Ecclesial Communion
Mar Ivanios continued the efforts of communion. Finally the dream of communion with the Catholic Church came true. On September 20, 1930 Mar Ivanios made the catholic profession before Bishop [Aloysius Maria Benziger, OCD], the Bishop of Kollam along with Mar Theophilos, the Sufragan Bishop of Bethany, Fr. John Kuzhinapurath OIC, Deacon Alexander Attupurath OIC and Mr. Chacko Kiliyileth. Thus a miniature of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church was formed. Most of the members of both the Bethany orders united with the Roman Catholic Church establishing the Eastern Catholic sui iuris Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in India. Establishment of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Hierarchy In 1932 Mar Ivanios made a historic pilgrimage to Rome and he met Pope Pius XI. Mar Ivanios received the pallium. He also participated in the thirty second Eucharistic Congress held at Dublin, Ireland. There he met Mr. G.K. Chesterton, who addressed him 'The Newman of India'. Chesterton describes Mar Ivanios as follows, "The dignified Indian gentleman, who represented this faroff triumph in the Orient, had changed his neighbours by bringing them back in to the Roman Communion." |