History of a Vibrant Faith Community 1983 - 2010
The story of our church building efforts started way back in 1983 when the Indian Catholic Mission was established. Rev. Fr. John Edappilly CMI was the first Spiritual Director of the Mission. From there on, Holy Mass was started on a regular basis. Pious associations like Children's League and Youth League were formed. A warm reception was given to His Eminence John Cardinal Krol on December 23, 1984.
On May 2, 1988 the Archdiocese of Philadelphia established three separate Missions for three rites of Indian Catholics. Rev. Fr. John Pullokaran succeeded Fr. Edappilly. On September 29, 1992, Rev. Fr. Paul Pottackal took charge of the Mission. In 1995, Rev. Fr. Walter Thelappilly became the Spiritual Director, followed by Rev. Fr. John Tharayil and Rev. Fr. Johnson Paliakara. In the beginning of 2002, Rev. Fr. Kuriakose Cheeran was appointed as Spiritual Director and continued until February 15, 2003 when Rev. Fr. Jacob Christy took charge as the Mission Director. This was the first appointment of a priest from the Diocese of Chicago by His Excellency Mar Jacob Angadiath. From thereon the Mission began to grow rapidly.
Thus we started as a Mission, achieved steady progress under different Spiritual Directors time to time and grew as a large parish of more than 400 families.
On March 19, 2005 our dream of becoming a full service parish in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago with our own church to worship and our own place for a get-together as one family has become a reality. This is really a wonderful gift and great blessing for our community from God Almighty. We should say thanks and praise to the Heavenly Father for this great gift. Also, this is indeed a great moment of jubilation and rejoices for our community as we have been anxiously waiting for it. We can be proud of the great achievement.
At the same time we should acknowledge with thanks the dedicated services by all our community members, past and present, young and old, men and women alike from time to time to achieve our goal. A lot of people in our community struggled hard and pioneered this movement. It was solely because of the strong solid foundation built by our pioneers, that we could achieve this. From this we learned a great lesson that teamwork produces great results.
With the same cohesion and confidence, let us move forward for a brighter tomorrow. As we march on, we have many obstacles and challenges in our journey forward. It is a good time to show our fellowship and unity for the strengthening of our parish to meet our expectations. It is the responsiblity of each and every family to nurture this newborn baby so that it grows in a healthy environment. We may need to share our time, talents and treasure for the betterment of our community. We have to foucs on so many important issues and devote our time and energy for the overall development of our community. Let us all shoulder together to make this transition smooth and painless.
As a vibrant parish community we have come along very well. on January 31, 2009 Father Jacob Christy got transfer from here to Houston and Father John Melepuram is appointed as our new Vicar / Pastor.
A long way to forward and lots of things are to be accomplished for our families, Youth and Children. Let us all come together to pray, to celebrate our faith and to grow in communion with our families and friends. Under the leadership of our new Pastor / Vicar Rev. Father John Melepuram let us build a better, vibrant and fruitful faith community.
On May 2, 1988 the Archdiocese of Philadelphia established three separate Missions for three rites of Indian Catholics. Rev. Fr. John Pullokaran succeeded Fr. Edappilly. On September 29, 1992, Rev. Fr. Paul Pottackal took charge of the Mission. In 1995, Rev. Fr. Walter Thelappilly became the Spiritual Director, followed by Rev. Fr. John Tharayil and Rev. Fr. Johnson Paliakara. In the beginning of 2002, Rev. Fr. Kuriakose Cheeran was appointed as Spiritual Director and continued until February 15, 2003 when Rev. Fr. Jacob Christy took charge as the Mission Director. This was the first appointment of a priest from the Diocese of Chicago by His Excellency Mar Jacob Angadiath. From thereon the Mission began to grow rapidly.
Thus we started as a Mission, achieved steady progress under different Spiritual Directors time to time and grew as a large parish of more than 400 families.
On March 19, 2005 our dream of becoming a full service parish in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago with our own church to worship and our own place for a get-together as one family has become a reality. This is really a wonderful gift and great blessing for our community from God Almighty. We should say thanks and praise to the Heavenly Father for this great gift. Also, this is indeed a great moment of jubilation and rejoices for our community as we have been anxiously waiting for it. We can be proud of the great achievement.
At the same time we should acknowledge with thanks the dedicated services by all our community members, past and present, young and old, men and women alike from time to time to achieve our goal. A lot of people in our community struggled hard and pioneered this movement. It was solely because of the strong solid foundation built by our pioneers, that we could achieve this. From this we learned a great lesson that teamwork produces great results.
With the same cohesion and confidence, let us move forward for a brighter tomorrow. As we march on, we have many obstacles and challenges in our journey forward. It is a good time to show our fellowship and unity for the strengthening of our parish to meet our expectations. It is the responsiblity of each and every family to nurture this newborn baby so that it grows in a healthy environment. We may need to share our time, talents and treasure for the betterment of our community. We have to foucs on so many important issues and devote our time and energy for the overall development of our community. Let us all shoulder together to make this transition smooth and painless.
As a vibrant parish community we have come along very well. on January 31, 2009 Father Jacob Christy got transfer from here to Houston and Father John Melepuram is appointed as our new Vicar / Pastor.
A long way to forward and lots of things are to be accomplished for our families, Youth and Children. Let us all come together to pray, to celebrate our faith and to grow in communion with our families and friends. Under the leadership of our new Pastor / Vicar Rev. Father John Melepuram let us build a better, vibrant and fruitful faith community.
