Thirumeni message to Messenger
The Mar Thoma Messenger is published now after a series of conferences we had in the Diocese from the first week of July 2010. There will be a few more conferences in the month of October. The conferences took place in USA and UK. The Family Conference 2011 is taking place in Edmonton, Atlanta, and Canada. What are these conferences for? These are not simply celebrations, but occasions where the members of the Church come together to sit at the feet of Jesus, to be spiritually nourished and to be renewed in life. I am happy that a good number of people took interest in participating in the various conferences; increasing the fellowship with fellow members and learning from the Word of God. It is my earnest desire that every member will take interest, finding time and participate in at least one of the conferences. This is important to be spiritually fed and periodically renewed for a healthy and dynamic religious life while we live in a fast changing world.
This particular issue of the Mar Thoma Messenger is published before the Institute on Liturgy, planned by the Diocese at four centers: Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and New York. Rev. Dr. George Mathew, a scholar in the field of Liturgy, is giving leadership in all the meetings. Details and reading materials are available. Liturgy is the work of the people of God articulated to worship God as a gathered community. When I say that Liturgy is not the last word, there is a great need to study and to understand how it can be renewed and restructured without losing the initial core values. As far as the Mar Thoma Church is concerned, it is through the Liturgy that the faith of the Church is experienced. Hence, our religious practices also carry meaning. I urge all the members to find time to attend to the institute in the nearby place to study, clarify doubts and find ways and means of making our Liturgy relevant and meaningful.
There are very good articles in the Mar Thoma Messenger. These are not simply to be read, but to be studied. It will be good to discuss some of these in our seminars or meetings of organizations. Community learning is always good for community living. I am happy that more and more people are subscribing to the Messenger. The interest of the individual parishes to motivate the members to subscribe for it and the work of the coordinators in distributing the issues in the local area are greatly appreciated. Recently, we had the visit of our Metropolitan and Suffrigan Metropolitan to our Diocese. We are blessed by their presence at the Sinai Mar Thoma Centre and in some of our parishes. Both of our Thirumenis had time to be part of the life of our diocese and to look into our concerns. Visit of our Metropolitan Thirumeni to U.K., Canada, and USA in 2010 is having a lasting effect as we plan the future of our diocese in the midst of changes taking place around us, particularly the Immigration laws. We had the opportunity to join our Church in celebrating the 80th birthday of our Metropolitan at the Sinai Mar Thoma Centre and several other places. Let us remember our Church in our prayers as we look forward to having three more bishops in the Church.
The diocese is now reorganized with the formation of centres and regions. Accordingly the existing by-laws are also revised. This will be made known to all the parishes, after the approval of our Metropolitan. For the smooth administration of the Diocesan activities, all are informed to note the change and follow the by-laws. These are to be followed in conducting elections for the New Year term and for all administrations from January 1, 2011 onwards. All the organizations and their committees are asked to close their accounts as on December 31, 2010.
The Assembly of our diocese decided to publish a souvenir and this is coinciding with the:…
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of us as we move on with the activities of the
Diocese. God bless us all.
Yours in Christ’s Ministry,
Mar Theodosius
