Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church was a good friend of and advocate for CNEWA in India until his death in 2011.
“All churches, East or West, have equal dignity and the same rights and obligations to preach the Gospel and address injustices” he said in an interview with CNEWA in 2000. Our story about the Syro-Malabar Church noted:
In the true spirit of Christ, a Syro-Malabar army of priests, religious and lay persons offer spiritual sustenance, moral education and social service programs to those in need.
Prior to his appointment as the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Mar Varkey Vithayathil, C.S.s.R., worked in various apostolates for more than 30 years. From his residence in Ernakulam, Kerala, this soft-spoken man explains that, after Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church, the Syro-Malabar is the second largest of the 22 Eastern Catholic churches; its influence is great.
…Centered in Ernakulam, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church reaches out to her country’ poor through an extensive social services network. Many of these programs receive direct support from CNEWA.
…Micro-credit programs encourage poor families to save their money; small loans offer women the opportunity to start their own businesses. A house-building program uses direct grants or loans to allow families to obtain basic housing. Health programs, latrine construction, safe drinking water, garbage recycling, biogas generators — which generate cooking gas from farm animal manure — smokeless stoves, organic farming and composting, AIDS awareness, vocational skills training, homes for the aged, orphanages and emergency disaster relief are just some of the many programs and services offered.
A driving force behind all of this for many years was Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil.
Born in Kerala in 1927, he joined the Redemptorists and was ordained a priest in 1954. After studying canon law in Rome, he returned to India to teach.
In, 1996 he became the apostolic administrator of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church and of the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly. In 1997, he was named a major archbishop. In 2001, the pope elevated him to the College of Cardinals.
CNEWA had the opportunity to welcome Mar Varkey Vithayathil, to our New York office in 1998, shortly before he was named a Major Archbishop. In 2001, he became a cardinal.
It was during Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil’s tenure that CNEWA opened its regional office for India in Ernakulam in 2003. Cardinal Vithayathil extended whole-hearted support to our programs and projects.
“Seventy-three percent of the priests and religious working in the Latin dioceses in northern India hail from the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church,” Mar Varkey said in his interview in 2000. A large number of Syro-Malabar clergy work in Latin missions throughout India and the world — and the cardinal worked zealously to carry out the Church’s ministry wherever possible.
In addition to his work as an archbishop, Mar Varkey was a member of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.
As CNEWA marks 90 years of service to the world, we fondly remember the heroic support of our friends and partners in India, especially Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil, whose generous spirit still inspires us.