Visit ad limina of Our Bishops, Part III

Pope Benedict XVI, in his address to the bishops, thanked His Beatitude Baselios Cleemis for his words on behalf of the bishops. He also asked them to convey his greetings and prayers to all the priests, religious and lay faithful of the Malankara Catholic Church. The Holy Father reminded them that the time together was a “privileged occasion to deepen the bonds of fraternity and communion between the See of Peter and the Syro-Malankara Church” which had been promoted to a Major Archiepiscopal Church by the Venerable John Paul II in 2005.

It is through the full communion with the universal Church that the apostolic traditions of the Malankara Catholic Church enjoy their full spiritual fruitfulness. Pope Benedict asked them to continue the work started by the Servant of God Mar Ivanios in this regard: “Like your forefathers, you too are called, within the one household of God, to continue in firm fidelity to that which has been passed down to you.” He also encouraged the bishops to foster affection among priests and people for the liturgical and spiritual heritage of the Malankara Church in communion with the See of Peter.  

Because of the ancient roots and distinguished history, Christianity has contributed much the Indian culture and society. “May your people continue to flourish by the preaching of God’s word and by the promotion of a fellowship based on the love of God,” the Pope said. The Malankara Catholic Church has to persevere along the path she has chosen when she tries to form the people in a deeper knowledge and love of the faith, aided by the grace of God and trusting in his providence.

The Pope concluded his address with these words: “I renew my sentiments of fraternal affection and esteem for you. Invoking the intercession of Saint Thomas the Apostle, India’s great patron, I assure you of my prayers and willingly impart to you and to those entrusted to your care my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of grace and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Since my account of the address of the Holy Father is from the reading of the text, I am unable to add any personal touch to it. However, I am sure every bishop who goes through it considers it as a unique and memorable event.

We arranged a seminar at Angelicum University on the theme of “New Evangelization: The Vision and Role of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church”. It was also with the intention of introducing the spiritual heritage of the Malankara Catholic Church to those who are not familiar with it. Nearly 150 people attended and most of them were priests and religious. Besides all of our bishops, Archbishop Cyril Vasil’ SJ (Secretary for the Congregation for the Oriental Churches) attended and spoke on the occasion. Bishop Thomas Mar Anthonios (Curia Bishop of SMCC) presented the thesis seminar paper. It is not possible to summarize the content of the paper here, but this is a theme close to the heart of the Church.

As most of you know, I have been studying the theme of new evangelization for a few years now. In fact, I proposed in 2007 in an article (The Future Missionary and Theological Scope of the Malankara Catholic Church) that SMCC has a great role to play in the evangelization and the re-evangelization work of the Church. This is part of what I wrote: “By applying these principles of the documents, the Malankara Catholic Church has to take up the challenge of evangelizing those who have not experienced Christ and also of re-evangelizing our own Church. To envision this noble mission, the Holy Synod of the Malankara Catholic Church may have to study the special circumstances in which we need to apply these principles and areas to which we could proceed with our evangelization efforts. Then, the Synod might come up with guidelines for the whole Malankara Church from parish to diocesan level with a concrete plan for evangelization. Serious studies should be made to evaluate our mission work as a Church until now, to find the pros and cons of all we have done in order to move forward with what needs to be done.”  

Now my Church leadership is vehemently engaged in this effort by responding to the call of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI for a new evangelization in the Church, thus ultimately trying to be faithful to the mission of Christ in bringing the Good News to everyone.