Thomas’ organization the WCM owes Rs.9,408,212.32 to the JDCSI, now overdue for two years or was this amount waylaid by a ‘Modern Highwayman’ on the way to the JDCSI?(November, 23, Sydney, Australia, Sri Lanka Guardian) Reacting to my feature on the Uduvil Girls College where the principal has problems with her alcohol-addicted husband and who even has drinking parties in the school premises, John Thomas, the Minister President of the United Church of Christ in the US has accused me of having indulged in slander. My voice and pen reflect public concerns and will not be stilled or stopped unless by means foul and evil.
The Wider Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ (WCM) is the eventual successor to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) that founded the American Ceylon Mission in northern Sri Lanka in 1816. Neither the ABCFM nor any of its successors have any authority whatsoever over the American Ceylon Mission which is now part of the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India (JDCSI).
Unfortunately it was the WCM headed Dr Cally Rogers-Witte that offered support and succour to a breakaway group of the JDCSI headed by a Rev Dr Selvadurai Jeyanesan with a bogus doctorate from Netherlands and a team of supporters, some of whom have pillaged and plundered the JDCSI of grants and funds from Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands and the USA, all proved beyond doubt.
Jeyanesan is a failed expectant for the bishopric of the JDCSI who even attempted to bribe the General Secretary of the Church of South India under which the JDCSI functions with two bottles of spirits, a bottle of perfume, some chocolates and US $500.00. He was so determined to become the bishop that even as early as four years ago carried on a continuous disparaging campaign against the Rev Dr Daniel Thiagarajah whom he knew stood a far better chance of being elected bishop.
He was confident on getting his coveted prize on the age factor with Dr Thiagarajah a few months below the age of qualification but a crazy behaviour on his part whereby he attempted to molest a pastoral colleague’s wife misfired and events that flowed from that incident delayed the appointment of the bishop.
Atrocious financial accountability
Jeyanesan’s financial accountability is atrocious that certainly scars his integrity if of course he has any. He has not submitted any accounts to the JDCSI for ten years of funds he had collected in the name of this church.
Unfortunately and quite illogically and unwisely the WCM appear to have adoped Jeyanesan as their preferred candidate even though this body has no voice in the selection of a bishop; absolutely no voice at all. But for strange reasons the WCM involved itself in it by giving this rebel cabal an idea that it has control over the properties of the American Ceylon Mission and encouraged a division within the church.
A letter written by Dr Cally Rogers-Witte dated July 3, 2007 gave the go ahead for the Jeyanesan rebels. In this, most unfortunately, the principal of Uduvil Girls College has her own interests especially the choice of a vice principal overlooking a more qualified and much more experienced colleague on the school staff. She has not only joined the rebel group but also allows the school premises to be used for uncouth demonstrations by the Jeyanesan rebels against the JDCSI. Such can never be tolerated in school premises.
She has no control over her husband who is a regular tavern visitor and has even parties in the principal’s bungalow which is within the school premises and next to the school hostel.
Among the cabal leaders of the Fake-Doctor of Theology Jeyanesan are some of the fraudsters and cheats who have swindled funds of the JDCSI and now seeking their refuge in his camp. Jeyanesan avails them of regular handouts and even feasts and takeaways of chicken briyani. After all this was the man who tried to bribe a woman of proven integrity and a daughter of a bishop across the Palk Straits to have himself appointed as the bishop.
Swiss Francs 10,000
Some of them have been pretty scant on their morals like one of the priests who checked in at the Central YMCA in Colombo for an overnight stay with his lady friend claiming her as his wife. He swindled the diocese of Swiss Francs 10,000.00 gifted by the Reformed Church of Berne-Jura and eventually had to own up and apologize from the pulpit to the congregation of his parish and was also suspended from pastoral activities for four months.
His brother was the treasurer of the JDCSI who lavished his friends with loans from the JDCSI coffers and has now gone over to Jeyanesan without submitting his accounts and papers to the church. It was rather strange to read that Eric Gass, the head of the Trustees of Jaffna College Funds referring to him as being diligent with his accounts and insisted on him attending their annual meeting in Boston, US.
Their brother in law, a lay preacher and an ex-principal treats the community as a scattered harem. On receiving complaints of his nocturnal visits to a girls’ home in the vicinity of Uduvil Girls College, a former bishop of the JDCSI took a corrective action but that hardly controlled what appears to be his compulsive amorous activities. He had also used the principal’s bungalow for such purposes whenever his family was away and on one occasion a bishop was placed in an embarrassing situation. He had to flee u-bended with his head virtually touching the floor lest he was seen through the window in the company of a certain provokingly clad visitor; obviously a regular. He had stayed in the principal’s bungalow that night as a guest.
Child Abuse
Some years ago, in a violent fit of temper this guy owned up that he was the person who was referred to in a feature on child abuse that appeared in the national press. Not knowing the harm he was doing to himself by fitting the cap on his head, he assaulted the author of the article in a public place. Despite this, he remained a lay preacher and some months later even appointed principal of a top school in the north more as a reward for trying to muzzle up public opinion.
Not so long ago, on account of how he managed an orphanage at Vaddukoddai, it had to be closed. He has even felled some valuable mahogany trees and made good some benefits to him. A previous bishop had entrusted certain works responsibilities that he exploited to his advantage. A house in Vaddukoddai gifted to Jaffna College that had very expensive wood was razed to the ground to the shock and pain of the previous owners who had a great deal of sentiments attached to it. No income accrued to the legitimate owners by this operation.
In the case of the orphanage that had to be closed, he collected overseas funding at the rate of Rs 4000.00 per month for an orphan for 55 children but had only 15 at the last count. He also submitted substantial bills of expenditure from Diocesan Stores, Vaddukoddai that never existed and it was always deficit accounting month after month. The bogus bills he presented were meant for submission to an organization in Germany.
A family of two brothers, the wife of one and the brother-in-law virtually controlled quite a few activities that were related to orphanages, girls’ home and works in respect of diocesan properties. And they were the law unto themselves. Even some working equipment like pickaxes, mammoties and other implements gifted to the diocese have been sold to local shops in Jaffna.
And for bringing these issues to public notice with a view to set them aright, Mr John Thomas accuses me of slander. This is typical of shallow-witted Americans whose ignorance makes them arrogant and in their minds they do think that we are mere pushovers. They prefer the freeloaders, sycophants and the flatterers; the creeps and crawlies that are a plague in our community. Mr Thomas must understand this is my community, my society and my people and I have every right to lend them my voice and pen.
In 1855 we lost Batticotta Seminary because of a Mr Rufus Anderson from the ABCFM who felt it was not serving their expectations and strangled it out of existence of what could have been today one of the best universities of Asia. We do not want a similar thing to happen today and worse, helped by American funds, to have fraudsters and cheats as leaders of our community.
WCM – Pay up your dues!
Incidentally it is better for the WCM to pay up the funds advanced by the JDCSI two years ago for tsunami relief in Thumpalai near Point Pedro where several houses were built for those whose homes were washed away. It was initiated by the itinerant liar Dr Dhyanchand Carr, a member of the Global Ministries of the WCM and Dr James Vijeyakumar of the WCM and the work handled by two of the Jeyanesan gang, the Rev Theva Nesan and Mrs Shiranee Mills when they were with the JDCSI. The WCM has not honoured its promise and obligation yet and the sum amounts to Rs.9,408,212.32.
It is also evident that those who handled this work did such a shoddy job that most of the houses have been badly affected and the Government Agent Jaffna has asked the JDCSI to get them repaired soon.
These beings the facts, my exposure appears to be slander to Mr Thomas. If understanding the meaning of the word ‘slander’ is beyond Mr Thomas, I cannot help it. Let him first reckon with what is in the interests of the public and the role of the Fourth Estate.
The following was my response to him:
“Mr Thomas must first realize the basic cause for the problems the JDCSI is suffering today and the inspiration for the division emanated from the Wider Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ (WCM) which he heads - and have persisted in it.
“There is no point in him taking a hypocritical attitude and calling my critical observations that reflect the ground realities in Sri Lanka. The painful divisions he talks about are mainly due to people like John Thomas unable to appreciate these and of course the insensitive role of Dr Cally Rogers-Witte. The JDCSI is the victim of it. Who will ever forget her letter of July 3, 2007 which gave the go ahead for the division?
“He talks about prayerful discernment and response from responsible church leaders - and where are the responsible church leaders and as he so pompously says from multiple settings? Is that itinerant liar and Blue Label whiskey addict Dhyanchand Carr one of them?
“When real issues are brought forward that affects the community especially the children, we from the Fourth Estate have to be watchdogs. In 1855 we lost Batticotta Seminary and we cannot have a repeat here. It appears John Thomas is talking like George Bush who wants to go to Iran having messed up Iraq.
“Of course his name will be removed from my mailing list because there is no point talking to a bare wall that protects whatever Bogus Rev Dr Jeyanesan is doing to the JDCSI and its institutions with the free-flow of American dollars. Hasn't he or the WCM still realized the cancer he is to our community supported by people like him?
“The stand I have taken reflects the fears and concerns of many people most of who feel they are unable to have their voices heard. I am not an engine of dissent but a means through which my community's concerns are brought to light. Let John Thomas first understand what is really happening in Jaffna before he opens his mouth or wields his pen and the support the WCM gives a team of fraudsters and cheats.
“Let him also understand that I have, to date ignored the fraudulent activities of the kind of people who are with Jeyanesan, why they are with him and the damage they have caused to the community; and continue to with support from the US. Since Uduvil involves the wellbeing of hundreds of children to which the principal seems insensitive and who appears to be the darling of the WCM, I took that matter up as one of urgency.”
Now John Thomas wants to see no evil; their own evil!
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