Our Tampa Community in 2011

Our Tampa Community in 2011

BY STEPHEN THOTTYIL

Dear brothers and sisters,

The year 2011 was an year of unprecedented growth for our community, witnessed with horizontal and vertical growth not only spiritually, but also in materials terms. As you know, our Tampa community has set in a new direction and a sense of purpose. When we look around, we have enough reasons to feel proud.

 As a parishioner, I feel proud when I look at the year 2011. Today, our parish is growing in a big

way. About 250 families, grouped into 15 koodarayogams, are working under the able leadership of our parish priest Rev. Fr. Pathros Champakkara. Our Church offers the holy mass on every day, influencing the spiritual growth of our people. Our Sunday mass and gatherings make us feel that we are still in our native parish in Kerala. Undoubtedly, this becomes the most important factor influencing our life at all levels. Our parish is also making its best effort in the character and faith formation of our children. The CCD teachers are doing an excellent job in this direction. Apart from spiritual growth, it offers our children a great opportunity to know about our culture, tradition, personality developments, leadership qualities etc. This enables them to become a quality population of the next generation. The Sacred Heart Knanaya Catholic Church Cemetery land for our parish is yet another achievement of our parish in this year. It is our earnest desire not to be brought apart, but to stay together even at ‘Rest In Peace.’

 I also feel proud like each one of you when I look at our Sacred Heart Knanaya Community Center. It is indeed wonderful and stands for the glory and pride of our community leaving a great legacy for our children. We all greatly appreciate the hard work, commitment, and un-compromising effort to build-up this magnificent center. We are also making headlines at the national level by hosting the Knanaya Convention 2012 at Orlando.

 In a nutshell, 2011 was an year of great success and achievement, translating our commitment and dreams into a reality.

(From the Parish bulletin of Tampa Knanaya Catholic Church)