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Prot. No. 410/2007
PASTORAL LETTER
VARKEY CARDINAL VITHAYATHIL,
the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar
Church, to the Archbishops, Bishops,
Priests, Men and Women Religious and
Lay Faithful of the Syro-Malabar
Church, blessings and peace in our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Dearly beloved in the Lord,
Dukrana is the memorial celebration
of the Martyrdom of St. Thomas our
father in faith. It is quite
significant that the Syro-Malabar
faithful celebrate this day as the
Sabhadinam, the day specially
dedicated to the Church. On the
feast of Dukrana we commemorate the
foundation of the Church in the soil
of India through the shedding of
blood by St. Thomas who proclaimed
his faith in the resurrected Christ
and in the salvation brought by him,
through the words, “My Lord and my
God!” In other words, Dukrana is the
feast of the Church itself. It is
the feast of the flowering of the
seed of faith sown in the soil of
India, of the bringing forth of its
first fruit. Precisely therefore, it
is quite fitting that we celebrate
this day as the Sabhadinam of our
Church.
Our faith is the most precious gift
we have ever received and our
greatest wealth. St. Thomas, through
his proclamation of the Gospel in
India showed us the way to eternal
life. We should realize that this is
the only wealth that will last. When
we are in hot pursuit of worldly
riches and material well-being, we
should remember that all these are
passing realities. On the feast of
Dukrana of St. Thomas who laid down
his life as a martyr, considering
his faith more precious than his
very life, we shall resolve to
preserve our faith as the most
precious treasure and to suffer any
sacrifice to persevere in it.
On this occasion we should try to
become more aware of the richness of
our Church and to be proud of that
richness and to cultivate the
unbreakable love towards her. The
greatness of the Syro-Malabar Church
is not to be limited to some ancient
documents or rituals or some
characteristic cultural traits. The
uniqueness, the greatness and the
individuality of the Church is to be
seen in the life-style of her
children who have imbibed these
traditions and bear witness to them
in their daily lives. It is only
through the living examples of deep
faith-life, unadulterated
spirituality and selfless love, of
every one of us, living in Kerala
and outside Kerala, in India and
abroad that we can live in this
modern world without losing the
relevance of our Church. Every
member of the Syro-Malabar Church is
called to bear witness in the
special social, cultural,
geographical life situations of each
one to the deposit of faith he has
received and thus to become a
missionary who proclaims his faith
through his life. On the occasion of
Sabhadinam we shall seriously think
about this great responsibility of
ours.
This proclamation has to take place
not only at the individual level,
but also at the level of the Church.
Every individual Church has equal
rights and responsibilities for the
proclamation of the good news and
evangelization in its own Rite. The
very purpose and meaning of the
existence of the individual churches
is the fulfilment of this great
mission. Seventy percent of the
missionary personnel working today
in the Latin Church of India belong
to the Syro-Malabar Church. Many
Syro-Malabar missionaries like Sr.
Rani Maria have witnessed to their
faith in the mission fields even by
sacrificing their lives. But that is
not enough. The Syro-Malabar Church
should be given the possibility to
fulfil her mission of proclaiming
the gospel, remaining within her own
tradition. As can be verified from
the relevant documents, the teaching
of the Second Vatican Council that
every individual Church enjoys equal
rights and obligations regarding the
proclamation of the Gospel (OE 3)
has come as a result of the special
consideration given to the
limitations in this area faced
specifically by the Syro-Malabar
Church in India.
Today the Syro-Malabar Church faces
many limitations in proclaiming the
Christian faith as an individual
church. It is regretfully recalled
that the limitations imposed on her
in this area do not in any way help
towards her growth. On this occasion
we shall pray in a special manner
for the success of our efforts to
get this right and responsibility of
ours for the proclamation of the
gospel recognized at least in the
whole of India and in the big cities
abroad where there are a sizeable
number of Syro-Malabar Catholics.
It is quite heartening and
enkindling hope that a Syro-Malabar
Mission Congress is being organized
under the auspices of the Syro-Malabar
Major Archiepiscopal Commission for
Evangelization and Pastoral Care of
Migrants to be held from 25 to 28
September 2007 at the Poornodaya
Training Centre in Bhopal, in order
to make an in-depth study of the
Missionary apostolate of the Syro-Malabar
Church and to evaluate the present
possibilities of mission work and to
chalk out more effective methods of
evangelization. I hope that there
will be generous cooperation and
support for this Mission Congress
from the all the diocesan
authorities and all the members of
the Syro-Malabar Church.
Also in the field of pastoral care
the Syro-Malabar Church has to face
many obstacles in providing pastoral
assistance to her children spread
all over the world to grow in their
own ecclesial and spiritual
heritage. The situation has to be
changed in which the Major
Archbishop is unable to provide for
the legitimate rights of pastoral
care of hundreds of thousands of
Syro-Malabar faithful living outside
the proper territory of the Major
Archbishop which is limited to the
15 dioceses in Kerala and parts of
the neighbouring States. The efforts
to realise this are to be continued.
It is to be noted that the Syro-Malabar
faithful, be they priests, members
of the consecrated life or lay
faithful, anywhere in the world, are
bound to grow in the esteem and
knowledge of their respective Rite
and observe it faithfully (CCEO c.
40 §§2 & 3). According to Canon Law,
the Major Archbishop has the grave
responsibility to ensure with the
greatest diligence the faithful
preservation and the accurate
observance of his Rite (CCEO c. 40
§1). As part of the implementation
of this responsibility CCEO c. 82§1,
n.3 empowers the Major Archbishop to
issue encyclical letters to the
entire Church over which he presides
concerning questions regarding his
own Church and Rite. Through a
visitor, the Major Archbishop can
propose to the Apostolic See
suitable measures in view of
providing everywhere in the world
for the protection and enhancement
of the spiritual good of the
Christian faithful of the Church
over which he presides, even through
the erection of parishes and
exarchies or eparchies of their own
(CCEO c. 148). We shall pray on this
occasion that the Syro-Malabar
Church may be granted soon the
circumstances conducive to fulfil
her responsibility of providing
pastoral care in its fullness as
envisioned by the teachings of the
Church and the provisions of Canon
Law. I wish every success to the
efforts of the Commission for the
Migrants and the Apostolic Visitor
in this regard.
For both these two important
missions of the Syro-Malabar Church,
namely, the proclamation of the
Gospel and the Pastoral Care, there
should be an abundance of priestly
and religious vocations. The priests
and the members of the institutes of
consecrated life who are to take up
these responsibilities of the Church
are to be found from us, from our
own families. If we are going ahead
in life with the sole aim of making
economic progress, then our children
will lose their interest in pursuing
their vocation. Only from those
families that lead an exemplary
Christian life will there be good
vocations. Fostering of vocations is
the responsibility of the entire
church. As we celebrate Sabhadinam,
I wish to draw your attention to
this great responsibility of ours.
At present there are three major
seminaries under the direct
authority of the Syro-Malabar Synod
– Aluva, Kottayam and Kunnoth. Of
these, the last one was started to
foster the growing number of
vocations, taking a huge sum of
loan. Besides promoting genuine
vocations, I appeal to you also to
extend every help towards the
running of these seminaries that
foster such vocations.
As we celebrate Sabhadinam, I wish
to bring to your knowledge the great
financial crisis the Church has to
face at the present moment. Perhaps
you may be aware of the fact that we
have incurred a great debt for the
construction of the Major
Archiepiscopal Curia and other
expenses related to it. The Synod of
Bishops has drawn up many projects
to overcome this financial burden.
The Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar
Church held from 8-12 January 2007
has decided to take a collection on
the occasion of Sabhadinam at the
rate of Re. 1 per person from every
Syro-Malabar diocese. When the
collection for Sabhadinam is taken,
I request the diocesan authorities
and our faithful to take note of
this. Apart from this collection,
every one of you, especially those
of our faithful who are abroad, can
contribute for redressing the debt
burden of our Church.
Sabhadinam is an occasion to
manifest our love and our fidelity
towards our Church. Through our
lives in accordance with the deposit
of faith all Syro-Malabar faithful
both in India and abroad have the
great responsibility of bearing
witness to the light of faith they
have received from St. Thomas, our
father in faith. As we celebrate
Sabhadinam, let us endeavour to grow
in our love towards our Church. In
the face of the onslaught of the
modern consumerist culture, we shall
take great care that we and our
children do not lose the heritage of
our faith we have been endowed with
from our birth onwards. Like St.
Thomas who confessed his faith
before the risen Lord proclaiming
“My Lord and my God,” we shall also
confess: “My Lord and my God” in the
face of joys and sorrows of our
lives, success and failures,
richness and want. I offer to each
one of you the greetings of the
feast of Dukrana.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ +
the love of God the Father + and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit + be
with you all.
Given at Kakkanad from the Major
Archiepiscopal Curia of the Syro-Malabar
Church at Mount St Thomas on 25 May
2007.
+Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil
Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar
Church
________________________________________________________________________
N.B:
This pastoral letter is to be read
out during the Holy Mass on July 3,
or if it is inconvenient, on any
Sunday of the month of July, in all
churches and chapels of the Syro-Malabar
Church where there is Sunday Mass
for the public. |
