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The scrolls that unroll the history of St. Mary’s parish tell the struggles, achievements and progressions of a small group of Malayalee families living in the New York Metropolitan area. With the humble beginning in very modest circumstances in 1979, eighteen Malayalee families organized themselves into a small congregation in New York City. Holy Qurbana was initially conducted only twice a month in a rented place. The infant parish was officially dedicated to the blessed memory of St. Mary on 9 September 1979 by His Beatitude Mor Baselios Paulose II at the Interchurch Center in New York City. By 1981, the parish, achieving its fiscal stability, had grown to match the activities of a full-fledged parish with regular Sunday liturgies, monthly prayer meetings, Sunday School, Vanitha Samajam, Retreats, Family picnics, Christmas caroling and publication of monthly Newsletters. The general membership decided to form a separate independent entity called the Malankara Jacobite Center of North America, and brought the parish under its umbrella for its religious services. The center was officially inaugurated by the then Consul-General of India in New York, Hon. P.A. Nazareth, in front of a large audience with a musical concert by the famous playback singer of Indian Cinema, Mrs. S. Janaki, providing the backdrop to the inauguration debut. The destiny of the parish began taking new shape in 1990 when the Center embarked on the ambitious plan of purchasing a building in White Plains for the Center’s activities at a cost of about four hundred thousand US dollars. The building, originally constructed in black stones in 1927 and beautifully decorated with paintings depicting scenes from the crucifixion of Christ, is large enough to accommodate about 400 persons, has an auditorium with the same capacity, a sacristy, office and other rooms. The Center, with its General Body as its supreme Forum for decisions on property rights, made its facilities available to the church for its religious activities. Though the Center is administered separately by its own elected Board of Trustees, it has been the home of St. Mary’s parish for its religious services. Now an average of 40 families attend Holy Qurbana every Sunday. The current Vicar is Rev. Fr. Paulose T. Peter. |
