AWARENESS OF POOR PARISHES

Our Church has many parishes which are financially backward. These poor parishes are a challenge we face today. These parishes exists in all dioceses and the parish members find difficult to build decent place for worship themselves. Some of the parishes are so poor that they can not even afford a priest to come regularly for their worship services. On the other side of the spectrum, there are wealthy parishes which spend enormous amount of money for the church buildings. As per Mor Meletius, the diocesan metropolitan of Trichur "We should create an awareness among our people that criminal spending on Church buildings is not the will of God. Church is, not the building but the people and God in the midst of the congregation. Of course we need to have a decent and comfortable place of worship. The perspective building can not be done by just one person. There should be a united effort to do that."

Several of our faithful move to other denominations every day because many of the parishes do not have a place of worship or a priest to shepherd them. We need dedicated and selfless efforts to overcome this challenge. We request Bishops, Clergy and Laity members of our church to consider this on a top priority.

PARISHES IN IDUKKI NEED OUR HELP

ICON would like to do its bit to increase awareness about these poor parishes. In the past months, we have had discussions and suggestions in the ICON digests. As a pilot program we would like to bring a few churches from Idukki Diocese to the attention of the faithful. The parishes in the Idukki Diocese in Kerala are among some of the most financially backward parishes in our church. The parish members, who are mostly poor estate workers and laborers are at present trying their best to build a reasonably decent place of worship for themselves, but this too seems well beyond their means, and they rely on significant help from well wishers and co-believers.

Mr. Georgy Thomas, a journalist from Bangalore, India was kind enough to translate the Malayalam article in this regard that first appeared in the Orthodox Herald Magazine for the benefit of the ICON readers and you can read the original message from the following links:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianOrthodox/message/12248
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianOrthodox/message/12256

On a recent trip to Kerala, one of the Moderators of ICON accompanied the Diocesan Bishop, HG Augen Mar Dionysus and visited the following 4 parishes mentioned in the above message.

(1) Mar Gregorios Orthodox Church, Thankamani
(2) St. Thomas Orthodox Church, Haileyburia (Near Elappara)
(3) St. Thomas Orthodox Church, Kanjikuzhi.
(4) St. George Orthodox Church, Karimpan

MAR GREGORIOS ORTHODOX CHURCH, THANKAMANI
HG Augen Mar Dionysus Metropolitan at Mar Gregorios OC, Thankamani	Sometimes we are carried away and may not understand the meaning of poor or poor parishes. As per the vicar Fr. K T Jacob, the annual income of Mar Gregorios Orthodox church in Thankamani is Rs. 7,000 (~160 US Dollars), they have 13 families, church property is 10 cents. They do not have money even to pay the priest. Church members are seasonal laborers, their life itself is an everyday challenge, with no fixed income. A few years back, they had as many as 40 families, gradually many of them drifted to the nearby Reethu church who have a better building. The current structure is a 30X16' dilapidated hall and they would like to build a little more bigger structure, 40X20' with a stable foundation and frontage with a cross. They started the ground work, all manual, all by members of the church. They need assistance to buy materials and skilled labor.
The current Mar Gregorios church, Thankamani	Inside View of Mar Gregorios OC, Thankamani

ST.THOMAS ORTHODOX CHURCH, HAILEYBURIA (NEAR ELAPPARA)
Proposed Site for the church visited by the Diocesian Metropolitan along with parish members.	The situation of St. Thomas Church, Haileyburia, near Elappara is similar. The parish have 36 families, the annual income of the parish, as per the vicar Fr. Shaji Daniel, is Rs. 15,000 (~350 US Dollars). They purchased a small piece of land in a picturesque hill and would like to build a small church there. The church members are laborers from nearby plantations.
	Backyard view from the site of the church

ST.THOMAS ORTHODOX CHURCH, KANJIKUZHI
The entrance to the church.	Annual income ~ Rs. 30,000 (~700 US Dollars) with membership of 40 families. According to the vicar Fr. T V Varghese, the leaking roof and the floor with holes can not withstand another monsoon. The members are leveling the land for their new church building expecting help from well-wishers. The members did all the manual work for the leveling, working very hard, 4PM to 2AM in the morning to beat the summer heat.
Faithful gather outside the church	Inside View of the church, during the Metropolitan's visit
View outside the church.	Faithful leave after worship.

ST.GEORGE ORTHODOX CHURCH, KARIMPAN
Unfinished St.George Church, Karimpan	The ordinary members of this small parish are working day and night to fulfill their dream to have a permanent structure for their small, but beautiful Church. They need assistance from well-wishers to complete this task.
Inside the Church	Parsonage at St. George OC, Karimpan

THE IMMEDIATE NEED

As per the Diocesan Metropolitan, their immediate need is around Rs. 20 lakhs (~45,000 US Dollars) for re-building and renovating these 4 parishes. This is just to buy construction materials and skilled labor. All supervision, management and unskilled labor are being done by volunteers. The Diocesan Bishop need our help to accomplish this task.

We request all to pray for this effort and be generous to our brothers and sisters in these parishes. Please organize, raise funds and use our God given talents to help in this worthy cause.

Those who live in the US & Canada, please send your donations to ICON Charities, Inc. at the following address. Make your checks payable to "ICON Charities, Inc." with memo "Help for Idukki Parishes".

ICON Charities, Inc
PO Box 552
Bettendorf, IA-52772-0010

(ICON Charities, Inc. is a not for profit organization registered under US laws, created to respond to situation like this.)

For those who living outside US or Canada, please, please send your donations directly to the diocesan bishop at the following address:

HG Ougen Mar Dionysus,
Gathsemane Aramana,
Chakkupallam PO, Kumili, Idukki District, Kerala (India)

You can also deposit your contributions directly into the diocesan metropolitan's account -Augen Mar Dionysius, Account No: 4625, The Federal Bank Limited, Kattappana Branch.

For any reason, if your financial situation is not allowing your participation at present, please make a pledge by sending an email to IndianOrthodox@hotmail.com, we will contact you later. Our brothers and sisters from these parishes are looking for our earnest help.

In any case, send an email to IndianOrthodox@hotmail.com stating your contribution or pledge for proper acknowledgement and accounting.

As privileged members of our church, we definitely have the resources to help the needy. We are praying Almighty to give us the will to help the ordinary faithful of our Idukki Diocese.

- ICON Moderators

Related messages recently posted on ICON:
----------------------------------------
A.C. Varkey, Jamshedpur -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianOrthodox/message/11774
Yuhanon Mor Meletius Metropolitan -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianOrthodox/message/11792
Rajesh Vargheese, Austin, TX -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianOrthodox/message/11849