Parish Administration

It has been a been a blessing for this Parish Council to have an opportunity to serve this community. We were guided by the path forged by the previous councils, but at the same time we also had the privilege to execute some of the most memorable events in our community.

This Parish council had served the Parish during normal as well as extra-ordinary times and some of the decisions taken by this group will leave a lasting impact on our Parish. We celebrated all feasts including St. Sebastian Feast, St. Joseph’s Feast, Easter, Parish Feast, Feast of St. Alphonsa, St. George’s Feast and Christmas with fervor and festivities.

Some of the other activities led by this Parish Council include:

• All the Parish feasts since 2019 have been organized by this Parish Council which is a first. One feast was celebrated during the COVID-19 pandemic but was organized with video shows being broadcasted during the event.

• We contracted, kick-started and completed Accessibility Project with a Vertical Lift and Accessible bathrooms.

• We also renovated the existing bathrooms in the basement. They are completely touchless, based on the new COVID-19 guidelines.

• The church interior was completely painted. Other maintenance activities were also undertaken, which included boiler inspection, A/C tune-up and replacement of fire extinguishers.

• The contract for snow removal was updated to be an annual contract.

• We had a contingent representing our Parish at the Syro-Malabar Catholic Convention in Houston.

• We also brought in many of our “Go Green” Initiatives:

  • • Introduced Parish Directory App and Online Access – Instant Church Directory.

    • Created a more potent and direct communication team to spread the word.

    • Streamlined and standardized online process for requesting facilities usage.

• Our youth leaders came together to support and organize the following events/activities:

  • • Taco Talks: an evening of fun games, discussion, and adoration.

    • Helping with the Jesus Youth Lumen Vitae initiative.

    • Christmas Decorations and support for Christmas Pageant.

    • Continuing monthly Chaya Chat (4^th Sunday of every month causal gathering).

• Under the leadership of our SMCC group, we were able to co-ordinate “Peaceful Place To Rest” initiative which assisted our parishioners with planning plots in a cemetery near our church.

• The CCD students organized a retreat program by our young adults (Alina Thopurathu, Merlin Joyce, Catherine Cyril, Nirupa Abraham) for students 6th grade and above.

• CCD Classrooms were improved with enhanced audio-visual teaching aids.

• We paid the 2nd installment of $180,000 of our mortgage to the Boston Archdiocese.

• We were able to organize a very successful "Thattukada" and raise funds for our Parish Youth.

• 2020 and COVID-19

  • • The pandemic required us to revamp the church operations as we are all aware of.

    • Initiated the live-streaming of all Qurbanas given the restrictions around in-person attendance.

    • Launched SMCB Times as an online Parish magazine to ensure families stay connected during the pandemic.

    • Defined and implemented guidelines for the return to church with phase-wise easing of restrictions.

In the past two and half years of this council's term, the council had to deal with multiple changes to the normal operation of the Parish. While the first year was normal in most circumstances, the start of 2020 is when we faced our first set of challenges. While it was a hard decision to take, the Parish council decided to restrict in-person Qurbana. The communication team, under the guidance of the Parish Council, was able to set up the live-stream services from within the church. It was hard initially with just 5 members being in the church, but over a period of time with church reopening, more parishioners came in.

Our priority during the reopening was to ensure the safety of all our parishioners during that time and ensure all protocols and precautions were being followed. With God's loving grace and His benevolence, we were able to keep the church running smoothly and our parishioners safe.

As we continue to be in the service of our Parish, we would like to call out all the parishioners who had assisted us in supporting our work. Be it the vertical lift, bathroom renovation, Parish feast, CCD program or even the SMCB Times, the Parish council has always represented the will and the aspiration of our community. It has strived to ensure that our Parish and its needs come first.

All that we have endeavored has been and will always be for the betterment of our community and our Parish.