The Plot Thickens

I had written to Paul Father asking him basically for a receipt for the amount of donations he had received from me and details of how much he had actually spent on Manjulah. Ok I did mention Canon 1300 while adding I had no intention of starting a formal canonical investigation. Now I know I can irritate peeps. I am not an easy person to get along with. He is definitely closer to saint materiel than I ever will be. You can't make a purse from a sow's ass. I might make a vipassana meditator, I might learn to sit in the Padma Asana. I might even become a great Syriac Scholar. But this is the thing. I am really not experiencing as far as I can tell any malice or hatred for this man. I have asked for financial accountability. He has responded with I am not going to feed this obsession you have for this girl. I am a busy man. Have your canonical investigation see if I care.



Now call me Mary Wrigglesworth but I am quite keen to see how a canonical investigation actually works. How do you start one. What is the process. So I forwarded our recent email correspondence together with a request to begin proceedings to the Vicar General in the north of England. Email makes it really far easier to begin a canonical investigation, in the old days it would have taken several letters and toing and froing just to establish who had jurisdiction. The charge at present is that Fr Paul has unreasonably denied me a full and detailed account of how he spent the money received from me termed a testamentum vivum under Canon 1300 and I am therefore asserting my rights as provided to the people of God under the CIC 1983 and am seeking a full canonical investigation to clear up this matter. It seems to me that Fr Paul's reaction is far too neurotic for there to be nothing under the surface.



But we propose and God disposes. I really don't care about a canonical investigation. But it seems to me if I was a member of the Nellikuduru Stamp Club and the Chair ordered an investigation into my handling of the two rupee stamp crisis I might be troubled by it. And perhaps only members of the Nellikuduru Stamp Club should be so affected. Perhaps Fr Paul knows something about canonical investigations that none of us non-members know about. Or perhaps I will get a long explanation about you know we can all kick off when we are stressed.



The only postscript I have, the unstated one. I had informed Fr Paul on one of his five week hols (which he admits to being a stay in five star hotels with a priest friend and that might end up as evidence in a full inquiry, just because you don't actually take a vow of poverty doesn't mean you can defraud donors of their donations) that the boundaries were dropping and that he should return early as he had promised not after a crisis but to prevent one. On his return he accused the protestant preacher of attempted sex with a child. My response was that this was a symptom and that the man should not be scapegoated and I believed he should take some responsibility. But my beliefs aside he claims to follow the Nolan Law which I assume are the protocols established by the Nolan Report applicable in the UK and the Society is a UK registered Charity. The protocol states as I recall that an external investigation should have been started. He can't investigate an allegation into child sex if he is possibily a contributory negligent cause. If he did feel sacking was necessary and he did so after I left the Ashram rightly or wrongly I defended the man's rights he has a wife and three kids. He should have provided a report summarizing the charge and his response to it. This report should be lodged with the Child Protection Officer of the Local Ordinary. What he is not supposed to do is sack the man have him moved on to another school and not report the matter. That I believe is in direct violation of Nolan. However it seems to me my complaint is about financial abuse. I will not be drawn into this. Let someone else point it out. In fact I am in many ways and contrary to my desire for equanimity to all things, happy that Manjulah has left the Ashram.

There is something more I am not feeling it. But I know I am troubled by something. The man likes to build things. He is good at building things. There is something I am missing. But perhaps the investigation will bring it to light.