Remy Denis is an Indian mathematician who was elected president of the

All India Catholic Union The All India Catholic Union (AICU) represents almost 16 million Catholics in India: followers of the Latin Church, the Syro-Malabar Catholics and the Syro-Malankara Catholics. It has 120 diocese and district units. The AICU was established i ...

(AICU) in September 2008, succeeding

John Dayal John Dayal (born 2 October 1948) is an Indian human rights and Christian political activist. He is a member of the National Integration Council (NIC) of India, Secretary-General of the All India Christian Council and a past president of the All ...

. He was reelected at the annual general meeting of the AICU held in

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

in September 2010. Denis was a professor in the Department of Mathematics at

Gorakhpur University Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University (formerly known as Gorakhpur University) is located in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. The University of Gorakhpur is a teaching and residential-cum-affiliating University. It has entered the league of top fi ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. In the 1980s, Denis was a member of the Uttar Pradesh Minorities Commission. Denis has taken a somewhat radical position in saying that the clergy should confine itself to ministering to the spiritual needs of the people. Administration of the material goods of the church should be left entirely to the laity. At a seminar in Goa in August 2009, former Union minister

Eduardo Faleiro Eduardo Faleiro (born 30 August 1940) is an Indian politician, former advocate of Supreme Court of India, and former federal minister. In September 2006, he served as the commissioner for non-resident Indian affairs for the Congress Government ...

said that church property should be brought under the ambit of state laws, as was the case with other religions. This was endorsed by Denis and other liberals. However John Dayal, representing the conservatives in the AICU, opposed any change. He said that the "Christian situation" was radically and materially different from that of the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh religions, and existing laws were sufficient. In February 2012 the AICU announced that it had started planning for a Laity Synod, to be held later in the year. This would be the first time such an event had been arranged in India. It would give the lay members an opportunity to think about their role in the church and the future of the church. According to Denis "The Second Vatican Council called for the empowerment of the laity. But after 50 years, there is not much to show". It was hoped that the synod would help find ways for the laity to become more involved in management of the financial and temporal affairs of the church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denis, Remy Living people Indian Roman Catholics Year of birth missing (living people)