Rev CV John pleads for clemency

S Singlianmang Guite


Lamka, Jul 13: The sex scandal that saw the ouster of a Reverend from a ministry he had helped establish, and defame a celebrated gospel singer last year took a new twist as the indicted reverend bid for a re-entry.


“When I came here thirty years back I came to preach the gospel, but this time I come as a man with humility,” Rev CV John, a priest who stepped down from all positions after his alleged sexual relationship with the singer expressed at a packed press conference here yesterday.


Pleading for a recall in the ministry he was earlier associated, the Keralite priest who said he has a body that looks Indian but had a heart and stomach that is Tribal called on the Board members of New Life Ministry (NLM) to facilitate his return, as he had repented and would not forgive himself even if God forgives him.


The former Founder Director and a man who nurtured the ministry from nothing to one of the biggest Christian ministry ever initiated in the state, Rev CV John was formally terminated from the ministry, prohibited from entering any of the ministry premises in and outside the state, and allowed to stay only at his house within the Ministry’s Trivandrum Bible College premises.


“I love the people of Churachandpur, I know the language, eat what they eat and sleep where they sleep,” he said, when asked why he still pitches for a return despite the NLM board’s reservation. He also said that he is not after wealth and properties of NLM, yet he feels that NLM is practically controlled by an individual though it is controlled by the Board members in principle.


Rev CV John, a man whom some dubbed as a man who will never repent was accused of having illicit relation with at least seven other woman beside the singer. His exploits were initially unearthed in the United States some years back while on a conducted tour with orphans under the funding of World Help. Later explicit photos and other documents further supplemented the charges.


However, when specifically asked on charges of siphoning off funds and abusing children as young as 15, the priest who had confessed to having met ‘a defeat in life’ denied the charges.


“I never misappropriated any funds, and never in my life have I molested children,” he said.


The expose of Rev CV John’s alleged affair shocked not only the Christian population here but had its impact upon colleagues in the neighbouring state of Mizoram, where his alleged fiancee was a revered singer. Now, that the initial shock and surprises were more or less subdued and the priest ready to return despite threats from some armed elements, the ball now seems to be on the court of NLM board members. Feelers he had send, according to Rev CV John in recent days were snubbed by the NLM board members.


Source: http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/News_pages/Local_page-07.html