Support OLPH Syro Malabar Catholic Mission
Tax deductible
Our Near-Term Goal
Our near-term goal is to have a Syro-Malabar Catholic Church building of our own, where we can not only continue to practice and celebrate our faith but continue to grow also as a strong community in the GW DC region for years to come.
WE CANNOT ACHIEVE OUR GOAL WITHOUT YOU!
Since our organization relies on the generosity of individuals like you, we request you to consider a donation to our cause. This encourages us to be grateful for the many blessings we have received from God and reach out to help those in need locally. With your generous support, you demonstrate your faith-filled willingness to be a part of our effort and to share in the transforming action of OLPH Church, which has non-profit status. Donations to our church are tax-exempt, subject to IRS rules. When you donate to the church, you enable us together to sustain the many activities reflective of our spiritual, pastoral, and social service ministry. We hope that you will help support our efforts.
ALL ABOUT US
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church The Catholic Church is a Communion of 24 individual Churches; the Syro-Malabar Church that originated in Kerala, India, is one of them. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is an Apostolic Church, which traces its origin to the St. Thomas, the Apostle, who landed at Cranganore (Muziris), Kerala in 52 AD and founded seven Christian communities in that state. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is one of the 23 Eastern (Oriental) Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome. It is the second-largest Eastern Catholic Church after the Ukrainian Church with 4.6 million believers. It is a sui juris Church governed by the Synod of Bishops headed by the Major Archbishop. The name Syro-Malabar is coined from the words Syriac (referring to the East Syriac liturgy) and Malabar (the historical name for Kerala). The name has been in usage in official Vatican documents since the nineteenth century. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, with its deep-rooted spirituality and high rate of vocations to priesthood and religious life, is considered as one of the most vibrant Catholic communities in the world.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Syro Malabar Catholic Mission of Greater Washington - Our History
From 1978 onwards, migrants from Kerala in the Washington, District of Columbia (DC) region had been coming together for traditional worship in their first language called Malayalam, mostly once a month, under the banner of the Kerala Catholic Community at different worship centers like St. Matthew’s Cathedral, the National Shrine, the Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, the Ukrainian Church and St. Rose of Lima Church. Rev. Dr. George Madathiparampil was the first to start the Syro-Malabar Qurbana (Mass) in the DC area at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in 1978. Other priests in the area supported the community by offering the Holy Qurbana. His Holiness Pope St. John Paul II established St. Thomas Syro Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago, in March 2001, as an extension of the Rite to take care of the pastoral needs of the Syro-Malabar faithful in the United States (U. S) and Canada. In November 2002 Cardinal McCarrick, the then Archbishop of Washington, appointed Rev. Fr. Mathew Punchayil as Parochial Vicar at Mother Seton Catholic Church, Germantown MD. Concurrently, Bishop Mar Jacob Angadiath who is the head of the Syro-Malabar Church in the U. S appointed Fr. Punchayil as the Director of the Syro- Malabar Mission of Greater Washington (GW). The community of GW originated in 2004 with Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) as the Patron. Our OLPH Mission community was registered as a corporation in March 2007. Since our inception, our community had been blessed to find other local churches in the Gaithersburg vicinity allowing us to share their premises to celebrate our faith together as a community. Over the years, our community met on Sundays, on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, to celebrate Holy Qurbana at the following locations:
2004 – 2007 : Mother Seton Catholic Church, Germantown-MD
2007 – 2015 : St Rose of Lima Catholic Church, Gaithersburg-MD
2015 – 2018 : Our Lady of the Visitation Church, Darnestown-MD
2018 – Present : Mother of God Community, Gaithersburg-MD
OUR MISSION
Strive to continue the mission of Christ through the Word and Eucharist, spiritual growth, education, stewardship, and advocacy. Inspired by our founder St. Thomas, and patron Our Lady of Perpetual Help, we dedicate ourselves to reach out and minister to the needs of others with love, respect, and support. Our Vision To be a spiritual Catholic family focused on prayer as well as service to the Gospel through a Sacramental life. We envision our Parish as a community of stewards dedicated to building up the Body of Christ through active ministry while living the example of simplicity, humility, confidence, and love.
OUR OLPH COMMUNITY
The OLPH Syro-Malabar Catholic Community of GW is growing fast. We currently have nearly 140+ registered families with 375 to 400 members, including children and youth, residing in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Our current Pastor is Rev Fr. Roy Moolachallil who joined us in December 2018 and has been actively leading and taking our community forward since. Our Community boasts of 100+ kids and youth members who are all actively engaged. Our youth not only participate and assist during the Holy Qurbana (Mass), but play an active role in also building our community programs. While students from Pre-K to 12th grade attend Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) classes, our youth members attending universities teach as CCD teachers along with other parents. In addition, selected youth representatives regularly attend all our Parish Council meetings and play a vital role in our decision-making process. Our OLPH Church Members are also members of other faith-based partner organizations such as Knights of Columbus (KOC), and March for Life. We are definitely very proud of our strongly knit members who continue to play a vital role in promoting our Syro-Malabar Mission goal- to have a vibrant community of faith, love, and commitment.
NEED FOR CHURCH BUILDING - OUR CHALLENGES
While we are and have been extremely grateful to our local partner churches for letting us use their premises on a weekly basis, we continue to face challenges arising from space limitations, allotted time constraints and other hurdles when hosting various events unique to Syro-Malabar Catholic faith. These limitations prevent us from fully functioning as a vibrant congregation. Hence after considering many other options, we believe building a church from the ground up will serve our community best in the long term. Our Plan and Strategy Through the generous donations and untiring efforts of our community members, we raised initial funds needed to identify and purchase land in Gaithersburg, MD in 2016. Currently, a local community bank offered a loan for financing the building projects. To ensure that our community is well-positioned to manage the sustainment costs once the church is built, we plan to execute strategies that not only implement lean processes to minimize our upfront building costs but to also keep our monthly debt service costs and any other recurring costs to a minimum.
TIMELINE & KEY MILESTONES
2013 - Decision to Buy/Build (Complete)
2017 - Land Acquisition Complete (Complete)
2019 - Groundbreaking (On Track)
2020 - Finish Church Building Construction (Planned)
FINANCIAL GAP
The building project, including land, has a budget of $3.30 million without factoring contingency. After utilizing the cash on hand and the loan offered by a local community bank, we forecast a funding shortage of approximately $1.00 million. Our goal of this appeal is to collect donations for helping us minimize the shortage. Without achieving this goal, the investment of nearly $1.00 million made so far by the Parish will become a dead investment.
Ground Breaking Ceremony (MAJOR MILESTONE)
The Groundbreaking ceremony for the new church was held on September 22nd, 2019 in Gaithersburg, MD. The ceremony was presided over by Auxiliary Bishop Mar Joy Alappatt of the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago. A Celebratory Holy Mass at the Mother of God Community in the adjacent town of Montgomery Village preceded the groundbreaking ceremony.
Our Website: https://www.syromalabargw.org/
Our near-term goal is to have a Syro-Malabar Catholic Church building of our own, where we can not only continue to practice and celebrate our faith but continue to grow also as a strong community in the GW DC region for years to come.
WE CANNOT ACHIEVE OUR GOAL WITHOUT YOU!
Since our organization relies on the generosity of individuals like you, we request you to consider a donation to our cause. This encourages us to be grateful for the many blessings we have received from God and reach out to help those in need locally. With your generous support, you demonstrate your faith-filled willingness to be a part of our effort and to share in the transforming action of OLPH Church, which has non-profit status. Donations to our church are tax-exempt, subject to IRS rules. When you donate to the church, you enable us together to sustain the many activities reflective of our spiritual, pastoral, and social service ministry. We hope that you will help support our efforts.
ALL ABOUT US
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church The Catholic Church is a Communion of 24 individual Churches; the Syro-Malabar Church that originated in Kerala, India, is one of them. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is an Apostolic Church, which traces its origin to the St. Thomas, the Apostle, who landed at Cranganore (Muziris), Kerala in 52 AD and founded seven Christian communities in that state. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is one of the 23 Eastern (Oriental) Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome. It is the second-largest Eastern Catholic Church after the Ukrainian Church with 4.6 million believers. It is a sui juris Church governed by the Synod of Bishops headed by the Major Archbishop. The name Syro-Malabar is coined from the words Syriac (referring to the East Syriac liturgy) and Malabar (the historical name for Kerala). The name has been in usage in official Vatican documents since the nineteenth century. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, with its deep-rooted spirituality and high rate of vocations to priesthood and religious life, is considered as one of the most vibrant Catholic communities in the world.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Syro Malabar Catholic Mission of Greater Washington - Our History
From 1978 onwards, migrants from Kerala in the Washington, District of Columbia (DC) region had been coming together for traditional worship in their first language called Malayalam, mostly once a month, under the banner of the Kerala Catholic Community at different worship centers like St. Matthew’s Cathedral, the National Shrine, the Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel, the Ukrainian Church and St. Rose of Lima Church. Rev. Dr. George Madathiparampil was the first to start the Syro-Malabar Qurbana (Mass) in the DC area at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in 1978. Other priests in the area supported the community by offering the Holy Qurbana. His Holiness Pope St. John Paul II established St. Thomas Syro Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago, in March 2001, as an extension of the Rite to take care of the pastoral needs of the Syro-Malabar faithful in the United States (U. S) and Canada. In November 2002 Cardinal McCarrick, the then Archbishop of Washington, appointed Rev. Fr. Mathew Punchayil as Parochial Vicar at Mother Seton Catholic Church, Germantown MD. Concurrently, Bishop Mar Jacob Angadiath who is the head of the Syro-Malabar Church in the U. S appointed Fr. Punchayil as the Director of the Syro- Malabar Mission of Greater Washington (GW). The community of GW originated in 2004 with Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) as the Patron. Our OLPH Mission community was registered as a corporation in March 2007. Since our inception, our community had been blessed to find other local churches in the Gaithersburg vicinity allowing us to share their premises to celebrate our faith together as a community. Over the years, our community met on Sundays, on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, to celebrate Holy Qurbana at the following locations:
2004 – 2007 : Mother Seton Catholic Church, Germantown-MD
2007 – 2015 : St Rose of Lima Catholic Church, Gaithersburg-MD
2015 – 2018 : Our Lady of the Visitation Church, Darnestown-MD
2018 – Present : Mother of God Community, Gaithersburg-MD
OUR MISSION
Strive to continue the mission of Christ through the Word and Eucharist, spiritual growth, education, stewardship, and advocacy. Inspired by our founder St. Thomas, and patron Our Lady of Perpetual Help, we dedicate ourselves to reach out and minister to the needs of others with love, respect, and support. Our Vision To be a spiritual Catholic family focused on prayer as well as service to the Gospel through a Sacramental life. We envision our Parish as a community of stewards dedicated to building up the Body of Christ through active ministry while living the example of simplicity, humility, confidence, and love.
OUR OLPH COMMUNITY
The OLPH Syro-Malabar Catholic Community of GW is growing fast. We currently have nearly 140+ registered families with 375 to 400 members, including children and youth, residing in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Our current Pastor is Rev Fr. Roy Moolachallil who joined us in December 2018 and has been actively leading and taking our community forward since. Our Community boasts of 100+ kids and youth members who are all actively engaged. Our youth not only participate and assist during the Holy Qurbana (Mass), but play an active role in also building our community programs. While students from Pre-K to 12th grade attend Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) classes, our youth members attending universities teach as CCD teachers along with other parents. In addition, selected youth representatives regularly attend all our Parish Council meetings and play a vital role in our decision-making process. Our OLPH Church Members are also members of other faith-based partner organizations such as Knights of Columbus (KOC), and March for Life. We are definitely very proud of our strongly knit members who continue to play a vital role in promoting our Syro-Malabar Mission goal- to have a vibrant community of faith, love, and commitment.
NEED FOR CHURCH BUILDING - OUR CHALLENGES
While we are and have been extremely grateful to our local partner churches for letting us use their premises on a weekly basis, we continue to face challenges arising from space limitations, allotted time constraints and other hurdles when hosting various events unique to Syro-Malabar Catholic faith. These limitations prevent us from fully functioning as a vibrant congregation. Hence after considering many other options, we believe building a church from the ground up will serve our community best in the long term. Our Plan and Strategy Through the generous donations and untiring efforts of our community members, we raised initial funds needed to identify and purchase land in Gaithersburg, MD in 2016. Currently, a local community bank offered a loan for financing the building projects. To ensure that our community is well-positioned to manage the sustainment costs once the church is built, we plan to execute strategies that not only implement lean processes to minimize our upfront building costs but to also keep our monthly debt service costs and any other recurring costs to a minimum.
TIMELINE & KEY MILESTONES
2013 - Decision to Buy/Build (Complete)
2017 - Land Acquisition Complete (Complete)
2019 - Groundbreaking (On Track)
2020 - Finish Church Building Construction (Planned)
FINANCIAL GAP
The building project, including land, has a budget of $3.30 million without factoring contingency. After utilizing the cash on hand and the loan offered by a local community bank, we forecast a funding shortage of approximately $1.00 million. Our goal of this appeal is to collect donations for helping us minimize the shortage. Without achieving this goal, the investment of nearly $1.00 million made so far by the Parish will become a dead investment.
Ground Breaking Ceremony (MAJOR MILESTONE)
The Groundbreaking ceremony for the new church was held on September 22nd, 2019 in Gaithersburg, MD. The ceremony was presided over by Auxiliary Bishop Mar Joy Alappatt of the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago. A Celebratory Holy Mass at the Mother of God Community in the adjacent town of Montgomery Village preceded the groundbreaking ceremony.
Our Website: https://www.syromalabargw.org/
Fundraising team: OLPH Volunteers (3)
Jeril Sakaria
Organizer
Gaithersburg, MD
Syro Malabar Catholic Mission Ofgreater Washington Inc
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.
Amal Chacko
Team member
OLPH SyroMalabar
Team member