Murphy Nicholas Xavier Pakiam, the third Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, tendered his resignation as required by church law on Dec 6 when he turned 75, the mandatory retirement age for prelates.
The usually long drawn out process of electing a successor has not been completed in Pakiam's case, which is why the alacrity with which the Vatican accepted his resignation has given rise to speculation that Rome is glad to see him go.
The Vatican posted news of its acceptance of his resignation within days of receiving Pakiam's letter although the election process for a successor has a long way to go.
If a successor has not been firmed up, Rome has been known to take its time about acceptance, in which case the incumbent will continue until news of acceptance of resignation is simultaneously announced with the name of the successor.
Pakiam, who had no prior signs of serious health problems, collapsed at his residence shortly after being apprised of the Vatican's decision to accept his resignation. He is recuperating at a Catholic-run hospital in Petaling Jaya.
The speed with which the Vatican accepted his resignation, despite not having a successor at the ready, and Pakiam's sudden physical frailty have stirred speculation.
One school holds that Rome is unhappy with Pakiam's handling of the 'Allah' controversy, although it is difficult to say precisely what aspects of that handling the Vatican is displeased about.
Another, more substantive, school of speculation reckons that the pro-establishment Pakiam had seriously misjudged the atmospherics for the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Vatican and Malaysia, resulting in acute embarrassment to the papal nuncio, Joseph Marino, who was assigned to Malaysia earlier this year.
An innocuous remark Archbishop Marino made about the ‘Allah' issue shortly after presenting his credentials led to protests by Malay right-wing groups who charged the nuncio with interference in Malaysia's internal affairs.
The groups demanded a retraction, failing which they called for the government to close the embassy and send the nuncio packing.
A mortified Marino, who had merely observed that the Catholic Church's case for the use of term 'Allah' was "logical", had to placate matters by issuing a statement that expressed regret that his remarks had caused offence.
Clearly, the atmospherics for Vatican-Malaysia ties were not there.
State-conferred honorifics
But Pakiam's pro-establishment inclinations were apt to ignore the undercurrents that bode ill for the local church, while plumping for the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Perhaps he wanted the establishment of ties for its ornamental value to his episcopate (2003-1013).
It is speculated the same coziness with the powers-that-be led Pakiam to accept the state-conferred honorifics of 'Datuk' and 'Tan Sri' in rapid succession although his immediate predecessor, Soter Fernandez (1984-2003), had politely declined such offers for reason he didn't think his possession of the titles would make any difference to church-state relations which he viewed as poor and getting worse.
Fernandez knew that relations would be tenuous from well before the day in late October 1987 when he told the Special Branch officers who had arrested La Salle Bro Anthony Rodgers in the ISA dragnet that saw more than a hundred politicians and social activists detained in 'Operation Lalang':
"You do what you have to do and we will do what we have to."
It was a simple, hardboiled statement of recognition of the separate roles of church and state.
Fernandez said this to arresting officers who were keen to tell the prelate that Catholic religious activists like Rogers were espousing liberation theology, the Latin American innovation that renders a neo-Marxist reading to the Exodus chapters of the Bible where the Israelites are freed from Pharaoh's bondage in Egypt.
Fernandez, who does not have the articulation or the carriage of Pakiam, was more profound in his conception of the proper stance the church ought to take vis-à-vis a state power structure that was increasingly compounding its penchant for the autocratic with Islamic fundamentalism.
In such straits, Fernandez correctly judged that the church had to be circumspect in its dealings with the state. This is the circumspection that Christian theology imbues the church in respect of its relationship with the secular power.
In contrast, Pakiam's approach was that if he could talk and engage the powers-that-be, problems could be discreetly resolved behind closed doors. In that vein, the acceptance of state honorifics would ease access and lubricate relations.
In the event, the ‘Allah' controversy where Catholic weekly, The Herald, published by the Kuala Lumpur Archbishop, was forbidden to use the term in their Bahasa Malaysia pages and Marino's humiliation so soon after taking up his papal nuncio's role swiftly disabused Pakiam of his illusions.
The usually long drawn out process of electing a successor has not been completed in Pakiam's case, which is why the alacrity with which the Vatican accepted his resignation has given rise to speculation that Rome is glad to see him go.
The Vatican posted news of its acceptance of his resignation within days of receiving Pakiam's letter although the election process for a successor has a long way to go.
If a successor has not been firmed up, Rome has been known to take its time about acceptance, in which case the incumbent will continue until news of acceptance of resignation is simultaneously announced with the name of the successor.
Pakiam, who had no prior signs of serious health problems, collapsed at his residence shortly after being apprised of the Vatican's decision to accept his resignation. He is recuperating at a Catholic-run hospital in Petaling Jaya.The speed with which the Vatican accepted his resignation, despite not having a successor at the ready, and Pakiam's sudden physical frailty have stirred speculation.
One school holds that Rome is unhappy with Pakiam's handling of the 'Allah' controversy, although it is difficult to say precisely what aspects of that handling the Vatican is displeased about.
Another, more substantive, school of speculation reckons that the pro-establishment Pakiam had seriously misjudged the atmospherics for the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Vatican and Malaysia, resulting in acute embarrassment to the papal nuncio, Joseph Marino, who was assigned to Malaysia earlier this year.
An innocuous remark Archbishop Marino made about the ‘Allah' issue shortly after presenting his credentials led to protests by Malay right-wing groups who charged the nuncio with interference in Malaysia's internal affairs.
The groups demanded a retraction, failing which they called for the government to close the embassy and send the nuncio packing.
A mortified Marino, who had merely observed that the Catholic Church's case for the use of term 'Allah' was "logical", had to placate matters by issuing a statement that expressed regret that his remarks had caused offence.
Clearly, the atmospherics for Vatican-Malaysia ties were not there.
State-conferred honorifics
But Pakiam's pro-establishment inclinations were apt to ignore the undercurrents that bode ill for the local church, while plumping for the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Perhaps he wanted the establishment of ties for its ornamental value to his episcopate (2003-1013).
It is speculated the same coziness with the powers-that-be led Pakiam to accept the state-conferred honorifics of 'Datuk' and 'Tan Sri' in rapid succession although his immediate predecessor, Soter Fernandez (1984-2003), had politely declined such offers for reason he didn't think his possession of the titles would make any difference to church-state relations which he viewed as poor and getting worse.
Fernandez knew that relations would be tenuous from well before the day in late October 1987 when he told the Special Branch officers who had arrested La Salle Bro Anthony Rodgers in the ISA dragnet that saw more than a hundred politicians and social activists detained in 'Operation Lalang':
"You do what you have to do and we will do what we have to."
It was a simple, hardboiled statement of recognition of the separate roles of church and state.
Fernandez said this to arresting officers who were keen to tell the prelate that Catholic religious activists like Rogers were espousing liberation theology, the Latin American innovation that renders a neo-Marxist reading to the Exodus chapters of the Bible where the Israelites are freed from Pharaoh's bondage in Egypt.Fernandez, who does not have the articulation or the carriage of Pakiam, was more profound in his conception of the proper stance the church ought to take vis-à-vis a state power structure that was increasingly compounding its penchant for the autocratic with Islamic fundamentalism.
In such straits, Fernandez correctly judged that the church had to be circumspect in its dealings with the state. This is the circumspection that Christian theology imbues the church in respect of its relationship with the secular power.
In contrast, Pakiam's approach was that if he could talk and engage the powers-that-be, problems could be discreetly resolved behind closed doors. In that vein, the acceptance of state honorifics would ease access and lubricate relations.
In the event, the ‘Allah' controversy where Catholic weekly, The Herald, published by the Kuala Lumpur Archbishop, was forbidden to use the term in their Bahasa Malaysia pages and Marino's humiliation so soon after taking up his papal nuncio's role swiftly disabused Pakiam of his illusions.
PM came a-calling
In other aspects of church governance, Pakiam had the attitude of a stuffed-shirt: he was not inclined to encourage the religious orders in their work and he felt that lay activists who ran communications and teaching aspects of the faith - ministries that an increasingly shorthanded clergy were no longer able to undertake - were getting far too unwieldy. He had them cashiered.
Astonishingly, he stopped a Jesuit priest (Jesuits are a religious order usually handed hardscrabble roles such as work with refugees and migrants) in his apostolate on migrant labourers who were being exploited.
There are some 2.2 million documented foreign workers in Malaysia, many labouring long hours for meager pay and housed in abject conditions.
It is reliably reported that for every documented foreign laborer, there is an undocumented one. The lot of the latter invariably is even more pitiable than that of his documented counterpart.
A ministry to the exploited among foreign laborers and refugees is made to order for the Roman Catholic Church's most intellectual and strenuous order. But Pakiam was seemingly blasé about this.
Not surprisingly, critics of Pakiam arose from among the clergy, and they were not just from the religious orders.
Criticism also emanated from the laity who did not like the story about the reported missive from the Prime Minister's Department that Christian iconography like crucifixes ought not to captured in the backdrop of photographs to be taken of Najib Razak when he came a-calling at a Christian Federation of Malaysia 'open house' on Christmas Day hosted by Pakiam a few years ago.
The response to the emissary who conveyed the request should more appositely have been: "If the crucifixes are a problem, let's forget that an invitation has been extended."
The reaction to the equerry's request was nowhere near as resolute.
The PM came a-calling and Pakiam, not one to be skeptical of the public gesture even when it is meaningless, and resplendent in Episcopal habit and pectoral cross, was photographed with the Najib at his side over lunch.
The occasion would mislead him into thinking that syrupy sentiments whispered on festive occasions do count when political interests are being calculated and policy positions formulated.
Pakiam would soon learn the lesson at the hands of the Najib administration over the 'Allah' issue and the humiliation of the papal nuncio that these festive occasion effusions are good for naught.
That is why few are surprised at the alacrity with which the Vatican has accepted his resignation although they are sorry that it went hard by Pakiam, seeing that he took ill soon after.
In other aspects of church governance, Pakiam had the attitude of a stuffed-shirt: he was not inclined to encourage the religious orders in their work and he felt that lay activists who ran communications and teaching aspects of the faith - ministries that an increasingly shorthanded clergy were no longer able to undertake - were getting far too unwieldy. He had them cashiered.
Astonishingly, he stopped a Jesuit priest (Jesuits are a religious order usually handed hardscrabble roles such as work with refugees and migrants) in his apostolate on migrant labourers who were being exploited.
There are some 2.2 million documented foreign workers in Malaysia, many labouring long hours for meager pay and housed in abject conditions.
It is reliably reported that for every documented foreign laborer, there is an undocumented one. The lot of the latter invariably is even more pitiable than that of his documented counterpart.
A ministry to the exploited among foreign laborers and refugees is made to order for the Roman Catholic Church's most intellectual and strenuous order. But Pakiam was seemingly blasé about this.
Not surprisingly, critics of Pakiam arose from among the clergy, and they were not just from the religious orders.
Criticism also emanated from the laity who did not like the story about the reported missive from the Prime Minister's Department that Christian iconography like crucifixes ought not to captured in the backdrop of photographs to be taken of Najib Razak when he came a-calling at a Christian Federation of Malaysia 'open house' on Christmas Day hosted by Pakiam a few years ago.
The response to the emissary who conveyed the request should more appositely have been: "If the crucifixes are a problem, let's forget that an invitation has been extended."
The reaction to the equerry's request was nowhere near as resolute.
The PM came a-calling and Pakiam, not one to be skeptical of the public gesture even when it is meaningless, and resplendent in Episcopal habit and pectoral cross, was photographed with the Najib at his side over lunch. The occasion would mislead him into thinking that syrupy sentiments whispered on festive occasions do count when political interests are being calculated and policy positions formulated.
Pakiam would soon learn the lesson at the hands of the Najib administration over the 'Allah' issue and the humiliation of the papal nuncio that these festive occasion effusions are good for naught.
That is why few are surprised at the alacrity with which the Vatican has accepted his resignation although they are sorry that it went hard by Pakiam, seeing that he took ill soon after.
TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for close on four decades. He likes the occupation because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them.
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