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• To strengthen the Syro-Malabar community allover the world in their faith and tradition bysolidifying a sense of belonging among them sothat they feel that they are one family, one stock,with a glorious past, elegant present and dignifiedfuture.
• To ensure greater and dignified participatory roleof the laity in the ministry of the Church
• To provide a proper platform for addressing thecommon issues, spiritual and temporal, pastoraland social of the Syro-Malabar laity all over theworld.
• To promote a harmonious mutuality between thelaity and the clergy.
• To open up opportunities for the laity to sharetheir knowledge, experience and expertise invarious spheres of activity.
• To preserve and propagate the identity of theSyro-Malabar Church and her traditional faith,inherited as apostolic patrimony from St. Thomas.
• To mould and motivate the laity to witness truehuman values in their family and work.
• To enlighten the Laity about the teachings andpolicies of the Church.
• To establish and strengthen global fraternity andco-ordination among the Syro-Malabar laity.
The Commission for Laity of theSyro-Malabar Major ArchiepiscopalChurch was formed by the Synod ofBishops on 12.10.2008. From itsvery inception the Commission hasbeen organizing a slew ofprogrammes and projects in order tofulfill its main objective of ensuringgreater laity involvement in theministry of the Church. Theseprogrammes are related to variousdomains of activity including social,educational, cultural, economic,philanthropic and spiritual.
The most tangible impact of theCommission is that it couldengender a feeling of oneness, awe-feeling, among the laity sothat they feel that they are theChurch and as such they have alot to contribute in churchactivities, a lot to share since theybelong to the same stock, thesame family. Lay members of theChurch have started feeling thatthey are an integral part of theChurch like priests and nuns andthat their views and opinions aretaken into account. There is ageneral consciousness that theactivities of the laity are to becoordinated at different levels,
parish, diocesan, archiepiscopal andinternational. The enormousresources of the laity are to be pooledand harnessed for the good of thesociety at large.
The Consultation Council meetingof the Commission for Laity involvingtop-rated laity leaders of variouswalks of life, created among them afeeling that they too are responsiblefor the building up of the Church.They got a forum to frankly discusscommon issues affecting the Churchacross the border of the states andthe country. The lay public also gotopportunities to ventilate itsgrievances and feelings about thehierarchy.
Another significant achievementof the Commission is the formationof a human resource bank, aresource team of 25 members inevery diocese to give the faithfulproper training in the Bible, Theologyand the Teachings of the Church.Promotion of a fraternity ofentrepreneurs is yet another majorarea being explored. Thecommission is also taking steps toorganize migration to Maharashtra.
The Commission has gone a long
way in rectifying the branding of theChurch by certain sections as amoney-making machine. Itpopularizes the contribution of theChurch in the form of charity homes,old-age homes, palliative care
centres, homes for the physicallychallenged and mentally retarded,nephrology, and cancer centres etcto a considerable extent. Through itslarge network across of the globe,the Commission has been able toproject the true image of the Church,the face that cares for the poor, thesick and the discarded.
Measures are being taken toestablish catholic townships andLiaison Offices in major cities likeDelhi,Thiruvananthapuram. andMumbai
The International Laity Assemblyheld at Mount St. Thomas,Kakkanad, Ernakulam, from 13 to 15April, 2009, was the first of its kindin the history of the Syro-MalabarChurch. Nearly 300 select delegatesincluding top dignitaries from variousparts of the world attended it andaired their views and proposalsregarding how the Church should befurther strengthened with grater laityparticipation.
Energized and motivated, the laityis looking up to Synodal Bishops tocontinue to give them properleadership in faith formation andsocial uplift.
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Main Points discussed:1. Strategic action plans should be
formulated and implementedwith a definite time frame.
2. Task forces/Core groups are tobe formulated consisting ofexperts in four key areas namely,public life, human resourcedevelopment, youth participationand media development.
clergy and the religious should beformed.
9. Since 50% reservation is beingoffered to women in variousareas, intensive training shouldbe given to prospective womenleaders
10. There should be a Website ande-magazine for Commission forLaity
even the noblest and mostlaudable services of the Churchare not promptly conveyed to thepublic. Even the beneficiariesare not aware of what the Churchdoes for them. Hence thereshould be centralizedcoordination and communicationnetwork regarding social andhumanitarian activities
3. The social fabric weakens whenthe family system gets weak.When both parents areemployed, the grooming ofchildren suffers. One of themajor focal points of the LaityCommission should be rightformation of children and theyouth.
4. Women deserve greater respectin the society than what theyenjoy at present.
5. Empowerment of women is asolution for the increasingnumber of domestic violence.
6. Household surveys are to beconducted prior to providingtraining to empower women.
7. 50% reservation to womenshould be extended to PastoralCouncils and Parish Councils too
8. A centralized core groupconsisting of top-rated laity,
11. There should be media cellsproviding media training as wellin dioceses.
12. The present gulf between thelaity and the clergy is to bebridged at the earliest.
13. Diocesan Pastoral Councils andParish Councils should have acommon statute approved by theSynod of Bishops. Diocesangeneral accounts may bepublished in the Pastoral Council.
14. There should be a unified stanceamong dioceses when commonissues confronting the churchoccur.
15. There should be a targeted actionplan so that we have greateraccess to the civil service,judiciary, politics and the media.
16. There should be a Think Tank forthe Church.
17. Due to communication gaps
conducted by dioceses andreligious societies.
18. The community feeling promotedby the Church is oftenmisinterpreted as communalism.
19. Stray cases of misdeeds andmisbehaviour of churchmen areexaggerated by a section ofmedia which, in turn, leads toblind attacks on the clergy.
20. Basic catechism text books,prayer books and marriagepreparatory books are to bemade available in English,German, Italian, Arabic, Hindi aswell as in regional languages.
21. We have to identify leaders inreligious and secular spheres ofactivity and provide them withadequate training through theformation of a Laity ResourceTeam. The LRT consisting of top-
Cont..page.. 11
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rated laity having expertise andexperience will provide trainingin faith formation and renderassistance to the faithful atvarious levels in witnessingChrist in their lives.
protection shall be given dueimportance at the Parish/Dioceselevel.
25. Liaison Offices and Syro-Malabar Centres are to bestarted in Delhi and Thiruvan-anthapuram, for assisting theChurch authorities and the laityin their Government related
22. With a view to promotingentrepreneurship among the laity,Entrepreneurship DevelopmentCentres are to be started.Individual initiative should beencouraged as far as possible.Entrepreneurship should beextended to women as well.
23. Health care is an area of primesignificance. Non-communicablediseases like cancer, diabetes,asthma, heart/kidney failure aswell as Parkinson, Alzheimerspose an increasing threat to themodern society. It is, therefore,in the fitness of things thatmassive awareness progra-mmes are organized by theChurch with active laityinvolvement and to developremedial measures in variouslevels.
24. A recent phenomenon of direstconsequences is globalwarming. Awareness progr-ammes about this gigantic threatto life, are to be organized atvarious levels. Environment
activities. This can also bedeveloped as a Transit Centre forour people visiting these places.
26. Keralites, specially faithful fromour community, after theirsettlement in Malabar and Idukkiregions, have nowhere to go forthe further migration forexpansion of their agriculturalprojects. It is requested to find outnew agricultural areas with theleadership of Church, in India,Brazil, Ethiopia and Australia,which are settlement-friendly.
27. Enhancement of sense ofbelonging and participation of thelaity may require changes in oursystem. Change per se is aglobally popular slogan, and inestablished environments itshould guarantee tangibleimprovements. Syro - Malabarchurch being best performer insocieties it operates, suggestionstowards changes therein mustproceed extensive analysis bythe Commission for Laity.