Update (No. 7) from KCCNA President, Dr. Shiens Akasala

Dear Knanaya Community,

I would like to wish you the greetings of Easter and believe that the hope that our Saviour gave to the humanity through his death and resurrection also give our community the hope that we WILL be able to maintain our traditions and customs the same way for another 1700 years as it was kept in the past 1700 years.

First of all I like to let you know that we have formally informed Knanaya Catholic Congress (KCC) leadership in Kottayam that we are very grateful for their support and their efforts over the past one month. Their efforts helped to create awareness among the knanaites around the world about the issues faced by North American Knanites over the past 10 years. We also expressed our sincere appreciation for their strong commitment to the cause of the community and for their vision for the community. We are united with them in that, regardless of the location, all Knanites have a common definition whether it is Knanaya parishes or community organizations which is "Knanites are those who are born to both Knanaya parents and if they are married their spouses also should be born to both Knanaya Parents".

At this challenging time we want to be certain that the steps taken to deal with our current crisis should be consistent across the globe. We informed KCC that we are fully committed to work very closely with KCC leadership, our Spiritual leadership as well as community associations across the globe in all endeavors that is focused on ensuring endogamous nature of our community whether it is in associations or missions/parishes. As many of you know KCCNA was working on a formal appeal to Rome regarding our cause and we hope that Knanites across the globe can come together and help to submit that appeal to ecclesial authorities in the near future as a first step in our goal towards establishing a Suis Juris church for Knanaites.

As many of you know there is a massive signature collection initiated by KCC in Kerala to support the community's initiative to ensure that we will be able to preserve our endogamous membership in our parishes/missions across the globe. We will be sending communications to association leadership to follow through with you to gather signatures to support such an effort. It is our desire that the community must try to submit the appeal before July 2012. We will provide an update to the community at the convention on all activities related to this effort.

I also like to provide update on some most recent development and discussions since the last update to the community.

1.    I want to inform you that we have not received a response from Bishop Mar Angadiath to our letter asking whether Bishop Angadiath is concurring with the membership definition proposed by our Arch Bishop in Los Angeles. Therefore it is not certain whether Bishop Angadiath agrees to what our Bishop proposed.

2.    KCCNA national council discussed the issue and clarified the stand of North American Knanaya community that "membership in Knanaya missions must be for those who are born both Knanaya parents and if they are married their spouses also should be born to both Knanaya Parents"

3.    KCCNA NC also made it clear that "at the current circumstances it is the Responsibility of the Knanaya region to define who the members of the missions under the region". We (the community in North America) have not received any formal communication on the definition of membership in Knanaya missions/parishes from the Knanaya Region or the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar diocese. We expect that the Knanaya Region officials along with our Spiritual Directors will obtain a formal approved membership for the Knanaya Missions from Bishop Mar Angadiath and provide it to North American Knanaya Community to bring clarity and transparency at the earliest.

There appears to be some confusion whether or not KCCNA national council invited our Arch Bishop, Mar Mathew Moolakatt to the LA meeting in order to get clarity on membership criteria of Knanaya mission in North America. KCCNA EC wants to clarify that neither KCCNA NC nor KCCNA EC invited our Arch Bishop to give clarification on the membership issue. Rather, the meeting was scheduled with KCCNA EC and priests serving missions to address some of the ongoing conflicts and issues in many places in North America and the agenda was prepared accordingly. Our Bishop offered to participate at the request of KCCNA spiritual director to help to find solutions to some of the ongoing issues. The membership issue came to the discussion only because Fr, Mutholath provided a copy of a letter from Bishop Angadiath in which Bishop expressed his inability to attend the convention. It was suggested by our Arch Bishop that a clarification of the membership for the Knanaya Missions and cooperation with Syro Malabar Diocese would resolve all conflicts.

Convention Update:

I want to mention a few words with regard convention. As we closed the registration on April 10th, we sincerely appreciate the nearly 700 families who came forward to register for the convention. I want to thank our community members in Tampa along with their Executive Committee members and all the officials who have worked so hard to conclude the registration process. Many community members through out the country provided invaluable support to the KCCNA Executive Committee and National Council members and we are very grateful for that. We will share with you a process for submitting late registrations soon.

As the preparation to make our convention a enjoyable event kicks into a higher gear, I like to remind you all that such conventions and events are only possible because of the love, care and faith we have in our community. We have an obligation to not only safe guard our community from challenges, both internal and external, but also to build on its strength and unity. If the last 100 years saw the development in Kottayam, our goal should be to build our community outside Kottayam also. However, that growth is only possible through our dedicated and committed efforts to safeguard our unique heritage and traditions. Like our Lord refuted the temptations, we too must refute the temptations of glamour and glitter for our humble and deep rooted values and our community.

With Love and best wishes,

Shiens Akasala

President, KCCNA