tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71054229063343117642024-03-08T13:41:57.709-05:00MCYMNJThe website for the Malankara Catholic Youth Movement of New Jersey. A site for general information, events, discussion, news, and any other postings people find relevant.MCYMNJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03379847914148257914noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105422906334311764.post-70922257986767633612008-07-22T14:55:00.002-04:002008-07-26T11:25:03.271-04:00Altar Servers and Saris for the Conference<table cellspacing='0' cellpadding='0' border='0' ><tr><td valign='top' style='font: inherit;'>Hey everyone,<br><br>So I'm back from California. I'd like to just say I'm planning to stay in Jersey for the forsee-able future and help out in any way I can.<br><br>Also, people might want to check out the website http://mcymnj.blogspot.com (note: one of the nice features of the site is that I can email postings onto it, hence this message is going straight to the site, if you have anything you'd like to get up there, but don't want to learn the software and such, just email me at bobofmoondust@yahoo.com or johnzachariahthomas@gmail.com), I gave it a revamp, although I might make future changes to make it more user-friendly and useful. But down to business:<br><br>So the MCYM North America has been putting some requests on the missions in preparation for the conference. Given the number of people we're sending, I don't think we can be expected to provide the same amount of support as say the Queens Mission or the Chicago Mission, but we should try to give what we can. Given that, I'm passing along some requests from Daniel Philip, President of the Toronto mission.<br><br>In essence he wants 2-3 people (again given the 4 people we're sending, I think it's fine to fall short of his requests) from our mission to altar serve, I can say that I'll do it, I know my brother probably won't, but I'm wondering if you'd be up to it Dollin.<br><br>Also, he wants 2-3 girls to bring Thallipolli saris, essentially, Jocelyn do you want to bring a Thallipolli sari.<br><br>I'm not going to be pressing anyone too hard with these requests, but I'm throwing them out there if anyone can do anything. I also have below, the emails he sent me for reference.<br><br>Anywho, I hope this email sees everyone well.<br><br>God Bless,<br>John Thomas<br>President of the MCYM NJ Mission, 2008<br><br><br><br>This is his first email, sent last week (sorry I didn't forward to it you guys earlier, Cali trip-logistics have been keeping me busy):<br><br>Hey everyone,<br><br>In addition to the altar servers email I sent out yesterday, I'd ask that you also remind any girls from your respective missions that have the Thalipolli saris to please bring them for the Conference. There will be inauguration festivities that we will ask all of them to participate in, so please make sure they bring in the stuff for that.<br><br>If there are any questions about the altar serving, this email, or anything else please feel free to get back to me.<br><br>God Bless,<br><br>Daniel Philip<br>MCYM President - Toronto<br><br>And here's his second email sent a few days ago:<br><br>Hey everyone,<br><br>Following up to the last email I sent out about the Thallipolli stuff for Conference, I'd ask that you get <span style="font-weight: bold;">2-3 girls from each of your missions</span> to bring the thallipolli saris (for inauguration). I need each of you to get the names of these individuals to me by the end of this week, and please remind them that they need to bring their saris. If there are any questions, please feel free to email me back.<br><br>God Bless,<br><br>Daniel Philip<br>MCYM President - Toronto<br><br>And here's his third email, sent very recently:<br><br>Hey everyone,<br><br>Thank you to those of you who have replied with the names of altar servers. For those of you who haven't managed to get back to me yet, I'd ask that you email me the names of 2-3 individuals from your missions that would be willing to altar serve during the masses that will be taking place during Conference by this <span style="font-weight: bold;">Friday July 25</span>. All three masses will be in English. Please forward me the names and roles that they are comfortable with for the mass.<br><br>God Bless,<br><br>Daniel Philip<br>MCYM President - Toronto<br></td></tr></table><br>MCYMNJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03379847914148257914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105422906334311764.post-44443539031336520462008-07-07T01:47:00.002-04:002008-07-26T11:24:32.370-04:00Our historyCourtesy of my mother I'd like to give a quick rundown of the history of Christianity in that little SW corner of India called Kerala.<br /><br />In brief, the St. Thomas Christians remained pretty much as one group until 1599 (Diampur Synod), when Portugese Bishop did a hostile takeover of Syrian Christians. But Portugese power waned and in 1653, some of the new Christians could not take the loss of traditional worship. They revolted and had a pledge to go back to Orthodox worship and tradition.Thus the Syrian Orthodox Church was formed. My family part of the church remained in Roman Catholicism and revived little bit of old tradition. They are Syro-Malabar church. Portugese missionaries also converted lot of Hindus from 1498 onwards and this group is called Latin Catholics.<br /><br />The Syrian Orthodox church split into several factions. One faction under the Bishop Mar Evanios re-joined Catholic church in 1930. Achacha' family and our New Jersey church belongs to this group. This is called Malankara Syrian Catholic Church<br /><br />So remember Roman Catholic Church in Kerala has three groups or independent 'rites' or form of worship. The The Latin rite, Syro-Malabar rite and Malankara Syrian catholic rite. I should say four, if I include the Kananya Church.<br /><br />The Syrian Orthodox Church that remained away from the catholic church has three other famous factions: One is called the Othodox Church to which belongs Shaji Achacha's family. They have large congregations in the US and Achacha's friend Thankanchan uncle's family also belongs to this one.<br /><br />Another faction of Syrian Orthodox church is called Jacobite church. Yet another reform resulted in Mar Thoma Church. mary Ann and JOhn, the Epan Family belongs to this Mar Thoma Church. They too have numerous churches in the US. Very devoted people.<br /><br />Now there are 17 million Catholics in India, 7 million are Syrian Christians, about 500,000 are Malankara Syrian Catholic.<br /><br />I was for years trying to figure out where these different factions arise and how they are connected. Now it is all easy to find out from Wikipedia.<br /><br />And that's my mother (Thresia Thomas)!MCYMNJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03379847914148257914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105422906334311764.post-15890568586389109172008-03-30T20:15:00.000-04:002008-03-30T20:16:49.557-04:00Registration Form IssueIf you're having problems with the registration form (there have been some) email me at johnzachariahthomas@gmail.com and I will contact the coordinators.MCYMNJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03379847914148257914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105422906334311764.post-57316210503150421632008-03-30T20:10:00.000-04:002008-03-30T20:12:04.519-04:00Doings and HappeningsGreetings All!
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<br />First of all, congratulations to Father John on his Silver Jubilee! May God allow him to lead our parish for another 25 years!
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<br />Second of all, thanks to all those who came out for the soup kitchen volunteering, but I'll get to that in a sec...
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<br />Let me first get this out of the way:
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<br />I realize I haven't been keeping up with things as much as I should have lately. Sunil and Dollin have often had to lead the way and I apologize that I haven't been able to do more. But while I will try to be more active as president of our youth group, I must repeat the warning I gave when I first became president, I have great time constraints to my activities since this is my last semester of college and I'm looking for a job and I'm not even sure where I'm going to be living in a few months. Nevertheless I hope to try my best and with your help we should be able to do great things with this group.
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<br />Moving on...
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<br />Again, thanks to everyone who helped out with the soup kitchen. We were able to give a lot of food that did a lot of good, so we can feel proud of that. We are also looking for other soup kitchens to volunteer at, so if you have one in mind, please send me an email, or post it up on the MCYM NJ website: http://mcymnj.blogspot.com
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<br />(I hope to update that website soon by the way, but I'd like to remind people that anyone can add to it, through comments or by adding a blog entry: just use the username: mcymnj and the password: churchgroup )
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<br />I'd like to also thank Sunil for arranging for those T-shirts. That's right, those who came out to volunteer got T-shirts. That's not why we volunteered mind you, but it is cool, thanks Sunil!
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<br />But for future plans:
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<br />We need to start having meetings again. I'd like to try to get going the elaborate meeting plans I had at the beginning of the semester but the main thing is we should try meeting again. The whole Easter season I think has sidelined our plans but we should try to have a meeting next month. I'm probably not going to be able to make it next week since I have a number of deadlines, but if a lot of other people can I'm willing to rearrange my schedule. Otherwise I'd say we could have a meeting two weeks from now, although that is an afternoon mass so that might be hard for people.
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<br />What is certain, is that if at all possible we WILL have a meeting April 20th. I'd like to also do some fun activities as a group either after mass on the 20th or around then, depending on availabilities. One idea was going to Dave and Buster's and getting some good food and playing some games there.
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<br />Also, we should think of our next volunteering project. It's nice that we did the food drive, but we can do more. I'm open to ideas and I'd like to try to do another soup kitchen if people can offer some locations. Also, I think it would be good to do a bake sale and raise some money for a charity. I know we've talked about this a lot before, but it is something that we can easily do if we put our mind to it.
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<br />Thirdly, let's see if anyone can come up for something special to do for Father John's celebration on the 27th. That's when we as a parish will do our act of honoring him and it would be nice if we could do something as a youth group. I'm signed to give a speech and they might have already filled the schedule with events already but I think if the youth group as a whole could do something for Father John it would be great.
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<br />Finally,
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<br />MONDAY IS THE LAST DAY TO SIGN UP FOR THE TORONTO CONFERENCE!!!
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<br />It should be a ton of fun so please give it a try. It's only a few days (July 31st to August 2nd) but it'll give you memories and friends for a lifetime.
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<br />If you do want to go, tell me so I can relay the info to the coordinators and also so I can help with transportation and costs. Currently, our plan is driving, although me and my brother will actually be driving separately since we have some cousins near Toronto we hope to visit along the way. But if this leaves anyone with transport problems tell me and we'll figure something out. Also if I can get a number on who's going, I might be able to see if the Church can cover some costs.
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<br />So come on people! Come to Toronto!
<br />Here's the conference's site:
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<br /><a/ href= "http://www.conference2008.mcymna.org" >http://www.conference2008.mcymna.org/</a>
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<br />Anyways that's about all I have to say for now. Once again thank you to everyone who helped with the soup kitchen and congratulations to Father John!
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<br />God Bless,
<br />John Thomas
<br />MCYM NJ President 2008
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<br />MCYMNJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03379847914148257914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105422906334311764.post-69750366188755529482008-02-21T00:29:00.000-05:002008-03-30T20:12:51.859-04:00Dates and UpdatesGreetings and Salutations all,
<br />I wanted to give a quick rundown of activities and plans.
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<br />First of all:
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<br /><a/ href= "http://www.elijahspromise.net/">Elijah's Promise Soup Kitchen</a>
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<br />This is a very active soup kitchen, serving around 80,000 meals a year and it also runs programs for culinary education and entrepreneurship training. Overall, very worthy cause. The soup kitchen is also in the middle of New Brunswick, in a pretty nice part of town (just down the street from the State Theater, if anyone knows the geography) and it has a very established volunteering program.
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<br />Because of that we're also planning a food drive. This Sunday a box will be brought to mass and there will be an announcement. However, on March 2nd, we will also put up a poster with a list of the necessary food items.
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<br /><a/ href= "http://www.elijahspromise.net/volunteer.htm">Here's a link to the volunteering page</a> of the soup kitchen and it has a list of items needed.
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<br />We can also raise money since they also need donations.
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<br />The current plan is to go for March 8th for the actual volunteering. The only issue is there might not be enough room for everyone in the soup kitchen, so I'd like to get a head count. Right now I'm expecting 6-8 people to be coming, if more want to we can do it over two weekends, and if everyone has a good experience we can do more volunteering.
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<br />Also:
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<br />I'm hoping for a get-together at Dave and Buster's. It's like Chuckie Cheese for adults, which is to say, it's awesome. Contact me as to what times people would like to go.
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<br />We also need to start planning for Easter. I know it is still a good chunk of time away but it is better for us to be prepared early.
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<br />Finally,
<br />March 2nd we're having a Youth Meeting (although this will not be an English mass, the 16th will be English mass and another youth meeting).
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<br />I'm hoping to start trying to do discussions about our faith, since that is the essence of the MYCM.
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<br />So for the first meeting I thought it might to be nice to reflect on a passage that most of us are familiar with: 1 Corinthians 13: 8-13
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<br />Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly,* but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
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<br />That's about all I have for now, if you have any thoughts on the plans I've outlined or the passage above, please leave comments!
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<br />Also, mark your calender for <a/ href= "http://www.conference2008.mcymna.org/">the Toronto MCYM North America Youth Conference</a>. The deadline for application is March 31st and especially if we want to figure out some ways to reduce costs, I need a head count as soon as possible.
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<br />Well, anyways, I hope this message sees you well.
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<br />God Bless,
<br />John Thomas
<br />MCYM NJ President 2008MCYMNJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03379847914148257914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105422906334311764.post-37012290196674299092008-01-28T19:37:00.001-05:002008-03-30T20:17:13.462-04:00Malankara Catholic Youth Movement North America Conference 2008So I sent out this info in an email to everyone, but if you didn't read that here it is again:<br /><br />It's starting on July 31st and going to August 3rd, it should be a ton of fun. Most of the time is just spend doing fun activities (ie, ice-breaker games, basketball, etc.) and getting to know other Malankara youth from across North America. I'm hoping we can get a good amount of people this year and do NJ proud. The Conference costs $175 if you're willing to stay in a 4-person suite with 2-people per room, or $225 if you want to stay in 2-person suite with 1 person per room (the rooms are at a college so they're not that fancy but they're not too bad either). The final registration is March 31st, but after January 31st there's an extra $25. I know I'm going to go and I encourage other people to as well. And I last heard (although I'm not absolutely sure of this) the official designation of MCYM youth goes up to 35 so some of you older members might want to think about coming. Hint, hint.<br /><br />Now I know transportation costs might be a hassle, but I'm thinking if we get enough people we can rent a bus. If not we could also try driving. It would be a long trip, but a road trip in the summer might be fun. Even if we decide against driving, we might still be able to get the church to defer some of the costs. Maybe. So again I encourage everyone to come and I encourage everyone to try to register before Jan. 31st (that's Thursday for those of you not in the know).<br /><br />I'll be talking about all this on the meeting on Feb 3rd (next Sunday) (please try to come to the youth meeting, it's not going to be very long and I'd like to start off my presidency well and with any ideas anybody has to offer), but again, you can save $25 if you register before Jan. 31st so try to do that.<br /><br />Here's the website for the conference:<br /><br /><a ref="http://www.conference2008.mcymna.org/">http://www.conference2008.mcymna.org/</a><br /><br />Hope you can make it!<br /><br />Goodbye and God BlessMCYMNJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03379847914148257914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7105422906334311764.post-29912145393876649292008-01-23T19:23:00.000-05:002008-01-23T19:29:57.399-05:00Welcome to the new MCYM NJ websiteWelcome!<br /><br />This is the website for the Malankara Catholic Youth Movement of New Jersey.<br /><br />Here we will post the minutes of our meetings, Malankara, Catholic or Christian news, upcoming events, thoughts on Bible readings and Christian readings, and whatever else seems fun as well as useful for growing the faith of our members.<br /><br />That's my hope at least.<br /><br />I don't want to sound pretentious and I don't want to sound over-important, but I hope we can use this website, and generally make an effort towards having fun, making friendships, and becoming better members of the Malankara Catholic Church.<br /><br />Thank you and God Bless.<br /><br />-John Thomas, MCYM NJ president 2008MCYMNJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03379847914148257914noreply@blogger.com0