our lady of health syro malabar catholic forane...
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Our Lady of Health Syro Malabar Catholic Forane Church
201 N. University Drive, Coral Springs, FL 33071 Vicar: Rev. Fr. Kuriakose Kumbakeel
Website: www.Syromalabarflorida.org Email: [email protected]
July 03, 2016
First Sunday of The Season of Qayta
Holy Mass Schedule
Sundays June & July:
8:30AM- Solemn Holy
Qurbana in Malayalam
10:15AM Holy Mass
in English
Week Day Masses
Mondays, Wednesdays and
Thursdays:
6:15PM- Holy Mass
Wednesdays: St Joseph’s
Novena after the Holy Mass
Fridays:
6:00-7:00 Confessions
6:30PM- Evening Prayer
and Rosary,
7:00PM- Holy Mass
First Fridays:
6:30PM- Evening prayer
and Rosary,
7:00 pm Holy Mass and
Adoration
until 12:00 midnight.
Saturdays:
8:30AM- Rosary and
Morning Prayer
9:00AM- Holy Mass and
Novena of our Lady.
(No Mass on Tuesdays)
Saint Thomas, The Father of Christianity in India Dukhrana Thirunaal: July 3
Independence Day: July 4
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FIRST SUNDAY OF QAYTA (SUMMER/HARVEST) BIBLE READINGS FOR JULY 03-10, 2016
DATE/DAY 1ST READING: OLD TESTAMENT 2ND READING: EPISTYLES GOSPEL
07/03/2016-SUNDAY Genesis 2:8-17/Ecclesiasts 4:10-
18/Kings 18:30-39/Acts 5:12-20
Ephesians 2:19-22/1 Co-
rinthians 1:9-16
John 20:24-29/Luke 14:7-14
07/04/2016-MONDAY 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 Matthew 21:28-32
07/05/2016-TUESDAY 1 Corinthians 14:20-25 Luke 19:11-27
07/06/2016-WEDNESDAY 1 Timothy 6:11-16 John 10:22-28
07/07/2016-THURSDAY 1 Corinthians 14:13-19 John 8:48-59
07/08/2016-FRIDAY Isaiah 41:8-16/Acts 19:11-20 2 Corinthians 10:3-11 Luke 12:4-12
07/09/2016-SATURDAY 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 Mark 2:1-12
07/10/2016-SUNDAY Deuteronomy 4:32-40/Isaiah 4:2-6 2 Corinthians 3:4-12 Luke 15:11-32
Vicar: Rev. Fr. Kuriakose Kumbakeel Phone:754 366 6765
E-mail: [email protected]
Rectory/Office Address:
159 NW 95th Lane,
Coral Springs, FL 33071 Phone / Fax: 954 227 6985
Pastoral Assistance:
Sr. Jolly Maria SABS 954 600 7569
Sr. Elsa SABS 954 826 4964 Convent: 954-323 8373
Pastoral Council
James Maroor
John Joseph Angadiath
Parish Kaikkarans-
Jose Chazhoor 561 542 3701
Binoy George 954 529 4117
Antony Thottathil 954 579 3743
Jose Vempala 954 993 4005
Indian Catholic Association of Florida
President– Robince Jose 786-797-2329 Secretary-Benny Parathalakal 954-849-0084
Parish Youth Committee Treasa Joy, Jobin Joseph, Bobin Bijoy,
Angela Mathew, Jonathen Mathew Emmanual,
Robin Regimone, Kavitha Davis & Kevin Kurian
CCD Coordinators Jimmy Emmanuel 954 434 9332
Rosily Panikulangara 954 340 4940
Adult Choir Coordinators
Elsy Vathielil & Joby Thundathil (954) 757 5450
Youth Choir Coordinator
John Joseph Angadiath- (954) 309-7533
MathruSangam Coordinators
Asha Johnson, Dr. Rose Joseph &
Elsy Vathielil
Syro Malabar Catholic Congress President- Saju Vadakkel 954-547-7606 Secretary– Robin Antony 954-552-1267
St. Vincent de Paul Society
President : Mathew K Valloor (954) 907 9659
Board: Jose Rathappallil,
Jimmy Emmanuel & Jose Prakash
Bible Reading Coordinators First Mass -Sr. Jolly Maria-954 323 8373
2nd Mass (CCD)- Prety Devasia-954 424 1798
Web Administrator:
Jithesh Joseph [email protected]
Bulletin Editor:
Lukose Pynumkan (561) 271 6888
Email: [email protected]
Chicago St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Diocese was sanctioned by Pope
Saint John Paul II on March 13, 2001, and inaugurated formally on
July 1, 2001. On the same date, Mar Jacob Angadiyath was ordained
and installed as the 1st bishop of the Diocese. This first Syro Malabar
diocese outside India has now completed 15 blessed years of unprece-
dented growth and development under Bishop Mar Jacob Angadiyath.
The Diocese has now 39 parishes (including 9 Forane churches) and 35
missions, and also an Auxiliary bishop Mar Joy Alappat!
On this joyful occasion, the Vicar and the Parishioners of Our
Lady of Health Forane Church extend Congratulations and
prayerful greetings to our diocese, our Bishops, our priests and
the religious sisters!
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Saint Thomas, The Apostle of India
Little is recorded of St. Thomas the Apostle, nevertheless his name occurs in all the lists of the Synoptic Gopels (Mat-thew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6, cf. Acts 1:13), but in St. John he plays a distinctive part. First, when Jesus announced His intention of returning to Judea to visit Lazarus, "Thomas" who is called Didymus [the twin], said to his fellow disci-ples: "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16). Again it was St. Thomas who during the discourse before the Last Supper raised an objection: "Thomas saith to him: Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" (John 14:5). But more especially St. Thomas is remembered for his incredulity when the other Apos-tles announced Christ's Resurrection to him: "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe" (John 20:25); but eight days later he made his act of faith, drawing down the rebuke of Jesus: "Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed" (John 20:29).
This exhausts all our certain knowledge regarding the Apostle but his name is the starting point of a considerable apocryphal literature. The principal document con-cerning him is the "Acta Thomae", preserved to us with some variations both in Greek and in Syriac. The story in many of its particulars is utterly extravagant. The story itself runs briefly as follows: At the division of the Apostles, India fell to the lot of Thomas, but he declared his inability to go, whereupon his Master Jesus appeared in a supernatural way to Abban, the envoy of Gundafor, an Indian king, and sold Thomas to him to be his slave and serve Gundafor as a carpen-ter. Then Abban and Thomas sailed away until they came to Andrapolis, where they landed and attended the marriage feast of the ruler's daughter. Strange occurrences followed and Christ under the appearance of Thomas exhorted the bride to remain a Virgin. Coming to India Thomas undertook to build a palace for Gundafor, but spend the money en-trusted to him on the poor. Gundafor imprisoned him; but the Apostle escaped miraculously and Gundafor was convert-ed. Going about the country to preach, Thomas met with strange adventures from dragons and wild asses. Then he came to the city of King Misdai (Syriac Mazdai), where he converted Tertia the wife of Misdai and Vazan his son. After this he was condemned to death, led out of city to a hill, and pierced through with spears by four soldiers. He was buried in the tomb of the ancient kings but his remains were afterwards removed to the West.
The church in Kerala, has the tradition that St. Thomas sailed there to spread the Christian faith and therefore called the Saint Thomas Christians. Accord-ing to traditions found amongst Saint Thomas Christians, Apostle Thomas arrived in India (Kodungallur in Kerala) in 52 AD. He established the Ezharap-pallikal, or "Seven and Half Churches". These churches are at Kodungallur, Kollam, Niranam, Nilackal (Chayal), Kokkamangalam, Kottakkayal (Paravoor),
Palayoor (Chattukulangara) and Thiruvithamcode Arappally(Travancore) - the half church.
He later moved to the east coast of South India fixing his see at Mylapore, which was then a flourishing city. The number of converts St. Thomas made having aroused the hostility of the local priests, he reportedly fled from their anger to the summit of what is now known as St. Thomas's Mount situated in a direct line four miles to the southwest of Mylapur but was followed by his persecutors, who transfixed him with a lance as he prayed kneeling on a stone, A.D. 72. His body was brought to Mylapur and buried in the house in which he had lived, and which was used as a place of worship. The present San-thome Church is on this spot. In 232 A notable portion of the relics of the Apostle was obtained for the church of Edessa, from an Indian king and brought back from India by Christian traders from Persia to the city of Edessa, Mesopotamia. The Indian king is named as "Mazdai" in Syriac sources, "Misdeos" and "Misdeus" in Greek and Latin sources respectively, which has been connected to the "Bazdeo" on the Kushan coinage of Vasudeva I. The Edessene
relics were in course of time conveyed to Chios, and finally to Ortona in Italy, where they are still venerated.
From the facts that the Roman Breviary declares St. Thomas to have "crowned the glory of his Apostleship with martyrdom at Calamina" and that no trac-es of any Calamina exist. One suggested that Calamina might be a modification of Cholamandalam (i.e. the kingdom of the Cholas as the surrounding country was in the beginning of the Christian era). On more mature reflection it has found far more reasonable to believe that Calamina was an ancient town at the foot of the hill at St. Thomas's Mount, that has wholly disappeared, as many more recent, historic Indian cities have disappeared, built as they were of mud, except for their temples and palaces which were of exquisitely wrought stone. This much is certain: till Europeans settled in the place there was no Indian name even for the hill. This is shown by the present, Indian name, Faranghi Malai 'hill of the Franks', denoting both the hill and the town
around its base, a service which the English name St. Thomas's Mount equally renders.
On the revival of Hinduism at Mylapur in the seventh century, large numbers of Christians converted back to Hinduism. The Bishop of Mylapur and his priests were put to death, and the remnant of his flock fled across the country to the mountains of the west. The church in Kerala flourished with help of bishops from Syria. In the Syriac tradition, St. Thomas is referred to as Mar Thoma Sleeha which translate roughly as Lord/Saint Thomas the Apostle. St Thomas Christians had a unique identity till the arrival of Portuguese in India, who imposed Latin traditions on St. Thomas Christians. Prior to the advent of Roman Catholic Christianity in India in the 16th century, Syrian and Persian Christians in Malabar were called Nazaranis or Nazarenes. As a result of this foreign intervention into the culture there are several present day St. Thomas churches, primarily in the Catholic and Oriental Orthodox Traditions. The largest church in terms of membership is the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, a major archiepiscopal church in communion with the Bishop of Rome with a membership approaching four million adherents. The second largest is the Indian Orthodox church which have 3.5 million followers.
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Persecution of Christians from the 1st Century to the present time –4 The De-Christianization of France during the French Revolution The De-Christianization of France during the French Revolution is a conventional description of a campaign, conducted by various Robespierre-era governments of France beginning with the start of the French Revolution in 1789, to eliminate any symbol that might be associated with the past, especially the monarchy. The program included the following policies: 1) the deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,
the closing, desecration and pillaging of churches, removal of the word "saint" from street names and other acts to banish Christian culture from the public sphere
removal of statues, plates and other iconography from places of worship
destruction of crosses, bells and other external signs of worship
the institution of revolutionary and civic cults, including the Cult of Reason and subsequently the Cult of the Supreme Being,
the large scale destruction of religious monuments,
the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,
forced marriages of the clergy,
forced abjurement of priesthood, and
the enactment of a law on 21 October 1793 making all nonjuring priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.
The climax was reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in Notre Dame Ca-thedral on 10 November. Under threat of death, imprisonment, military conscription or loss of income, about 20,000 constitutional priests were forced to abdicate or hand over their letters of ordination and 6,000 – 9,000 were coerced to marry, many ceasing their ministeri-al duties. Some of those who abdicated covertly ministered to the people. By the end of the decade, approximately 30,000 priests were forced to leave France, and thousands who did not leave were executed. Most of France was left without the services of a priest, deprived of the sacraments and any nonjuring priest faced the guillotine or deportation to French
Guiana. The March 1793 conscription requiring Vendeans to fill their district's quota of 300,000 enraged the populace, who took up arms as "The Catholic Army", "Royal" being added later, and fought for "above all the reopening of their parish churches with their former priests." A massacre of 6,000 Vendée prisoners, many of them women, took place after the battle of Savenay, along with the drowning of 3,000 Vendée women at Pont-au-Baux and 5,000 Vendée priests, old men, women, and children killed by drowning at the Loire River at Nantes in what was called the "national bath" – tied in groups in barges and then sunk into the Loire. With these massacres came formal orders for forced evacuation; also, a 'scorched earth' policy was initiated: farms were destroyed, crops and forests burned and villages razed. There were many reported atrocities and a campaign of mass killing universally targeted at residents of the Vendée regardless of combatant status, political affiliation, age or gender. By July 1796, the estimated Vendean dead numbered between 117,000 and 500,000, out of a population of around 800,000. Some historians call these mass killings the first modern genocide, specifically because intent to exterminate the Catholic Vendeans was clearly stated, though others have rejected these claims.
(Source: Wikipedia) (To be continued)
First Sunday of Qayta The literal meaning of Syriac term qayta is summer. It is in summer that the vegetative fruition takes place. Accordingly the theological significance of this period is the spiritual fruition in the Church by the working of the apostles. This is a growth in faith, sanctity and love among the members of the Church. Mere numerical growth without a spiritual dimension is useless. The main role of the Church is to grow herself towards Christ and make others to grow to-wards the same motto of “Living is Christ and dying is gain” (Phil 1:21). Twelve apostles are commemorated on this Sunday. The explanation for this change of memory of saints from Friday to Sunday, can be observed in another title given to this feast in Hudra (cycle), that is, “the feast of God”. The feasting or the celebration of God in our lives became possible through the works of the Apostles who instilled faith and sancti-ty in us to provide God experience. Thus it might have been dedicated for the twelve apostles who became the cause of feasting, celebrating, and experiencing God in the hearts of people. This Sunday known also s Nusardel (Nau-Sard-El = New Year of God) in Persian language, signifies that it is with the Apostles a new era of the Church (of God) started celebrating the mysteries of Christ in life. For the Thomas Christians in Malabar, this Nusardel Sunday is an important day in their history, which reminds them of their early relationship with the Chaldean Church. It was on this day that the Portuguese missionar-ies welcomed with whole heart Mar Jacob (1503-1547) and other three bishops who arrived at Kannoor, Kerala, from the Middle East and allowed them to celebrate Holy Mass. Thus the missionaries, who later found fault with Malabar Christians for anything and everything, originally accepted and recognized on this Nusardel Sunday that the Syrian bishops of the St. Thomas Christians were Catholics.
September Massacres, 1792
Mass shootings at Nantes, 1793
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Christians discriminated and persecuted under Modi-BJP rule in India
75. Christian leader questions “yogi” title for Teresa critic Mumbai: Abraham Mathai, the former vice chairman of the Minorities Commission, has condemned Yogi Adityanath’s accusations on Nobel Laureate Mother Teresa and said the title yogi (ascetic) is misfit for the parliamentarian. Mathai said Mother Teresa came from overseas to work among the poorest of the poor in India. “Where were the yogis at that time? Have they served, have they done what Mother Teresa and her people have been doing. If Mother Teresa converted people into Christianity by her work, why hasn’t the population of Christians increased in the country?” asked Mathai on June 22, a day after the parliamen-tarian alleged that the nun was part of a conspiracy to Christianize India. “Even today it is 2.5 percent, when we got independence we were on 2.4,” he add-ed. The former vice-chairman of the Minorities Commission accused the BJP MP of lying. Where is the kind of conversion that these fellows are saying? They are lying. This is not the first time Yogi Adityanath has been spewing venom. The title yogi is total misfit for him; I don’t see any spirituality in this man,” he said. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy, however, came out in support to his party colleague and said the views are not isolated, as there have been books published in this regard. “You see the issue of Yogi Adityanath expressing his view is not an isolated view. It is a view which has been reduced to books, there is a writer Christopher Hitchens, who has written a best seller book and if you go to Google you would get a lots of books about her,” Swamy told ANI. The Gorakhpur MP stirred a controversy earlier on Saturday with his remark that Mother Teresa was part of a “conspiracy for Christianization of India”. “Teresa was part of a conspiracy for Christianization of India. Incidents of Christianization had led to separatist movements in parts of North-East, including Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland,” he said. Yogi Adityanath, who was addressing a ‘Ram Katha’ programme in Basti, Uttar Pradesh, said Dalits were specifically chosen for conversion and that Hindus should not glorify Christianity. “Dalits are our brothers, but some of us do not embrace them like brothers. But when they go away and become Christians, some of us take pride in associating with them. This should stop,” he said.
76. Quit temple lands, Andhra tells minority farmers Vijayawada: In a controversial move, the Andhra Pradesh government has directed officials to start evicting Dalit Christian and Muslim farmers from endow-ment lands on grounds that no land belonging to a Hindu temple or mutt can be cultivated by a non-Hindu. The move follows a government order issued in November 2015 but which is being implemented now at the beginning of the agriculture season when land leases are renewed. Earlier this month, the An-dhra government began serving notices on tenant farmers to immediately hand over the land under their possession. Dalit tenants were asked to produce a certificate from the church declaring that they are not practising Christianity to continue farming in temple lands, while Muslims were barred from taking up cultivation in temple lands under the new rules, The Times of India reported. In Andhra Pradesh, there are many Dalits who have converted to Christianity in recent times, but since they have not changed their names, it’s not easy to figure out that they have converted. The continuation of land leases for cultivation coincided with the new kharif season. The endowments department re-vamped the temple land lease guidelines and started enforcing them from the current kharif season. As per the order, clause (f) of Rule 9says: “No person professing a religion other than Hinduism is entitled to obtain lease either through tender-cum-public auction or otherwise.” Muslim United Front member Habib-ur-Rehman termed the decision weird. “For that matter, 80 per cent of tenants of Jumma Masjid in Guntur are non-Muslims,” he said. Confirming that notices are being served on Dalit Christians, a senior endowments commissioner told TOI on condition of anonymity, “We’ve issued notices to Dalit farmers to obtain certificates from the church in accordance with the GO.” Dalit farmer P Abraham of Pedapulivarru village close to Duggirala told Times of India that he is worried he would lose land lease if he does not get the church’s certificate. Traditionally, temples in Andhra — which are now gov-ernment-controlled — are large land-owners. Tenant farmers cultivate nearly 3 lakh acres of farmland in possession of various temples and 30 per cent of them are Dalits. For instance, Sri Raghurama temple in Gollapalli in Krishna district owns over 1,200 acres in the nearby hamlet of Kothapalli. As many as 1,568 farmers are cultivating the entire land on lease. Of these, 199 farmers are Muslims, 204 farmers SCs and five tribals. The temple authority has issued notices to all of them. Similar is the case in Kangala, Guntur, where about 300 acres of land belonging to the Sri Venugopala Swamy temple is being cultivat-ed by Muslims. Curiously, the state asked field officers to take police’s help to move the tenants out of the lands if they fail to produce the certificate and has also empowered them to lodge a complaint with the police, the first class judicial magistrate or the metropolitan magistrate and prosecute the encroacher for criminal trespass. Manikyala Rao, minister in charge of endowments who belongs to BJP and principal secretary J S V Prasad were unavailable for com-ment.
77. Karnataka rights panel asks police to probe 14 NGOs Bengaluru: At the behest of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission, the State police have launched a probe into the ‘credentials’ of 14 human rights NGOs headquartered in Bengaluru. The list includes well-established organizations such as the South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM) and the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), which have described this move as “outrageous.” The police will examine and verify the documents of these NGOs, and submit a report on their credibility. Several organizations have objected to the probe on the grounds that it is self-defeating, given that a bulk of rights violation cases is against the police. While most organizations are open to verification by the KSHRC, they oppose the move since it is routed through the police, reports thehindu.com. (Source: MattersIndia)