A Centre associated with the Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ came up in Vasai West on November 5. Started by Fr Donald Rodrigues, the centre is named Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church. The key mission of this church is to propagate ecumenism. Ecumenism promotes unity among all Christian churches and denominations. The Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ supports reforms which includes the choice of priests either to marry or to live a life of celibacy. Fr Rodrigues, who once was a priest of the Bombay Archdiocese, got married last year.

Archbishop warns against it

Referring to the November 5 inauguration of the Vasai Church, Archbishop of Vasai Felix Machado has put forward “an ardent appeal”, printed as a circular in the Diocesan Catholic monthly magazine called Shantidoot in November. This communication has gathered traction on social media, appearing on several community WhatsApp groups. The appeal, in a nutshell, alerts the faithful, asking them to abstain from associating themselves with this new ‘centre’.