Posted on 05/07/2016 12:50:47 PM PDT by NYer
Here’s story about a church closure with a happy ending —and a church transformation that you don’t hear about very often:
A Yonkers Roman Catholic church shuttered last year in a parish consolidation will celebrate its rebirth Saturday as an Eastern Rite congregation.
The Rev. Sunny Mathew, 43, the new congregation’s pastor, said the move to Yonkers realizes a longtime dream for his parishioners, who began their congregation in 1984 in New York City. Most Holy Trinity Church at 18 Trinity Plaza will be occupied by St. Mary’s Malankara Catholic Church, an Indian congregation that for 17 years worshiped in the chapel at Salesian High School in New Rochelle.
“It is a realization of our almost 32-year dream. At the same time, we hope it will increase the self-esteem of our people and it will help them to establish their own identity here,” Mathew said. “This will help them to witness more to the rich Eastern tradition.”
St. Mary’s Malankara Catholic Church will hold its inaugural celebration at 4 p.m. Saturday in English. It will be the first Malankara Catholic church in Westchester County.
Mathew said he invited the church’s former parishioners as well as representatives from Yonkers’ many Indian Christian denominations and the bishop of the Malankara Catholic Church in the United States.
“It will be their house too,” Mathew said of Most Holy Trinity’s former parishioners. “Just as our people go to the Latin holy Mass, they can come to this Mass.”
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, also known as the Malankara Syrian Catholic Church, is a Kerala, India-based eastern-Catholic denomination in full communion with Rome but with many traditions that resemble Orthodox Christian denominations. The Malankara church is one of several Indian Christian denominations that trace their origin to the Apostle St. Thomas, who is believed to have evangelized in India.
More about the Syro-Malankara Church, from CNEWA:
During the 18th century there were no less than four formal attempts to reconcile the Catholic and Malankara Orthodox Syrian Churches, all of which failed.
In 1926, a group of five Malankara Orthodox Syrian bishops who were opposed to the jurisdiction of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch in India commissioned one of their own number, Mar Ivanios, to open negotiations with Rome with a view to reconciliation. They asked only that their liturgy be preserved and that the bishops be allowed to retain their dioceses. After discussions, Rome required only that the bishops make a profession of faith and that their baptisms and ordinations be proven valid in each case.
In the event, only two of the five bishops accepted the new arrangement with Rome, including Mar Ivanios. These two bishops, a priest, a deacon and a layman were received into the Catholic Church together on September 20, 1930. Later in the 1930s two more bishops, from among those who had favored the jurisdiction of the Syrian Patriarch in India, were received into communion with Rome.
This triggered a significant movement of faithful into the new Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. By 1950 there were some 65,588 faithful, in 1960 112,478, and in 1970 183,490. There are now over 400,000 faithful in six dioceses, all of them in Kerala State, India.
You can read a more extensive history here.
Same faith, different flavor, ping!
Conservative Catholic Radio
http://veritasradionetwork.com/
Featuring Mike Church formerly of Sirius Satilite Radio.
The Malankara church was planted by Thomas, whose church-plantings in Parthia and India rivaled those of Paul in Greece and Rome. Praise Him for his gospel-spreading churches, and the Spirit that draws people to Christ throughout the world!
Conservative Catholic Radio
http://veritasradionetwork.com/
Featuring Mike Church formerly of Sirius Satilite Radio.
I am trying to post this to all of the Catholic threads because Vertas is an excellent voice for the faith and for the country.
Listen for free but I hope some of you will become paying members or the channel can not survive
Cool! I hope they can afford the upkeep.
We have Greek, Russian, Coptic, and Ethiopian Orthodox here, but not enough congregants of any Eastern Catholic church to operate their own facility. Eritrean Catholics come to my parish.
Have they ever invited you to their coffee ceremony? Quite an experience.
No, but they cook their traditional meals for the parish festival. I did not know Eritreans had a coffee ceremony!
The young priest who served our parish last year was recently reassigned to St. Charbel Mission in Raleigh, NC. Not sure how far away that is for you but if you get the chance, you might consider attending mass there, at least once. The Maronite Divine Liturgy is chanted and his approach is one of the most beautiful I have ever experienced.
Rev. Elias Khalil, is te pastor.
The pope will fill it with islamo migrants soon enough.
Raleigh is about three hours from here. There is a Maronite liturgy held regularly in Charlotte; I don’t recall whether it’s at the high school or at one of the suburban parishes.
Fr. Elie, formerly at St. Sharbel (I checked their website) does the Maronite liturgy here. He did Mass at my parish sometime in the last year. I don’t remember which holiday it was.
Thanks, that’s very interesting. This is something to bring up at future celebrations of the varied ethnicity of the parish.
As a Catholic I would much prefer to see it remain Catholic but if this denomination is truly Christian (something I don’t know because I’m not familiar with it) then it’s good that it remained Christian.
Not just Christian but Catholic. Syro-Malankara CATHOLIC.
Meaning it pledges fidelity to Rome?
Yes. The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is in union with Rome.
Yes, it is under the pope. Although it is not widely known in our Western world, the Catholic Church is actually a communion of Churches. According to the Constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, the Catholic Church is understood to be "a corporate body of Churches," united with the Pope of Rome, who serves as the guardian of unity (LG, no. 23). At present there are 22 Churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The new Code of Canon Law, promulgated by Pope John Paul II, uses the phrase "autonomous ritual Churches" to describe these various Churches (canon 112). Each Church has its own hierarchy, spirituality, and theological perspective. Because of the particularities of history, there is only one Western Catholic Church, while there are 21 Eastern Catholic Churches. The Western Church, known officially as the Latin Church, is the largest of the Catholic Churches. It is immediately subject to the Roman Pontiff as Patriarch of the West. The Eastern Catholic Churches are each led by a Patriarch, Major Archbishop, or Metropolitan, who governs their Church together with a synod of bishops. Through the Congregation for Oriental Churches, the Roman Pontiff works to assure the health and well-being of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
While this diversity within the one Catholic Church can appear confusing at first, it in no way compromises the Church's unity. In a certain sense, it is a reflection of the mystery of the Trinity. Just as God is three Persons, yet one God, so the Church is 22 Churches, yet one Church.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes this nicely:
"From the beginning, this one Church has been marked by a great diversity which comes from both the variety of God's gifts and the diversity of those who receive them... Holding a rightful place in the communion of the Church there are also particular Churches that retain their own traditions. The great richness of such diversity is not opposed to the Church's unity" (CCC no. 814).
Although there are 22 Churches, there are only eight "Rites" that are used among them. A Rite is a "liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony," (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 28). "Rite" best refers to the liturgical and disciplinary traditions used in celebrating the sacraments. Many Eastern Catholic Churches use the same Rite, although they are distinct autonomous Churches. For example, the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Melkite Catholic Church are distinct Churches with their own hierarchies. Yet they both use the Byzantine Rite.
To learn more about the "two lungs" of the Catholic Church, visit this link:
The Vatican II Council declared that "all should realize it is of supreme importance to understand, venerate, preserve, and foster the exceedingly rich liturgical and spiritual heritage of the Eastern churches, in order faithfully to preserve the fullness of Christian tradition" (Unitatis Redintegrato, 15).
A Roman rite Catholic may attend any Eastern Catholic Liturgy and fulfill his or her obligations at any Eastern Catholic Parish. A Roman rite Catholic may join any Eastern Catholic Parish and receive any sacrament from an Eastern Catholic priest, since all belong to the Catholic Church as a whole. I am a Roman Catholic practicing my faith at a Maronite Catholic Church. Like the Chaldeans, the Maronites retain Aramaic for the Consecration. It is as close as one comes to being at the Last Supper.
Please freepmail me if you would like more information on the Eastern Catholic Churches.
I would walk to the church. About half an hour from the university campus. One Sunday it was pouring rain. I was wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella. I arrived at the church to find that the day was a feast day for some French saint. There was to be a candle-lit procession before Mass. I entered the church, holding my umbrella and trying to get my raincoat off, when a French nun thrust a lighted candle into my hand. Try juggling a lighted candle and an umbrella while shedding a dripping wet raincoat. I managed without setting the church on fire, but I wish she'd have picked someone else to take part in the procession.
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