Report of the visit of Bishop Mar Jose Kalluvelil – 2018
Bishop Mar Jose Kalluvelil, along with Fr Darius and Fr Bobby Muttathuvalayil visited Kerala Catholic Community (KCC) of Montreal during June 16-17, 2018. This delegation met with the present leaders of the KCC on 16 June, 2018. The meeting was adjoined at Saji George’s house and was attended by Fr Jomon, Francy Tharakan, Benny Augustine, Joshy Joseph, Abhilash and Linju. Following is the report of matters discussed during this meeting and suggested future plans for the transition of priestly leadership and strengthening the community activities.
Meeting started at 2.30 PM with prayer to seek the help of Holy spirit for taking right decisions. Fr. Jomon introduced the community leaders to the visiting team.
- Defining the purpose of KCC
The main purpose of KCC is to serve the Catholic diaspora of Keralites in Montreal to fulfill their spiritual needs. KCC arranges Malayalam Qurbana every fortnight and with the help of volunteers offer catechism for the children. However, Bishop suggested that the mission of KCC should also be extended to community building. He suggested that experienced members of the community should also cater to the physical needs of the new immigrants. This could be done through establishing a ‘welcome committee’ comprising of volunteers. This committee should have representatives from the elderly, experienced, relatively new arrivals and international students to serve the community at large. This committee should be the primary contact point of new immigrants to help them settle their papers, advise on housing and shelter, commuting to government offices, providing assistance and support in other matters of settling down (sharing, lending or giving away old furniture etc.).
Bishop also mentioned about the resources available through the website of the Syro Malabar Apostolic Exarchate in Canada to help the new immigrants. The newly launched internet mission will serve as a one-stop-point resource for information on jobs available, address of parish/mission services in Canada, contact information of representatives from missions across Canada.
To summarise, Bishop suggested that KCC should be founded in Spirit and be an agent for social support to improve the coherence of the community.
- Functions of KCC
Following subjects related to the function of KCC were discussed in the meeting.
First, Bishop mentioned about Fr Jomon’s transfer to the USA which necessitate the need of a new Priest. While Fr Jomon was not employed by the Syro Malabar Apostolic exarchate in Canada, he has been the lead priest supervising and supporting the functions of KCC for the past 9 years. However, early this year, Fr Jomon was transferred to USA as the National Director for Holy Cross Family Ministries, an international ministry that was started by Venerable Father Patrick Payton, CSC. This decision was taken by his Superior Provincial of the Congregation of Holy Cross in consultation with his Superior General in Rome. Thus, there is a need of a Priest who could attend to the needs of the Kerala community in Montreal. Bishop mentioned that Fr Bobby will be serving as the Priest in-charge of the mission station in Montreal. He will be based in Ottawa and will be traveling to Montreal on 1st and 3rd Sunday’s of the month for celebrating Holy Mass. It was decided to announce this transition of priestly duty during the gathering on 17 June, during the reception.
Bishop also, inquired to the attendees about the challenges faced by KCC.
Frenzy Tharakan mentioned about the ‘floating population’ in Montreal, where new immigrants move on to other provinces after their immigration papers are cleared. It is the main challenge in keeping an updated record of the membership. Francy also raised the challenge in raising enough funding to sustain the activities of the Church because of this dynamism in the population of the community.
Bishop, suggested the need of ‘area specific family units’ wherein smaller communities in specific locality should serve as the source of information about the coming and going of the family. Francy mentioned that there is a plan to constitute ‘family units’ in different parts of greater Montreal. These family units will have representation of their leadership in KCC which will be an effective way to improve the fabrics of the community. Bishop also mentioned that the Exarchate is registered with the Canadian Revenue Agency and will be in a position to issue tax receipts. While KCC is not registered as a parish, it can be regarded as an annex to Ottawa mission and any contribution to the Church can be and should be recorded, acknowledged and tax receipts be provided.
Saji George mentioned about the diminishing Church attendance by the senior community members. He noted that, while many of the senior members are retired and are occupied at the English Latin Churches, the attendance of the senior members has gone down in the recent past. Bishop, suggested that the community activities should be designed to provide the senior members an active role. Senior members of the community have a wealth of knowledge which will benefit the new-comers and young families to cope with the socio economic situation. Connected with this topic, Bishop mentioned about the relevance of starting adult catechism. Another subject discussed, as initiated by Linju, was the possibility of running seminar series, parallel to the catechism classes, for the parents who bring their children for the catechism. This session could include talks on matters relating to spirituality as well as other topics related to surviving and excelling in the new environment.
Benny was asked about the challenges of conducting catechism in KCC. He mentioned about the higher rate of drop out among the older kids, which he mentioned is mainly due to the lack of interest from the students and motivation from the parents. As a solution he mentioned, the need to have a Pastor-teachers-parent partnership to encourage youths to attend the catechism classes and be engaged. Bishop also emphasized the need of PTA and adult catechism to keep parents and children engaged.
There was a discussion about the commencement of Sacraments. KCC not being a Parish was thought to be a challenge for commencing Sacraments. Bishop mentioned that Parish registration is not necessary to commence Sacraments and that it can be done on the centralized platform of Syro Malabar Apostolic Exarchate in Canada. Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion can be given here itself and there are forms available from the website of exarchate for requesting. Bishop also asked the leaders of the community to identify potential children who may want to have Holy communion and Confirmation from KCC for the next year. He mentioned that materials for preparing children are available from the Exarchate. It was also decided at this meeting that Andre George, son of Saji and Shibi George, be baptised on the following day (17 June 2018).
Bishop mentioned about the existence of associations such as Jesus Kids, CML etc for children of different age groups. He mentioned about obtaining training materials from Sr. Jeslin.
Abhilash mentioned that the assessment of Catechism should also include class room attendance. It was discussed and decided that attendance will be counted as part of the internal assessment (as per the existing directorate of the exarchate) and there will not be a separate prize for attendance in future.
Fr Jomon mentioned, Joshy Joseph helped in developing and registering a website for KCC. Bishop was impressed with the effort and the layout of the website.
With no other matter to discuss, the meeting was adjourned with a prayer and a photo session by 4.30 PM
