Syro-Malabar Church calls for simplicity

KOCHI: The Syro-Malabar Church decided to curtail ostentatious celebrations in Church functions at the concluding day of the Major Archi Episcopal Assembly on Sunday. Addressing the concluding session, Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry said that the Church is committed to keep its functions simple. A collective effort is needed to implement the constructive proposals that came up during the assembly, he said. Corrections are needed that stand in the way of collective efforts, he added.

"The hallmark of a follower of the Church is the courage to say no to ostentation at the levels of individual, family, parish and other levels of the establishment", he said. Cardinal Alencherry also called for the followers of the church to be more active in socio-political areas including in all levels of government administration.

Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph delivered the keynote address on the concluding session of the four-day assembly attended by 505 delegates from different parts of the country and abroad. In his address, Justice Joseph said the entire Church should make every effort to make simplicity as its hallmark both in words and deeds. "There are innumerable examples of simple life in the Church," he said, and added that the church is having a tradition of affinity towards the poor.