Free Republic

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...

Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) met on May 28 with Major Archbishop Issac Cleemis Thottunkal of Trivandrum, The Indian prelate was visiting Rome for the first time since becoming the head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. In paying tribute to the Syro-Malankara Catholic tradition, Pope Benedict said that he was "most grateful" to the Indian archbishop for his "eager wish to 'see Peter.'" Archbishop Thottunkal was named in February to head the Trivandrum archdiocese, and thus the leader of the world's 500,000 Syro-Malankara faithful. Pope Benedict noted: "The precious heritage of your ecclesial tradition was placed in the hands...

Archbishop Isaac Mar Cleemis Saturday was elected the new head of the Syro Malankara Catholic Church, headquartered in Kerala. His appointment, which was cleared by the Vatican Saturday, came after the demise of Major Archbishop and Catholicos Cyril Mar Baselios last month. The installation ceremony would be held here March 3 and the archbishop would then be known as Moran Mar Baselios Cleemis Catholicos. Ordained as a priest of the church in 1986, Cleemis, who is currently the Bishop of Tiruvalla, holds a doctorate from St Thomas Pontifical University, Rome. After he was nominated, Cleemis told the media that he...

PATTOM, India (UCAN) – The Syro-Malankara Church, the youngest rite in the Catholic Church, has begun the process to elect its new major archbishop. The official start came at 7 p.m. on Feb. 7, when the Church ended its 21-day mourning period for its previous head, Major Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselios. The prelate died at 6:45 p.m. on Jan. 18, at the age of 72. The Oriental Syro-Malankara and Syro-Malabar churches, and the Latin-rite Church make up the Catholic Church in India. The Latin rite, established by European missioners in the 15th century, follows the Roman liturgy, while the two...