Syro malabar church catechism text class 12 Lesson 3 James Adhikaram Lourdes Forane Church Kottayam 9447464502
Syro malabar church catechism text class 12 Lesson 3 James Adhikaram Lourdes Forane Church Kottayam 9447464502.The catechetical heritage of the Syro-Malabar Church is as old as this Church itself. As was the case with all other Churches, among the St. Thomas Christians also there existed a system of catechesis by which faith was handed down from generation to generation. However there is no comprehensive and chronological exposition of the history of catechesis of the Syro-Malabar Church. Hence, many things have to be traced from the historical documents and living traditions of the Church..The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church[16] (Syriac: ܥܸܕܬܵܐ ܩܵܬܘܿܠܝܼܩܝܼ ܕܡܲܠܲܒܵܪ ܣܘܼܪܝܵܝܵܐ) is an Eastern Catholic church based in Kerala, India. The Syro-Malabar Church is an autonomous (sui iuris) particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, including the Latin Church and the 22 other Eastern Catholic churches, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO). The Church is headed by the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar, currently George Alencherry. The Syro-Malabar Synod of Bishops canonically convoked and presided over by the Major Archbishop constitutes the supreme authority of the Church. The Major Archiepiscopal Curia of the Church is based in Kakkanad, Kochi.[17] Syro-Malabar is a prefix reflecting the church's use of the East Syriac Rite liturgy and origins in Malabar (modern Kerala). The name has been in usage in official Vatican documents since the nineteenth century.[18] The Syro-Malabar Church is primarily based in India; with 5 metropolitan archeparchies and 10 suffragan eparchies in Kerala, there are 17 eparchies in other parts of India, and 4 eparchies outside India. It is the largest of the Saint Thomas Christians communities with a population of 2.35 million in Kerala as per the 2011 Kerala state census[14] and 4.25 million worldwide as estimated in the 2016 Annuario Pontificio.[13] It is the third largest sui juris church in the Catholic Church communion and the second largest Eastern Catholic church after the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.[19] The church traces its origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.[20][21][22][23] The earliest recorded organised Christian presence in India dates to the 4th century, when Persian missionaries of the East Syriac Rite tradition, members of what later became the Church of the East, established themselves in modern-day Kerala and Sri Lanka.[24][25][26][27] The Church of the East shared communion within the Great Church until the Council of Ephesus in the 5th century, separating primarily over differences in Christology and due to political reasons. The Syro-Malabar Church employs a variant of the East Syriac Rite, which dates back to 3rd century Edessa, Upper Mesopotamia.[28] As such it is a part of Syriac Christianity by liturgy and heritage.[29]
Syro malabar church catechism text class 12 Lesson 3 James Adhikaram Lourdes Forane Church Kottayam 9447464502
- 1. 21 CHAPTER 3 Challenges Raised by Pentecostal Communities Challenges Raised by Pentecostal Communities Celine was talented in all her activities. It was a great desire of her parents to make Celine an engineer. Their dreams about her were beyond limit. Her parents used to attend the daily Mass andofferedtheirdreamsaboutherinthedailyMassandprayedforitsrealization.Theywereproud of her and praised God as she studied according to their expectation and kept up excellence in all things. But one day when they assembled together as usual after the family prayer, they heard her saying, 'I don't want to study further'. They were shocked and in deep pain. Her parents were agonized when they realized that their daughter was under the influence of a Pentecostal group who spread the rumour that the end of the world is near. Such various Pentecostal groups who teach and act against catholic faith are growing up in Kerala. Knowledge about such movements willhelpusnottobeledastraybyfalseteachings. th In the 16 century witnessed a protestant revolution. This gave rise to many divisions and oppositions in the church and many Pentecostal communities like Calvinism, Baptist radicalism, Methodist Revivalism etc. cropped up. Later because of their emotionalism, they spread all over the world very fast. It spread in Europe as well as America. In the fertile soil of the new continent, thismovementgrewfastandgotstrengthened.T.BBarret,theleaderoftheMethodistchurch,gave leadershipintheearlyyears.Undertheleadershipofpastorsandevangelizers,theybegantogrow indifferentgroupsinBrazil,SouthAfrica,Europe,Russiaetc. The special features of Pentecostal groups are gift of tongue and Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Pentecostals claim that they are chosen specially by the Holy Spirit to lead Christians to the sanctity and simplicity of the early Church. Though they claim that their model is the apostolic The Beginning and Growth of Pentecostal Movements Life-style and Teachings
- 2. 22 church, the argument is not correct. We see the identity of the true apostolic church in the”Acts of theApostles”. “They devoted themselves to the apostles 'teaching and fellowship, to the breaking ofbreadandtheprayers”'(Acts2:42).ItmeanstheearlyChristianslivedasacommunity,sharingin the communion of the apostles and the Bishops-their successors- and in devotion to their teaching and the service of breaking of bread (The Holy Mass) under their leadership. The basic life style of theearlyChristiansisnotseeninPentecostalgroups.Instead,weseeacommoncharacterinthem i.e. they are angry towards hierarchical structure and apostolic authority of the apostolic church. TheyaretheoneswhoraisegravethreatstotherealChurch. th PentecostalmovementstartedinKeralainthelatterhalfofthe19 century.Wecaninclude all the Pentecostal groups in two sections, ie, Assemblies of God and church of God. Many other independent groups are growing up daily. They work mainly not among non-Christians, on the contrary, they are very intent and work hard among the Catholics and other churches to 'convert' the faithful and make them members of their group. Their pastors instruct the people under them that the Catholics are idol worshippers, they are not saved, somehow or other they must join Pentecostal communities and thus save themselves. Several factors in Pentecostal groups helped themtogrowfastinKerala.Theyare: 1. Bible based preaching in their groups 2) Advice on baptism of faith 3) healing services 4) economic help 5) chances to visit foreign countries 6) activities among foreign Malayalies7) opposition to the hierarchical structure of the church 8) personal likes and dislikes in their pastoral fields. Recently - formed - groups like Emperor Emmanuel, Heavenly Banquet Church, Spirit in Jesus, Covenant Community etc can be included in Pentecostal groups in the broad sense of the term.TodaytherearemanyPentecostalgroupsinKerala. Pentecostal movement has deserted the Divine foundation of the church which was instituted by Jesus Christ on Peter-the rock. It is man-made and has no central system.The reason for it is that they have no apostolic foundation, which unites the faithful. Hence these groups form themselves and grow according to the views and interests of each leader. They are founded more onpracticalintereststhanidealsorprinciples. Thegreatestdefectofthismovementisthattheyarenotabletoexperiencethefruitsofthe Pentecostal Movement in Kerala Drawbacks and Challenges 1. Denialof Sacraments
- 3. 23 great sacrifice on Calvary for the salvation of humanity through Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and the sacrament of Reconciliation. Instead, they use certain emotional means which help people to escape from the intense struggle of life for a short while. People are very much influenced by musical service and clapping, use of the mysterious perversion of gift of tongues, claimsofvisionsandspontaneousprayermethods. They do not have an authentic set of principles of faith or tradition received and learned from Jesus and handed over to posterity through apostolic succession. They also lack a powerful leadership instituted by God. For the very reason many individual- based subgroups are formed in this movement. Hence, when compared to the traditional churches, membership is much less in these groups. Besides, these founders impose their teachings and practices on their followers. They are not ready to rethink or change, even when they are convinced that their teachings and interpretationsarewrong.Thisleadstofurtherdivisions. These groups, who have cut off their connection with the church instituted by Christ, reject the fundamental teachings of the church like communion of the faithful, the communion of saints, canons of the Bible etc. They accept only sixty-six books of the Bible. They reject and blindly opposethetraditionoftheCatholicChurch,Bl.VirginMary,saintsandMinisters. Though they claim that the 'Acts of theApostles' is their life principle, they do not accept its purespiritof thecommunity,visionofthechurch,theologyoftheHolySpiritandvisionofsalvation. They think that once they are saved, they will not commit sin any more. They also think that all get the charismas through the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. They give undue importance to the charismas. They misunderstand the experience of salvation and think that they gain salvation by their effort and say exactly the time, date, and place where they were saved.They have many such wrong ideas in their thoughts and life-style. They try to make the faithful misunderstand easily and leadthemtotheirgroups. Some groups are fundamentalists. They prohibit cinema, use of jewelry, and use of liquor. Theyobjecttomedicaltreatment.TheybelievethatChristwillhealthemthroughprayeralone.This fundamentalism may be beneficial in eradicating the evil practices which destroy individuals and society; still, they fail in explaining and interpreting the revealed word of God. They are also defectiveinthesensethattheyproclaimandspreadpersonalmessagesratherthansinceritytothe willofGodandthemagisteriumoftheChurch. 2. Rejection of Traditions 3. WrongTeachings 4. ReligiousFundamentalism
- 4. 24 5. WrongVisionof the End of the world I. Findoutthe Answers II. LetusDiscuss III. Activity IV. LetusEnlighten ourHearts The recently - formed - communities like Emperor Emmanuel believe that the second coming of Christ is imminent. They make at least some people misunderstand in this case. This makes people develop a trend not to face the realities of life but to escape them. They ignore how St.PaulstrictlycriticizedandcorrectedsuchthoughtsintheThessalonians'church. The words of St. Paul are realized in them: “For the time is coming when people will not put upwithsounddoctrine,buthavingitchingears,theywillaccumulateforthemselvesteacherstosuit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths” (2 Tim 4:3-4).Wemustbealwaysalerttodiscernsuchgroupsandnottobeledastraybytheirteachings. 1. ModernPentecostalmovementisawrongrenewalmovement.Elucidate 2. The Pentecostal groups claim that the early church is their model. Why do we say that the argumentisnotcorrect? 3. WhatarethemaindefectsofPentecostalgroups? 4. WhatarethewrongteachingsthatPentecostalgroupsgive? 5. Whatarethemainteachingsandlife-styleofPentecostalmovements? 1. DiscussthedifferencesbetweentheoriginofCatholicChurchandPentecostalgroups. 2. What are the means to dissuade people from following the wrong teachings of Pentecostal groups? I will pray and work for the return of Pentecostal groups from their wrong teachings and to entertheCatholicChurch. “ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what weproclaimedtoyou,letthatonebeaccursed!”(Gal1:8).