Remy Denis

Who is Remy Denis?

Remy Denis is a mathematician who was elected president of the All India Catholic Union in September 2008, succeeding John Dayal. He was reelected at the annual general meeting of the AICU held in Mangalore in September 2010.

Remy Denis holds M.Sc. Ph.D. and D.Sc degrees, and was a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Gorakhpur University in Uttar Pradesh. In the 1980s Remy 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 said that church property should be brought under the ambit of state laws, as was the case with other religions. This was endorsed by Remy 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.