BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) A Colombian church is suing a Catholic bishop for slander and defamation after his comments about the legitimacy of several local ministers and their alleged "theft" of congregants. The Ecumenical Provincial Church of Colombia, which has an Anglican tradition, is suing Bishop Ramon Dario Molina Jaramillo of Neiva, declaring that he could not "place into doubt the legality of non-Catholic priests, much less label them ‘thieves of believers’."
The lawsuit accuses the bishop of slander, defamation and of violating the constitutional right to freedom of religion.
In a message read by diocesan priests at Masses in early January, Bishop Molina warned that seven local priests were "exercising the priestly ministry without communion with the pope" and that they "lacked any authorization or faculties for said exercise in the Diocese of Neiva."
Later, in a newspaper interview, the bishop asked, "How is it that they go to my parish and steal my believers?"
Some of the seven local priests named by the bishop belong to the Ecumenical Provincial Church of Colombia, while others consider themselves old-style Catholics who reject the reforms of the First Vatican Council. All have called themselves "Catholics," according to news reports, but they do not claim to be members of the Roman Catholic Church. Some of these priests practice faith healing, exorcism, homeopathy and fortune telling and are reportedly extremely popular.
