My Major Archbishop’s Visit to Angelicum

It was an opportunity for the students of Mater Ecclesiae of the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) to hear firsthand the impressions of one of the Synodal Fathers of the recently concluded Synod on the Church in the Middle East. His Beatitude Baselios Cleemis, the Major Archbishop-Catholicose of the Malankara Catholic Church and the present Vice President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India came to the University accepting the invitation of Fr. Glenn Morris OP, Secretary General of Angelicum on Monday 25^th October at 11: 30 a.m. As an Alumnus of the University he was happy to come and share his views with the students of his Alma mater.

The Major Archbishop explained little bit about the liturgical tradition of the Malankara Catholic Church. We belong to the West Syrian family together with the Maronite and the Syrian Catholic Church of Antioch. We follow the liturgy of St. James, the Apostle of Jerusalem and this is the oldest liturgy still in use.

My bishop observed that the renewed sense of collegiality began to flourish with the convening of the Second Vatican Council. It was the gathering of all the bishops of the Catholic Church and for various reasons it is not possible to have such Councils frequently. The tradition of having Synods for each region or with a special theme was started by Pope Paul VI. Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI are continuing that tradition with enthusiasm and vigor to address the needs of the Church in different regions or issues facing the Church.

The Synod took place at the Vatican from Oct. 10-24 and with the theme: “The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness”.  The Synod began and concluded with Mass offered by Pope Benedict XVI. Holy Father pointed out in his inaugural address that the Middle East region has a special role in the history of salvation and it is necessary to bring peace and justice to that region today.

Now the Christians are becoming a minority in the Middle East which is actually the birthplace of Christianity. My bishop also commented during his talk: “Just look at Iraq – thousands are killed there because of the war and persecution and many fled the country to Europe and the Americas.” There are numerous challenges the Churches of these regions face in order to survive. That is why the Synod chose Acts 4: 32, a passage to mediate for the entire session of the Synod: “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common”.

The Holy Father in his homily concluding the Synod said: “It is a reality that we experienced in these past days, in which we have shared the joys and the pains, the concerns and the hopes of Christians in the Middle East.” The Eucharistic celebrations and prayers in different Rites were an “exchange of precious gifts, from which all the Synodal Fathers benefitted.” The Holy Father hopes that this cooperation will continue “in the respective communities of the Middle East, encouraging the participation of the faithful in liturgical celebrations of other Catholic rites, thus opening themselves to the dimensions of the Universal Church.”

This is also first time in the history of the Church such a Synod has been convened just to discuss issues pertaining to the Christians of this region. A total number of 185 participants were invited and an average of 160 attended each session including 10 Curial Cardinals. My bishop mentioned that it was a new experience for him to see that the morning prayers were recited in different Rites each day and also in different languages. Five minutes were given to each participant to speak besides the free sessions in which anyone could ask to speak for three minutes. He said that he has intervened three times to support the Holy Father’s effort to help the Christians of this region and also to bring the attention of the Synodal Fathers on various issues our people facing there.  Delegates from Orthodox, Anglican Churches were invited along with two representatives from the Muslim community and a Jewish Rabbi. Referring to Holy Father’s remark my bishop said that in a largely pastoral scope, the synod was concentrating on the Church's mission in the Middle East and also her existence as a "propitious" occasion to continue a constructive dialogue with Jews and Muslims.

The Malankara Catholic Church has presence in all these areas. Sisters from our Church work in Jerusalem, Cairo and Ethiopia (Africa). There are many people from India belonging to the Malankara Catholic Church go to the Middle East to work. We need to take care of their spiritual needs. It is very difficult to meet the pastoral needs of our people living there because of the prevailing situations existing in many of these countries. Holy Land is the birth place of Christianity and it will be a tragedy if there are no Christian communities existing there anymore. The Pentecostal Churches, because of their peculiar nature are intruding in these areas and misleading the people who go there to work. When our faithful come back to India they abandon their Catholic faith and we also have the responsibility to make sure that they continue to live their Catholic life in their own tradition no matter where they go.

My bishop added that the deliberations at the Synod will be submitted to the Holy Father and Pope will issue a Post Synodal Exhortation which would be available to all and he encouraged the students to read it when it comes out to understand the issues facing the Church in the Middle East and to pray and work for peace in that region.

At the end of the session His Beatitude answered few questions raised by some of the students of Mater Ecclesia of the Angelicum.

Note: I was proud to have my bishop visit my school and talk to the students and I prepared these notes based on his lecture for my blog and my bishop is not responsible for any mistakes I might have made in formulating this.