ONE of India’s leading Church figures, Mar George Cardinal Alencherry, Major Archbishop and head of the Syro-Malabar Catholics will concelebrate Holy Qurbana (Malayalam) Mass in St Joachim’s Church, Holland Park on Thursday, November 29 at 6pm.
Brisbane archdiocese’s vicar general Monsignor Peter Meneely will be at the Mass to welcome the Church leader who will be in Australia until December 7.
The cardinal will attend official functions and concelebrate Mass in other locations including Townsville, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin and Adelaide.
The Syro-Malabar Catholic faithful in Australia numbers around 32,000, spread across 18 active communities.
Due to this expansion, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference appointed a national coordinator, Fr Francis Kolencherry, to manage the pastoral needs of the communities under various chaplains.
Fr Kolencherry said the cardinal’s pastoral visit was at the invitation of the Australian Catholic Bishops and the national Syro-Malabar community.
“It will mark the first time a head of the Syro-Malabar Church has travelled to Australia,” he said.
“It will be a valuable opportunity to meet with Church leaders and pledge ongoing support for the Syro-Malabar faithful in Australia.
“Mar Alencherry will visit a selection of their communities, hold discussions with bishops, priests, religious and community members, and gather information on the Syro-Malabar faithful in Australia to present to the Major Archiepiscopal curia in India.”
The Syro-Malabar Church is the second largest of the 22 Oriental (Eastern Rite) Catholic Churches in full communion with the Church in Rome (Latin Rite), and one of four having in common the East Syrian Liturgical tradition.
It is a sui juris (autonomous) Church governed by a Synod of Bishops headed by the Major Archbishop.
While the majority of Roman Catholics belong to the Latin Rite, the Eastern Rite provides a unique dimension to Catholic heritage and spirituality.
The Second Vatican Council’s Decree on the Catholic Eastern Churches emphasised the importance of their institutions, liturgical rites, ecclesiastical traditions and their ordering of Christian life.
Each of these communities professes the same belief and they are all united as one Church, yet differences in culture, language and geographical location, over time, have influenced the expression of their faith, even though the essential elements have remained the same.
Known for its deep-rooted spirituality and high rate of vocations to the priesthood and religious life, the Syro-Malabar Church is perhaps the most vibrant Catholic Church in the world, with over four million believers and a rich and fascinating history.
Syro-Malabar Catholics, also called “St Thomas Christians”, trace their origins and faith to the missionary efforts of St Thomas the Apostle, who landed at Kodungallur in Kerala, India, in 52 AD.
St Thomas was martyred at Mylapur, Chennai, India, in 72 AD, after preaching and establishing Christian communities in different parts of India.
Until the late 16th century, bishops were appointed and sent by the Patriarch of the East Syrian Church, who governed the St Thomas Christians.
However, the arrival of the Portuguese in India marked a new era in the life of the Church. The Syrian bishops stopped coming and the Latin missionaries, suspecting the St Thomas Christians of heresy, started Latinising them.
Hierarchically they were brought under the rule of the Latin Bishops after the Synod of Diamper.
In 1653 in the ‘Coonan Cross Oath’ at Mattancherry, many St Thomas Christians vowed to disobey the ruling Latin Bishop.
Thus began a rift among St Thomas Christians, who were one Church until that time.
Eventually, some returned to the jurisdiction of the Latin rule to be in communion with the Pope, while others stood firm in their stand of opposition to the Portuguese.
Finally, after 230 years of Latin governance, the Syro-Malabar Church hierarchy was established in India, in 1923.
Since then it has grown rapidly, and in 1992 Pope John Paul ll elevated it to the status of a Major Archiepiscopal Sui Juris Church with the title of Ernakulam-Angamaly.
It is one of the three Major Archiepiscopal Churches, the other two being the Syro-Malankara Church and the Ukrainian Church.
On May 24, 2011, the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church elected Mar George Alencherry as the Major Archbishop of Syro-Malabar Church, which Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged the following day.
A major archbishop is similar to a patriarch, in that he has autonomous jurisdiction in his particular Church.
He brings an extraordinary breadth of experience and knowledge to his position. He was born in 1945 in the archdiocese of Changancherry, Kerala, India.
After completing his theological studies at St. Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary, Aluva, and a degree in economics, he took doctorate in biblical theology from Sorbonne University and the Catholic institute, Paris.
When Pope John Paul II established the diocese of Thuckalay on November 11, 1996, Fr. George Alencherry was appointed its first bishop.
Pope Benedict XVI made Mar Alencherry a cardinal on February 18, 2012.
There have been 11 Indian cardinals; he is the fourth from the Syro-Malabar Church, presiding over 47 bishops and around 7000 priests worldwide.
As head of the Syro-Malabar Church, he is concerned with the spiritual welfare of migrant faithful now living far from India.
The Catholic Church’s response to the pastoral care of migrant people is organised on the basis of language, culture, country of origin and ethnicity.
The presumption is that these migrants belong to the one Catholic Church, but they need special care because they have a different language, culture and traditions.
