The Rev Selvadorai Jeyanesan may want to dazzle the Tamil Christians in Sri Lanka that he is some kind of a Messiah and has even claimed that what he does is "a thing of God" and God even floats around him. But his words alone have betrayed that he wants to destroy the church where his people have worshipped for nearly 200 years just because he was denied the bishopric. The truth is, he lost the bishopric because he behaved foolishly. All that he can do now - if there is any honour in him - is to vacate all the properties that belong to the JDCSI and also hand over the accounts books and all related documents covering a period of fifteen years to the Jaffna Diocesan Council who were his employers until he broke away from it because he could not become the bishop. He must also submit details of funds he had collected while with the JDCSI in the US, Europe and Israel and a complete account of them.I have just received the report of the Service of Ordination of the Church of the American Ceylon Mission in Batticaloa held Sunday September 16, 2007 with a note from the Rev Selvadorai Jeyanesan addressing: “My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ” and stating “I am forwarding a brief report and some pictures of our ordination service and celebrations.”
This 3-paged “brief report” wherever possible talks about the presence of God amidst them and even claiming that “this thing was of God.”
But in the very second paragraph – the 4th line of the report, this thing of God takes an ungracious dive into the deeps. And what a terrible dive! It is in conflict with the precepts of our faith, let alone all moral and ethical principles.
Evidently the Rev Jeyanesan chose too early an occasion to play to the gallery of the assemblage that he had got together, probably the way he charter-flew his supporters from Colombo to Jaffna recently. The visitors from India too seem bereft of norms of discipline that they should honour.
In his own words in the report he stated:
“The service was held amidst threats of possible disruption from the one who grabbed the office of the bishop of the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India and his coteries.” And two sentences later, he said: “We felt the presence of God floating around St John’s compound.”
His entire report fails on just one sentence where he had emphasized “. . . . . from the one who grabbed the office of bishop of the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India . . . .”
It certainly appears that this Rev Jeyanesan is unable to accept this great disappointment of his and is now hell bent on destroying the church that has served his community for nearly two centuries. How can such a man be a leader of a church?
Furthermore, the office of the bishop was not grabbed; not at all.
The Rev Jeyanesan would have become the bishop but for a very foolish act of his when he tried to molest a clergyman’s wife. He probably never expected that the clergyman would stand on the floor of the Diocesan Council and vow that he will ensure that he never became the bishop of the JDCSI. That was a very courageous clergyman to whom his wife’s honour was paramount; equally to her, her husband’s trust and courage.
Unfortunately, it was important for the Rev Jeyanesan to have control of the JDCSI having had nearly 15 years of field activity in Kilinochchi and Batticaloa and the neighbouring areas handling finances but hardly submitting them to the Jaffna Diocesan Council. He has also travelled widely in the US, Europe and Israel canvassing for funds under the aegis of the JDCSI. It appears that none of these have reached the JDCSI.
The very properties from which he is operating belongs to the JDCSI and he seems to think that these can be appropriated by his newly formed Church of the American Ceylon Mission that has no creed, canon or doctrine. Even the former treasurer of the JDCSI, Annappah Jeyarajan who has evaded submitting his books and accounts, has fled to his side.
Maybe the Rev Jeyanesan thinks that with this Church of the American Ceylon Mission he can avoid having to submit his accounts and also handing over all the properties that legitimately belong to the JDCSI.
He has also referred in his report “partner churches and mission boards” giving the impression that he has their support. There is every reason to believe that the Rev Jeyanesan has created some impact among such people and for him to have done that, he must have been presenting the JDCSI in a very bad light for sometime.
Yet it was this very church to which he sought leadership as a bishop. How interesting! Incredible indeed!
Whatever he may want to do, and he can even have that itinerant liar Dr Dhyanchand Carr as his confidante, there are certain priorities he has to attend to without any delay.
Let him first submit all the accounts and related documents and reports for the last fifteen years to the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India and secondly, vacate all the properties that belong to the diocese. Once this is done, he can do what he wants even if he wants to set up a few dioceses and become a moderator himself, or perhaps even an archbishop.
Let it be understood that it was the Rev Selvadorai Jeyanesan who offered the bishopric on a platter to the Rev Daniel Thiagarajah, all because he could not control a certain emotion that is only for a unique relationship that is blessed by the church. And how can such a man who violates it, ordain priests? If he thought God was floating around Batticaloa on Sunday, perhaps he was there very saddened that this assembly was using His name in vain.
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