Like any other world religion, Roman Catholics are also looking forward to a steady
growth, both in number and in values. Our current head of the church, Pope
Francis recently urged all members to go back to the basics of the church,
where each and every one care for others. Therefore being part of the UK
Catholic Church, we are not alone here, the great British Catholic church is
there to support us, to live as true Christians and also we do have the rights
to promote our traditions and customs within this great Catholic Church.
A sustainable
growth will be slow and steady, and to achieve that sustainability our big
church promotes smaller groups to establish their churches based on their
faith, which again strengthens their bonding within that community. The global catholic church is in need of
every Catholics and will support their growth where ever they are.
Out of the 60
million people in Great Britain, four millions are Catholics, where as only a
million people attend the church regularly. Many of you have heard of English proverb Wheeled believers, who attends
the initial ceremony in a perambulator, arrive for wedding in a limousine and
wheeled for the final blessing before burial. This is not just proverb, but is
real, not only in UK, in many parts of the world By the end of previous century, the attendance
to many church services were decreasing
and most of the church officials actively started promoting church
services. With the arrival of migrants from different parts of the world UK
Catholic churches are now more active and church services are almost full. Many
of our Malayalee Community members including Knanaites are Church Committee
members now. Many of the UK dioceses allowed our community priests to serve our members, only to keep our culture and identity, which itself is a sign of their willingness to support us.
As mentioned in
my previous post, I was a member of UKKCA church feasibility study group in
2009 and did discussed our community needs with the then Clifton Diocese Vicar
General Monsignor Fr Jeremy Rigden, who referred me to Birmingham Archdiocese. Clifton
Diocese is part of Birmingham Arch Diocese and our requirement was an office in
Midlands area, being the central part of UK. Thereafter Secretary to Birmingham
Arch diocese agreed to provide us a free office in Coventry with only gas and electrical
bills to be paid for. All executive committee
members could have conveniently seated with ample space for maintaining a library
and separate toilet and kitchen area. There was also bigger hall within the premises
and car parking facilities, which could have used for our national council meetings.
I understand this space is still available.
This is only an
example of UK Catholic Community’s intention to accommodate us and support our
community. I love to see our dreams of a Knanaya Church or Community center materialises at an early time. UK Knannaites can make it happen, but before
going all alone on this direction, why not we consult our big brother in UK and
seek their advise. I am absolutely sure they will support us and
guide us in the right direction, but for that we need to talk to them and we
need leaders who can stand up and represent us.
Goo Thinking
ReplyDeleteIf you guys are smart, take that office, have your gatherings/Mass once in a month or once in a while with minimal expense to pay, go to regular Latin churches on other Sundays, get some rest yourself or spend time with your friends and families on other weekends. Don't waste your hard earned money to buy or support our Syro Malabar Churches or to take care of the priests. Your children will be growing like British children (even though they look like Indians). Learn from the mistakes of the American Knanaya people.
ReplyDeleteIn USA, We had no such office to stat with. Like you, all we wanted was to have a Malayalam mass once a month on a regular basis and use their social hall for few hours to help our children interact with their friends. The Latin church agreed to that and thus we started our Kids club. We gave that day's church collection to that Church after paying our priest. We also were able to have Malayalam mass on special occasions like Easter, Christmas, New-Years etc.
We start the Kids club at 2 PM, teach them our customs and culture for some time, gave some Bible lessons, teach them Malayalam Hymns (so that they can sing along with the choir in Malayalam during the mass), games and play time and some refreshments at the end. Then go to the church for the Mass by 4.45 PM. After mass, everyone gathered for a coffee and socialization. This was all what we needed and we all had a good time and peace until our church leaders came to USA with their Syro Malabar church (and Moolakattu formula) and their 'Chattakkoottu'. And the rest is HISTORY! We lost our friendship and unity.
It may be good to have a community center with some extra property to build the community center now. Later on you can plan for some sort of residence for you to live when you get old (like Houston). It is good to have some neighbors (friends) to chat when we get old and cannot drive any longer.
Since we cannot buy property in every ones backyard, you need to find a place affordable and convenient to most people. Often it may be more expensive and smaller property in the city limits where our people are more concentrated. Suburbs may be better for future expansion. Final decision rests with you guys. Good luck.