Kottayam: An estimated 3,000 parishioners pledged their organs for cadaver donation at Lourde Forane Church in Kottayam on Saturday evening.
The faithful signed consent forms in response to a call by Archbishop of Changanacherry, Dr Joseph Perunthottam, in a pastoral letter recently. Parishioners have committed eyes, pancreas and liver after death.
“There are provisions in the consent letter, giving signatories the option to choose organs to donate,” Fr Joseph Alunkal, the assistant vicar, told DC. He said the Church was the first in the archdiocese to commit one member form each family, inspired by ‘Mruitasanjeevani’ project of Kerala Government.
Dr Joseph Perunthottam pointed out in the pastoral letter: “While alive, a person can donate blood, a kidney, portion of the liver and the marrow.”
“Selling one’s organ is deplorable. It debases the greatness of the human body. The Church does not permit donating sexual organs and brain cells under any circumstances. This is because receiving these organs may change the personality of the recipient,” the letter says.
