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Eastern Rite liturgy celebrated in Liberal |
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The bishop uses an atlas to point out his diocese at the southern tip of India.
Bishop Alencherry consecrates the bread and wine.
Father Patrick Keyes, left, visits with Bishop Alencherry. The Syro-Malabar Mass was celebrated on his last day in St. Anthony Parish. He is now director of the Redemptorist house of formation in St. Louis, Mo.
Jo Jo Thundiyil reverences the Word and Bishop Alencherry throughout the reading of the Gospel
The faithful receive communion, after the host is dipped in the consecrated wine.
Members of the Redemptorist community, Father Mike McAndrew, pastor, Father Tony Judge and Brother Larry Lujan, join Thundiyil and Eappan Madathil, Mass ministers, and Bishop Alencherry.
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By Tim Wenzl Southwest Kansas Register LIBERAL – A congregation of 60 experienced the liturgy of a different culture, rite and language when Bishop George Alencherry of the Diocese of Thuckalay, India, celebrated Mass in St. Anthony Church on July 11. Bishop Alencherry chanted the Mass of the Syro-Malabar rite in the Malayalam language. Twenty members of St. Anthony Parish are from India and once lived in the Diocese of Thuckalay. Bishop Alencherry was in the United States to attend a convention of the Syro-Malabar Church in Dallas. At the conclusion of the convention, he traveled to Liberal to visit the faithful "from my neighborhood." The length of the Syro-Malabar Mass compared to a Mass in the Latin rite is similar. Those who were present at the Mass in Liberal, however, observed the following differences. The introductory rites are longer and there are more responses for the people than in the Latin Mass. The celebrant leads these prayers at a pulpit that is set before the altar. The "Our Father" is included in the penitential rite during this time. During the liturgy of the Word, a minister reads the first reading from the ambo. The celebrant, however, reads the Gospel from the pulpit set before the altar. Throughout the time the celebrant is reading the Gospel, a server reverences the reader and the book of Gospels with incense. Bishop Alencherry delivered his homily in English. "Wherever we live, we are called to do our role for the mission of the Church," he said. "We ask God for the grace to live that vocation." He complimented Father Patrick Keyes for his leading the congregation in building such a fine church in Liberal. He then noted with interest that the parish was staffed by Redemptorists, and that the head of the Syro-Malabar Church, Major Archbishop Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, is also a Redemptorist. The liturgy of the Eucharist and consecration, compared to the length of the introductory and penitential rites, is notably brief. During communion, a Eucharistic minister holds a plate of consecrated hosts at the right side of the celebrant. The celebrant takes a host from the plate and dips it in the chalice of consecrated wine before placing it on the communicant’s tongue. Jo Jo Thundiyil was the altar server during the liturgy and led members of the congregation familiar with the rite with the responses and songs. Eappan Madathil was the Eucharistic minister. The Syro-Malabar Church was known as the Church of the St. Thomas Christians until the 18th Century because it was founded by St. Thomas, who traveled to India in 52 A.D. He died as a martyr in a place called Mylapore near the present town of Chennai (Madras). His tomb is still venerated there. There are 80,000 Syro-Malabar rite Catholics in the United States. The members living in Liberal number 20. The first Indian family moved to Liberal 15 years ago; others moved in the last two years. Job opportunities in different medical professions attracted family members to the community.
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