Ronning Consultation

On July 5, 2011, Rt. Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Mar Theodosius and Rt. Rev. Joseph Mar Barnabas
attended a Ronning Centre Consultation meeting as chief guests organized by the Chester
Ronning Centre for the Study of Public Life and Religion, University of Alberta, Canada. Rev.
Reji John, Vicar, Trinity Mar Thoma Church (Edmonton) along with Dr. Varghese Manaloor and
Mr. David Goa (professors at the University of Alberta) facilitated the event. The ecumenical
meeting held at the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Edmonton was attended by almost 35
people that included Christian leaders and members of various local churches and organizations.

Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Public Life and Religion serves to provide a deeper
understanding of issues of religion, faith and public life. It is the first (and only) gathering point
in a public university in Canada focusing on a broad range of themes where religion and public
life intersect.

Bishop Theodosius spoke about the history of the Mar Thoma Church, its mission and the
modern day challenges within a North American context. The paper presented by Bishop
Theodosius was well received and a lively discussion took place during the question and answer
session.

Bishop Barnabas spoke about the traditional nature of the Mar Thoma Church, its liturgical base
and challenges that the church faces within an Indian context.

Participants were curious to know about mission activities. Bishop Theodosius outlined some of
the mission activities of the Diocese of North America and Europe. As part of this conversation,
Rev. Reji John mentioned about Trinity Mar Thoma churches involvement in works of
compassion in Edmonton.

Overall the consultation meeting was a very good learning experience for everyone. Members
who attended the meeting learnt about the origins, history, and traditions of the Mar Thoma
Church. The group came to know that an East Indian Church that traces its origins to 52 AD has
a strong presence in North America and is now a global church. The session led to curiosity,
awareness and knowledge exchange that will be mutually beneficial and useful in the future.

A brief report of the consultation by Nicholas Wickenden the Chester Ronning Centre is as
follows: –

The understanding of ecumenism “has changed from the unity of the churches to the unity of all in the
inhabited earth”. This was an observation by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Mar Theodosius,
Diocesan Bishop of the Mar Thoma Church in North America and Europe, who explored the
implications of the change for his church in the course of an address to a Ronning Centre
Consultation in Edmonton on 5 July.
The Church, he observed, “intercedes for the world by being conscious of the various needs of
the people”. Bishop Mar Theodosius was joined at the consultation by the Rt. Rev. Joseph Mar
Barnabas, one of the Diocesan Bishops of the church in Kerala, in southwest India, where the
Mar Thoma church originated and has its headquarters.

The name “Mar Thoma” means “St. Thomas”, and refers to the church’s continuity with the
original Christian movement in India, founded according to a strongly held tradition through the
missionary work of Jesus’ disciple St Thomas, beginning in AD 52. Largely isolated for centuries
from Western Christianity, the St Thomas Christians in the age of colonialism were confronted
with aggressive moves to incorporate them into first the Roman Catholic church of Portugal,
then the Anglican Church.

The Mar Thoma Church of to-day took shape at the end of the nineteenth century among Indian
Christians who, without becoming an isolated community, wished to maintain a church structure
free of foreign influence. In 1947 it declined to merge with the Church of South India, but it is in
full intercommunion with the Anglican Church and takes an active role in the World Council of
Churches and other ecumenical bodies. It describes itself, as Bishop Mar Theodosius explained,
as “apostolic in origin, universal in nature, Biblical in faith, evangelical in principle, ecumenical
in outlook, democratic in function and episcopal in character.”

Central to its identity is the Western Syrian liturgy it has inherited and now performs in
Malayalam (the language of Kerala) and also in English. “The whole theology of the Church is
embedded in the liturgy of the Church”, Bishop Mar Theodosius declared. “The Word of God
and its contextual exposition is an integral part of our worship and we take both the ‘altar’ and
the ‘pulpit’ seriously.”

Possessing a keen awareness of social needs, the Mar Thoma Church has been responsible for
organizing an extensive array of educational and charitable institutions in its home territory.
And, in line with a consistent tradition of reformation within the church, it is now confronting –
not without much heart-searching – issues such as the status of women in worship. The
formation of communities of Mar Thoma Christians who had emigrated abroad led to the creation of a new “zone” of the church in 1982, which has since become the Diocese of North
America and Europe, administered by Bishop Mar Theodosius from a base in New York. Three
of the churches comprised in it are in Western Canada, in Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver.
Trinity Mar Thoma Church in Edmonton goes back to a congregation that began regular services
in 1976. For Bishop Mar Barnabas this is a very familiar setting; before being called to the
episcopate he served as the parish priest here from 1989 to 1993.

Bishop Mar Theodosius also has close ties with Canada, having taken his doctorate in theology
at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The present vicar of Trinity Mar Thoma Church,
Rev. Thomas C. Oommen, who also attended the consultation, cordially invited interested
Edmontonians to visit his church and join in its worship. After the formal part of the
consultation, those present had the pleasure of being treated to a light lunch featuring South
Indian fare.