July 10, 2012
Today, Asha James, Dinesh Lal and I took the train to Agra
to meet with the Rev. Sylvester Massey, Executive Secretary of the Agra
Regional Conference of the Central Methodist Church. We went to discuss the possibility of the White Rainbow
Project renting a building or rooms in the Methodist compound located in the
heart of Vrindavan.
We had toured the Methodist compound yesterday and were
familiar with the conditions there.
At this point, we were following up on one of our option for setting up
a vocational center for the widows in Vrindavan.
The Reverend
Massey was very cordial and soft-spoken; he immediately launched into the problems
the Methodist church and school were having, painting us a picture of
insurmountable issues should decide to try renting buildings or rooms in the Methodist
compound for our vocational center.
In a very simplified nutshell: the Methodist school attendance is way down, funds are down,
resulting in teachers not being paid; squatters are encroaching at an alarming
rate on all Methodist properties and no easy solution exists for extricating
them; and perhaps the biggest issue of all, it is not clear the Methodist
Church of India actually holds the title to the properties and they are at constant odds with the Episcopalians, who claim they hold the title. A very messy imbroglio entangled by
years of corruption and greed.
Add this on top of the amount of work that would be required
to bring the buildings up to a safe and usable level….and we decided to pass on the Methodist Compound.
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