Catholic woman will depend on a case we are fighting in the high court. If we lose that case, we will approach the Supreme Court.”
Onmanorama quoted John as saying: “It is my right to get married in my parish. Vijimol is seven months pregnant. I do not want our child to be discriminated against. I will take the Church to the court again.”
John scheduled his wedding to Vijimol Shaji for May 18, 2023, after what he described as a fruitless five-year search for a wife within the Knanaya Catholic community.
He planned to marry at his bride’s church, St. Xavier’s in Kottody, believing his pastor would grant him a vivaha kuri, because of an interim order by the high court that the archeparchy must issue a consent letter to any member who wishes to marry a Catholic from another diocese.
But John did not receive the document from Fr. Stijo Stephen, the then pastor of St. Anne’s. This meant the couple were restricted to a symbolic exchange of garlands in front of the church before a reported 1,000 guests.
John filed a petition at the high court in August 2023, accusing Archbishop Moolakkatt and Fr. Stephen of contempt of court.
But in a 14-page submission to the high court in October 2023, Archbishop Moolakkatt insisted he had “neither intended to act nor acted in defiance of court orders at any point in time.”
He denied that the archeparchy had failed to grant a vivaha kuri, arguing that John had not met the criteria for marriage.
He said that John had not undergone pre-marital counseling at his parish or requested to undergo it at another parish, as required by the archeparchy.
John’s membership of the Kottayam archeparchy could rest on the resolution of another case before the high court.
The case dates back to 2015, when a group known as the Knanaya Catholic Naveekarana Samithy (KCNS) filed a petition against the requirement that Catholics marrying outside of the archeparchy forfeit their membership.
In April 2021, a lower court ruled that members of the archeparchy should be able to retain their membership when marrying Catholics outside the community. Archbishop Moolakkatt challenged the decision.
In November 2021, the high court issued an interim order requiring the archeparchy to issue a vivaha kuri to members wishing to marry Catholics from other dioceses “without insisting on any letter of relinquishment of that person’s membership with the Kottayam archeparchy.”
“The question whether the person has forfeited his/her membership in the Kottayam archeparchy on account of the marriage will depend upon and abide by the judgment in the appeal,” the order said.
John told Onmanorama: “The Knanaya Church denies us the right to live as Christians. When our child is born, the church won’t allow baptism either. I hope to win the case before that.”
