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Bishop Checchio will ordain Ketan Christian, the first Gujarati as a Deacon along with 15 candidates and one other as a transitional Deacon.

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Bishop Checchio will ordain Ketan Christian, the first Gujarati as a Deacon along with 15 candidates and one other as a transitional Deacon. The ordination will take place on Friday, May 03, 2024, at 4:00 PM at The Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, 32 Elm Avenue, Metuchen, NJ 08840.

Bishop Checchio will ordain Ketan Christian, the first Gujarati as a Deacon along with 15 candidates and one other as a transitional Deacon. May 03, 2024

The permanent Deacon is an ordained member of the Church who has received the sacrament of Holy Orders (as does a Bishop and Priest) and is deemed a cleric. Permanent Deacons make promises of obedience to the Bishop. They also promise to pray the Liturgy of the hours each day for all the people of God. Deacons can perform Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals. A Deacon also assists Priest or Bishop at Mass and may give the Homily.

From Left Max, Stephanie, Ketan Cristian, Bishop James Checchio, Ila Christian and Christine.

My younger brother and son of Late Mr. Joseph Beda Parmar and Late Sushila, Ketan Christian is married to Ila Christian and they are proud parents of three beautiful daughters, Christine, Stephanie and Sydney living in South Plainfield for the last twenty plus years. He and his family are the members of the Church of the Sacred Heart in South Plainfield, NJ 07080. Coincidently Bishop Checchio was ordained and installed as a fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen in the same very Church of the Sacred Heart in South Plainfield on May 03, 2016. On the 8th anniversary of his ordination to bishop on May 03, 2024, Bishop Checchio will ordain Ketan as a Deacon. May 3rd is the Feast of Saints Philip and James.

Ketan and Family Invite to attend the ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacon – May 03, 2024

Link of Live streaming – https://www.youtube.com/@CathedralofStFrancisofAssisi/stream

Pease note Ketan and family is pleased to invite you for dinner after the ordination on May 03, 2024 at 6:30 PM at Royal Albert’s Palace, 1050 King Georges Post Rd, Fords 08863. Please RSVP by April 26, 2024 Call/Text (732)331-5192

Ketan and Family invite for dinner after the ordination on May 03, 2024

Traditionally, the beginning of the order of deacons is traced back to the story in Acts of the Apostles, Acts 6: 1-6. The time finally came during deliberations of the Second Vatican Council in 1963, calling for restoration of the diaconate as a permanent level of Holy Orders. In June 1967 Pope Paul VI implemented this decree of the Council when he published the apostolic letter “Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem” (“The Sacred Order of the Diaconate”) in which he re-established the permanent diaconate in the Latin Church.

Please click here to read: THE PERMANENT DIACONATE: A HISTORY.

Please click here to read: Diaconate A Short History of the Permanent Diaconate.

The very first time in US history five men from the Archdiocese of Baltimore were ordained as a Deacon On June 12, 1971 at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.

Members of the first class of permanent deacons and their wives stand outside the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in 1971. The deacons and their wives, from left to right: Charles and Janet Kruger, Hubert and Dolores Derouaux, George and Joyce Evans, Bernard and Antoinette Bak, Doris and Americus Roy, and Angelina and Richard Johe. (CR file)

Please click here to read more about the first class of permanent deacons from the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Although a resolution was already passed by the CBCI for accepting the permanent Diaconate in India as a proper and permanent state of the hierarchy in 1966, it was only in 1982 that the CBCI finally petitioned the Holy See. A year later, the CBCI received permission from the Holy See to restore and promote the permanent Diaconate in India, with a proviso that before it could be introduced in any diocese, the bishop would consult the bishops of the region. On January 22, 2006, Bombay was the first and only diocese in India to introduce the permanent Diaconate when, the then Archbishop of Bombay, Cardinal Ivan Dias, ordained two permanent Deacons, Mr Lloyd Dias from Sacred Heart Church, Vashi and Mr Elwyn De Souza from St Joseph Church, Juhu.

Archbishop of Bombay, Cardinal Ivan Dias, ordained two permanent Deacons, Mr. Lloyd Dias from Sacred Heart Church, Vashi and Mr Elwyn De Souza from St Joseph Church, Juhu.

Please click here to read more about the above.

One more Link to read more about the above.

Please click here to read about The Diaconate within the Diocese of Metuchen.

Please save the date and join: Ketan will serve as Deacon of the Mass and preach is first homily.

Church of The Sacred Heart, South Plainfield Bulletin April 14, 2024

HOLY MASS OF THANKGIVING
Sunday, May 05, 2024 @ 11:30 AM
Church of the Sacred Heart
South Plainfield, NJ 07080

Fr. Paresh Parmar from The Diocese of Ahmedabad, Gujarat will be attending all above events and will offer a Mass in Gujarati as per details below:

Gujarati Mass celebrated by Fr. Paresh Parmar and Homily by Deacon Ketan Christian on May 05, 2024
Community Events, News & Events

Silver Jubilee celebration of Priestly Ordination of Fr. Mari Joseph organized by GCSofUSA on October 12, 2019.

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Silver Jubilee celebration of Priestly Ordination of Fr. Mari Joseph celebrated by Gujarati Catholic Samaj of USA on October 12, 2019.

Ten diocesan priests celebrated together the Silver Jubilee of their Priestly Ordination (1994–2019): Frs. Arulanandam Alankaram, Alex Clement and Savariraj Savrimuthu, from the archdiocese of Gandhinagar and Frs. Francis Kulandai, Lawrence Aruldoss, Lukas S., Maria Joseph, Peter Lopes, Xavier Amalanathan and Varuvel Gnanadhas from the diocese of Ahmedabad. As the ordination batch of 1994, they decided to have a common celebration of their Silver Jubilee on 27th January 2019 at Our Lady of Forsaken Shrine (Anathoni Mata Thirthadham), Khambholaj.

Fr. Mari Joseph has been visiting USA since 2009 and he has always spend few days with us and celebrated a mass for us. He was planning a visit to Lourdes to provide his services and then he included Canada and USA to his Itinerary. Fr. Salvador D’Britto also accompanied him to Canada and USA. He informed us that he will be with us for 3/5 days in New Jersey. So we decided to celebrate first ever 25th anniversary of a priest of our mother diocese Ahmedabad.
Mr. Ketan Christian arranged a church and a cafeteria hall for our celebration. On October 12, 2019 at 6:30 around 75 members of the Gujarati Catholic Samaj of USA gathered at The Church of the Sacred Heart, South Plainfield for a celebration of Eucharist. Fr. Mari Joseph was the main celebrant and Fr. Salvador D’Britto and Fr. Pervaiz Indrias, the parochial Vicar of The Church of The Sacred Heart, South Plainfield. On this auspicious occasion, Fr. Salvador D’Britto preached a meaningful and enriching homily. He explained that this type of celebration are not to glorify the priest or nun but God and only God.

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration all were asked to go to nearby school cafeteria for a dinner and felicitation program. The hall was nicely decorated with the a banner of Gujarati Catholic Samaj of USA and a special banner made for the 25th anniversary of priesthood ordination of Fr. Mari Joseph. People enjoyed the food and settled down. The program was started with welcome of Fr. Mari Joseph, Fr. Salvador D’Britto, Fr. Pervaiz Indrias, Mr. Shantilal Parmar, President of GCSofUSA, Mr. Joseph Parmar the founder and first president of GCSofUSA and a well-known preacher and bible study organizer Mr. Vinubhai Macwan from Vadodara. They all were greeted with a flower bouquet.

Fr. Mari Joseph was presented with a plaque of appreciation – “Fr. Mari Joseph Arogyapaa, Rejoice in your accomplishments! God is surely smiling on you today as you celebrate 25 years in service to our Lord! May God Bless you to continue His work in serving His people. Thank you for being part of our Community.” He was also gifted a wrist watch with his name and ordination date imprinted on it.

A nice decorative cake was cut by Fr. Mari Joseph with huge round of applause and cheers. He was very much pleased and appreciated the effort by GCSofUSA. He thanked everyone and assure all that he will cherish this moment throughout his life and will pray for all of the members of GCSofUSA. Fr. Salvador also thanked everyone and gave his blessings.

The program ended with a small 3 minutes of play played by four children Saloni, Alayana, Aaryan and Braxton called “ THREE DOLLARS WOTH OF GOD” .
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep,
but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk
or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man
or pick beets with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth.
I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
— Wilbur Rees
Please find below pictures of the above event taken by Robinson Jones, Johnson MClin, Raj Macwan & Hensu Macwan. Thank you for your service. 

Community Events, News & Events

125 years celebration of Gujarati Catholic Congregation in Gujarat.

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125 years celebration of Gujarati Catholic Congregation in Gujarat.

ગુજરાતમાં કેથલિક ધર્મસભાની સૌપ્રથમ સ્થાપના આણંદ પાસેના મોગરી ગામ ખાતે થઈ હતી. જ્યારે ફાધર મેન્યુએલ ઝેવિયર્સ ગોમ્સના હસ્તે મોગરી, નાપાડ અને આસપાસના ૧૮ વ્યક્તિઓને સ્નાનસંસ્કાર આપી કેથલિક ધર્મસભાના પાયાના મંડાણ કર્યાં હતાં. એ દિવસ હતો ડિસેમ્બર ૧૧, ૧૮૯૩. આ વાતને ૧૨૫ વર્ષ પૂરાં થતાં મોગરી સહિત આસપાસના ગ્રામજનો તેમજ અમદાવાદ ધર્મપ્રાંત દ્વારા તેની વિશેષ રીતે ઊજવણી કરાઈ હતી.

ગુજરાતમાં ૧૨૫ વર્ષની કેથલિક  ધર્મસભાની ઊજવણી ચાર ભાગમાં કરવાનું અમદાવાદ ધર્મપ્રાંત દ્વારા નક્કી કરાયું. જેમાં પ્રથમ અમદાવાદ એ પછી આણંદ, ઉમરેઠ અને છેલ્લે મોગરી ખાતે તેની ઊજવણી કરાઈ હતી. જેમાં સમુહ પ્રાર્થનાનું આયોજન કરાયું હતું. મોગરીમાં જે જગ્યાએ મોગરી, નાપાડ સહિત આસપાસના ૧૮ વ્યક્તિઓને  સ્નાનસંસ્કાર આપ્યા હતા તે જગ્યા પર વર્ષ ૧૯૯૩માં ૧૦૦ વર્ષ પૂરાં થતાં તે જગ્યાએ સેંટ ઝેવિયર્સ ચર્ચ નામે ચર્ચ બનાવવામાં આવ્યું છે. સ્વ. ઈગ્નાશભાઈ મેકવાન તથા ફાધર વિલિયમ પાઉલ દ્વારા જમીનનું દાન કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું. જે ચર્ચ આજે સમગ્ર ઈતિહાસની સાક્ષી પૂરી રહ્યું છે.

૧૨૫ વર્ષની ઊજવણીના ભાગરૂપે મોગરી ગામમાં મંગળવારે સાંજે સમુહ પ્રાર્થના અને ત્યારબાદ ભોજનનું આયોજન કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું. જેમાં ગાંધીનગરના મહાધર્માધ્યક્ષ થોમાસ મેકવાન, અમદાવાદના ધર્માધ્યક્ષ રત્નાસ્વામી, વડોદરા ધર્મપ્રાંતના મહાધર્માધ્યક્ષ બિશપ સ્ટેની ફર્નાન્ડિઝ અને ગુજરાત પ્રાંતના પ્રાંતપતિ ફાધર ફ્રાન્સીસ પરમાર, સહિત અન્ય ફાધર, સીસ્ટર્સ સહિત અન્ય ભક્તજનો હાજર રહ્યા હતા.

પણ ઈતિહાસ પર નજર નાખીએ તો ખરેખર તો ગુજરાતી કેથલિક ધર્મસભાની શરુઆત તો સપ્ટેમ્બર ૯, ૧૮૯૧માં (મરિયમ જયંતી) મુબઈ ખાતે થઈ હતી. જ્યારે ગુજરાતમાંથી રોજીરોટી મેળવવા આવેલા ૮ વ્યક્તિઓ જેમને કામે રાખનારા સિસ્ટરોની સહાયથી તેઓએ ધાર્મિક શિક્ષણ મેળવ્યું અને વાંદરાના સંત પીતર દેવળમાં સ્નાનસંસ્કાર મેળવી કેથલિક ધર્મસભામાં પ્રવેશા મેળવ્યો. જેમાં નાપાડના ૨ જણ અને મોગરીના ૬ જણ હતાં.

થોડા સમય પછી નાપાડના બે જણમાંથી એક શ્રી. ફ્રાન્સિસ ઝાવિયેર (ભગા ટીસા) નાપાડ પરત આવ્યા ૧૮૯૩માં ગુજરાતના કેથલિક લોકોની સારસંભાળ માટે મુંબઈના ધર્માધ્યક્ષે ફાધર મેન્યુઅલ ગોમ્સને ગુજરાત મોકલી આપ્યા. જેઓ વડોદ સ્ટેશન પર ઉતરી પગપાળા નાપાડ પહોંચ્યા જ્યાં એમના સફેદ જભ્ભાને લીધે શ્રી. ફ્રાન્સિસભાઈએ એમને ઓળખી લીધા અને તેમનું સ્વાગત કર્યું. એ સમયે નાપાડમાં મુક્તિફોજનુ વર્ચસ્વ હોવાથી ફાધરે મોગરી જવાનું નક્કી કર્યું જે જોગનુવસાત શ્રી. ફ્રાન્સિસભાઈની સાસરી હતી. આ રીતે મોગરીને ફાધરે પોતાનું કેંદ્ર બનાવી દીધું અને પછી તો ગુજરાત કેથલિક ધર્મસભા સમગ્ર ગુજરાતમાં કેલાઈ ગઈ.

વિશેષ માહિતી માટે નીચેની પિક્ચર પર ક્લિક કરી શ્રી. ગાબ્રિયેલ ક્રિશ્ચિયન દ્વારા પ્રકાશિત પુસ્તિકા વાંચો.

Please click on the above image to read.

વિશેષ માહિતી માટે ક્લિક કરો….

ગુર્જરવાણી ગૌરવસહ આપણી શરૂઆતની ડોક્યુમેંટ્રી રજૂ કરે છે……………….  “શ્રદ્ધાનું વડવૃક્ષ”

Gurjarvani brings you the documentary film. – “The Faith that Bloomed” – about the start of the Catholic Church in Gujarat at Mogri.

Article from daily Newspaper “Naya Padkar”