(Part 2)
The Holy Catholic Church today is a communion of twenty-two Particular Churches: the Latin Catholic Church and twenty-one Oriental (Eastern) Churches. The Latin Catholic Church is the largest among them. The Churches which originated in the eastern regions came to be known as Eastern Churches. The Syro-Malabar Church is the second largest Oriental Church, Ukranian being the largest.
Syro-Malabar Church was erected as a Major Archiepiscopal Church on 16th December 1992 by the Apostolic Constitution Quae maiori of John Paul II (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 85[1993], pp. 398-399) with His Eminence Cardinal Antony Padiyara, the Archbishop of Ernakulam, as the First Major Archbishop, and Archbishop Abraham Kattumana as the Pontifical Delegate. After the death of Kattumana in 1995, all the powers of the Major Archbishop rested in Cardinal Padiyara. When he retired 1996, Archbishop Varkey Vithayathil was appointed the Apostolic Administrator as a temporary arrangement, but with the powers of the Major Archbishop.
Ernakulam-Angamaly is the See of the Major Archbishop. The Syro-Malabar Bishops' Conference is now replaced with the Synod of Bishops. The first meeting of the Synod was held on May 20, 1993 at Ernakulam. As in the secular administrative systems there are three wings in the administration of the Syro-Malabar Church. They are Executive or administrative, legislative and judicial.
His officials include his chancellors and finance officer or officers.
Various commissions are appointed by the Major Archbishop for dealing with matters as liturgy, pastoral care of the migrant Syro-Malabarians and so on. The members of the commissions are ordinarily bishops.
The Permanent Synod is an advisory council of bishops to help the Major Archbishop in fulfilling his function. Three of them are elected by the Synod and one is nominated by the Major Archbishop. Among the three elected at least two must be bishops who govern dioceses. Including the Major Archbishop there are five members in the Permanent Synod.
The Major Archiepiscopal Assembly is a meeting of the representatives of the various sections of faithful of the Syro-Malabar Church.It is to meet at least once in five years. If necessary the Major Archbishop can convene it as often as needed. The first Major Archiepiscopal Assembly of the Syro-Malabar Church was held from 9 to 12 November 1998 at Mount St. Thomas.
The Synod of Bishops is the legislative body. All the bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church are members in it and have voting rights. It can enact laws for the Syro-Malabar Church. If they are liturgical laws they will be applicable for all the dioceses; but if disciplinary they are applicable only in those dioceses which fall within the proper territory of the Syro-Malabar Major Archbishop.
For judicial activities there are the Superior Tribunal and the Major Archiepiscopal Ordinary Tribunal. The Superior Tribunal is the Synod itself. However it exercises this function through three bishops elected from among the members of the synod. One of them is nominated as the Moderator. The Major Archiepiscopal Ordinary Tribunal will have its own personnel. They are not bishops. The personnel can be anyone with the prescribed qualifications. The head of the Ordinary Tribunal is known as the President.
The Church, with 3.5 million faithful, has five Archdioceses and fifteen dioceses within the state of Kerala, India, twelve dioceses outside Kerala, in India, and one in Chicago, USA. At present there are fifty bishops from the Syro-Malabar Rite working in Kerala and outside: thirty-one serving in Syro-Malabar dioceses nineteen serving in other dioceses and apostolic offices. There are about 7000 Syro-Malabar priests working in India and outside. Moreover, 2300 seminarians of the Syro-Malabar Rite are studying in the various seminaries of India. There are 30,000 sisters from the Syro-Malabar Rite working in India and other countries.
The Syro-Malabar Church is also very actively involved in educational, social and health related fields. Regarding institutions run by the Syro-Malabar Church, there are 182 colleges, 3821 schools, 262 ecclesiastical institutions, 581 medical institutions, 445 technical institutions, 917 charitable institutions and 1031 other institutions. The contribution of the educational institutions managed by the different dioceses of the Church to the welfare of the state of Kerala and other states of India is immense. There are five arch-dioceses in Kerala (including Kottayam diocese for Knananites) and the others are suffragan dioceses under the arch dioceses. The Mission dioceses that are located outside the physical territory of Kerala are under the Holy See directly.
insert image here
Kallarackal Kadavil Family, Pallippuram, Cherthala
| History of Syro-Malabar Christians (part 1) |