By Nicole Falco
Hundreds turned out for the Mass and reception, including Valley Stream Mayor Ed Cahill and Councilman James Darcy, both Holy Name parishioners. The elected officials made presentations to Fr. Saji during the reception.
Also there was Bishop Isaac Mar Cleemis, auxiliary bishop of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Archdiocese of Trivandrum, India. Bishop Mar Cleemis came to the United States last October as an "apostolic visitor" to the country's Syro-Malankaran communities.
Fr. Saji presided over the Mass and offered the homily. During the preparation of Holy Communion, the Kerala Children's Choir sung a hymn, "Lord, We Have Come," in Malayalam, the language spoken in Kerala, India.
Appointed on Sept. 1, 2000, Fr. Saji was the 51st priest appointed to Holy Name in its 100-year history and the first priest appointed to the church in the new century.
Fr. Saji said good bye to the community in order to become pastor of St. Mary's Syro-Malankara Church in Evanston, Illinois, near Chicago. Fr. Saji's new church serves a community of approximately 50 Syro-Malankara families. In addition to his duties at Holy Name, Fr. Saji resigned from his duties as administrator of St. John Chrysostom Malankara Catholic Mission in Hempstead on Aug. 31. He was the founding administrator of the mission. Bishop John McGann declared it the Rockville Centre Diocese's first Syro-Malankaran quasi-parish or mission in 1999.
Because the Syro-Malankara community is small, the quasi-parish in Hempstead was established, but it is not able to support a full-time pastor. Since the mission is a part of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, Fr. Saji was assigned to Holy Name as an associate pastor while also acting as administrator of the mission.
Fr. Saji is considered a bi-ritual priest since he has permission from the Vatican to preside over both Roman Catholic and Syro-Malankara Church services. Because the Chicago diocese has a different policy, Fr. Saji will not be serving in a Roman Catholic Church while also serving in the Syro-Malankara Church.
Rooted in the Antiochian tradition, the Syro-Malankara Church is one of many Eastern Catholic Churches. The Syro-Malankara Church split with the Roman or Western Catholic Church, as did other Eastern Catholic communities, in 1653, after Portuguese missionaries attempted to "Latinize" them. In 1930 the Syro Malankaran sect reunited with the Roman Catholic Church.
There are some differences in the way Mass is celebrated in a Roman Catholic Church versus a Syro-Malankaran one. For instance, a lot of incense is used during a Syro-Malankaran Mass, priests wear more colorful robes and prayers are chanted. Fr. Saji twice celebrated Mass in the Syro-Malankaran style at Holy Name.
According to an article published in Cnewa World, a magazine for the people and faiths of the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and East Europe, there are only 400,000 Syro-Malankara Catholics in the world. There are 500 families in the United States mostly in large cities, including New York, Chicago and Dallas. The majority of Syro-Malankarans live in India, where they comprise a small percentage of the 24 million Christians living in India.
Fr. Saji, 36, was ordained a priest of the Syro-Malankara Church in 1992 in Vayalathala, Kerala, India for the Archdiocese of Trivandrum.
"I like to serve people - that was my desire from my early childhood," Fr. Saji said during an interview in his office last week. "[As a child] I used to learn scripture verses. I used to say them by heart."
Fr. Saji recalled Father Philip Thomas, the pastor of the church he grew up in, with fondness.
"My parish priest liked to hear that [I knew some scripture by heart] so he often asked me to recite a biblical verse...because of his special love and kindness to me I thought I should be someone like him."
Saji came to New York in 1996, first serving in St. Bartholomew's Church in Yonkers then at Our Lady of the Rosary in Manhattan before being assigned to Holy Name. He came to America to serve the Syro-Malankara community here and to join his family. His parents and four siblings live in Dallas, Texas.
As Fr. Saji looks forward to continuing his ministry in Illinois, he expressed mixed feelings about leaving Holy Name.
"Holy Name has given me a lot of fulfillment," Saji said. "I have sentiments of gratitude and sadness because the parish has given me a lot."
Fr. Saji went on to praise the community, pastoral staff and office staff.
"I can not forget this parish," Fr. Saji said. "I will miss this parish a lot."
