Indian Catholics, Orthodox in historic sharing move

Published Date: December 18, 2009

Catholic and Orthodox Churches have agreed to share priestly services and infrastructure, in a major development in their 356-year-old troubled history.

The Inter-religious Dialogue Commission of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council met with the Syrian Jacobite and Syrian orthodox Churches mid December to seek ways to foster better unity and cooperation among them, UCA News reports.

The three Churches are based in Kerala, southern India, and trace their faith to Saint Thomas the Apostle.
The Church split in 1653 after Portuguese missioners tried to impose their ways on the native Christians.

One faction that stayed with the Catholic fold later came to be known as the Syro-Malabar Church. The other group continued under the Orthodox Church of the East that served the Indian Christians before the Western missioners.

The Orthodox group split further in early 1900s. The Catholic-Jacobite meeting took place on Dec. 15 at the Jacobite headquarters in Kochi. The Catholic delegation met the other Orthodox faction Dec. 16-17 at its headquarters in Kottayam.

Each Church deputed an eight-member delegation to the meetings.

Bishop Brian Farrel, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, led the Catholic delegation. The Syrian Jacobite Church was led by its head Bishop Joseph Mar Gregorios and Baselios Mar Thomas I led the Syrian Orthodox Church team.

The meetings decided to prepare guidelines for mutual cooperation and resolve confrontation in future.
As a first step, the Churches have agreed to share churches for Sunday Mass outside Kerala where a Church has no parish or station. The meetings also explored the possibility of sharing cemeteries and services of priests for funeral.

The Church leaders have asked their theologians to prepare guidelines to implement this agreement.

The development “is a milestone in the history” of St. Thomas Christians of Kerala who have common roots, Father Adai Jacob, a Jacobite leader, told UCA News Dec. 17. Catholics and Orthodox groups in Kerala, he noted, were “miles apart” after 1653 and confrontations had often marked inter-Church relations.

Father Philip Nelpuraparambil, a Catholic theologian attended the meetings, described the outcome as “very positive. Now we have to put it in practice.”

Varghese Thomas, a Jacobite layman, welcomed the move saying division and confrontation among Churches have projected a bad image for them. “The world has become more like a global village. So we should promote harmony and love among all people,” he told UCA News.

Father Paul Thelakat, spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar Church, says unity among Churches is the need of the hour and local Churches should have more autonomy for cooperation. “There has to be more decentralization in the Church. What divides us is the question of power,” he added.

According to him, the Kerala Catholics’ link with the Orthodox Churches is stronger than its relation with Protestants. He said he earnestly prayed for these Churches’ union. “We alone can make that unity,” he asserted.

SOURCE

UCAN report by Francis Mini/CathNews India

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