Syro-malabar Catholic Church Ireland Charity NONIC106671 Company No.N1645327 Trustees, Report The Trustees present their report for the period from 1 April 2023 to 31st March 2024. sl Structure, Objects, Governance and Management This Church is a part of the Universal Catholic Church, the Supreme head being His Holiness Pope Francis. Syro Malabar Church is asui juris Church with Major Archbishop, His Beatitude Raphel Thattil, as its immediate head. This Church is a registeredcharity under Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Objects To maintain and foster the traditions and doctrines of the Syro -Malabar Church and to perform all the religious services and administer sacraments for all the Syro Malabar Faithful in Northern Ireland in accordance with the ancient Syro - Malabar traditions, as followed by the Syro- Malabar Church in India. The Church celebrates Holy Eucharist (Qurbana), administer sacraments and other services according to the faith, traditions, customs and rites of the Syro Malabar Church, organises and conducts Sunday School, prayer meetings, retreats and activities of community development and for the youth. The Church generates funds through charity fund raising events, members, contributions and donations from well-wishers. This is used to provide financial assistance to the sick and the poor who require medical treatment, hospitalisation, and financial assistance to those who cannot afford education and building houses of their own. Activities Our Holy serdices are conducted in 5 different Mass centres Antrim, Londonderry, Belfast, Lisburn and Bangor. The 1st three centres have Holy Eucharist on every Sundays and Sunday School twice in a month, Lisburn Centre has Holy Eucharist on1st and 3rd Sundays and Sunday School twice a month and Bangor Centre has Holy Eucharist on every last Saturdays. We have Holy Eucharist on every Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays at Saint Bernadette's Church Belfast BT6 OLL every Sunday. 28 Willowbank Park, Belfast BT6 OLL Email s romalabarb mail.com
Syro-malabar Catholic Church Ireland Charity NONIC106671 Company No.N1645327 Sunday School: We reopened Sunday School on 3rd September 2023. On 18th November we had a seminar for the Sunday school teachers to equip themselves to be effective Sunday school teachers. Retreats: Retreats are conducted with an intention to make faithful spiritually enriched. We had Advent retreat during the month of December, Lenten retreat during the month of April and Bible Convention during the month of August. As usual, we organised retreats thrice for youth, teens and kids separately. We also arranged youth and women empowerment programmes during the year. Each of the 5 mass centres is divided into Family Units comprising of 10-25 families. They come together and conduct prayers, Bible studies and programmes for socialization which will end with some refreshment or dinner. This too adds to the close- knitness of our community. Feasts: It is customary for us to celebrate feasts of saints. Accordingly, we celebrated the feast of St Thomas St. Alphonsa and St. Mary in September in Belfast and St. Mother Theresa in Antrim in August. Food and refreshments were served to all after all the festal celebrations. Holy Week: After due preparation, we celebrated, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. It is our usual practice to make the Stations of the Cross at the mount 'Saul' on Good Friday. This year also we observed it. As usual we made our annual pilgrimage to Knock in May 2023. Church Choir: Church Choir is very active in making the Holy Services live and musical. Even children are encouraged to develop their abilities to sing. As a result, we have different Junior Choirs in different Mass centres. Charity: Our Church is thoughtful of the poor, down trodden and the less fortunate brothers and sisters. Pithruvedi organised a Charity night and succeeded in collecting £40001 Majority of our members are making yearly contribution to Church. Christmas Service: Christmas service was celebrated on 24th December. On that night we had Carol Song Competition and prizes were distributed. On the same day we also gave prizes to winners of Crib Competition and on 31st December we had Christmas and New Year celebrations with stage programmes. Our Mathrujyothi (Association for 28 Willowbank Park, Belfast BT6 OLL Email s romalabarb mail.corn
Syro-malabar Catholic Church Ireland Charity NONIC106671 Company No.N1645327 women), Youth, Sunday School Teachers and the Committee Members are very active in organizing all our major Church events. We have claimed back £ 20919.32 Gift Aid from HMRC for the year 2022 -2023. Future Developments: With the support from the members and well- wishers, we hope to find permanent place of our own forworship and other activities. Approval: The trustees, meeting held on 2910912024 approved the annual report and account for the year ended 31$1 March 2024. Administrative Information Chair Person 1 Rev. Fr Paul Morely 2 Shaji Varughese 3 Prince Dominic Trustees 4 Jyothis Cherian 4 Anish Antony 28 Willowbank Park. Belfast BT6 OLL Email s romalabarb mail.com