07.07.2023
‘Communion in Action’ – Church of South India in Dublin Welcomes First Full Time Vicar
The Church of South India Congregation in Dublin celebrated the arrival of their first full time Vicar last month. The Revd Jenu John was welcomed to the Holy Trinity CSI Congregation, which worships in the Church of St Catherine and St James on Donore Avenue, at a Service of Introduction on June 18 at which Archbishop Michael Jackson presided and preached.
The Church of South India is a member of the Anglican Communion. The Holy Trinity CSI Congregation, Dublin is affiliated to the Madhya Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India. The congregation celebrated their first Holy Eucharist in Malayalam in St Catherine and St James’s in February 2011 with support from the Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough. Currently the Holy Eucharist in Malayalam is celebrated on the first and third Saturdays of each month at 11am. The congregation, which is drawn from across Ireland, has had two previous presbyters in charge: the Revd Dr Jacob Thomas and the Revd Dr Viji Varughese Eapen.
The Revd Jenu John arrived in Dublin on March 29 this year having been appointed by his Bishop, Right Revd Dr Malayil Sabu Koshy Cherian. He was ordained a Deacon in 2018 and a Presbyter in 2019 and was serving as the Vicar of St Andrew’s CSI Church in Karikuzhy in Kerala for five years before coming to serve members of the CSI in Ireland. He was the first CSI Vicar to be introduced by the Archbishop of Dublin and while the congregation of 60 gathered in the church more than 600 people joined in online from both India and other parts of Ireland.
Ministry in his former parish in Kerala is hugely different to ministry in Dublin, Revd Jenu admits. In Karikuzhy he was ministering with people who worked in the paddy fields and lived from agriculture. It was a small congregation of about 40 families. He was Vicar there in 2018 when floods hit Kerala – a tragic time but there were also miraculous rescues, he recalls. His congregation in Ireland mostly come from his home diocese of Madhya Kerala.
“People’s life situation is entirely different. The very underprivileged people in my congregation in Kerala and their concerns and needs were very different from the needs of my congregation here,” he explains. In Kerela, while he was new to pastoring he also had to help people with family and financial needs, including raising funds for medical care. “Here people are more self–sufficient so they need mental and spiritual support. People experience work pressure and work stress. My focus will be more on such things, I believe. Some who are living so far away from the church [members of the congregation are based as far away as Cork and Westport] are not able to attend services regularly. So I am planning to visit them,” he adds.
Revd Jenu, whose father, the Very Revd TJ John, also serves in ministry in Kerela, is concerned about the situation of Christians in India and appeals to all in the Church of Ireland to pray for their brothers and sisters there. “In India, in the state of Manipur, churches are being burned and Christians are being beaten. It is not the India of my childhood and people are not finding the true meaning of love and godliness. We may be different religions but there is godliness in all people. We must all pray for peace worldwide and we ask the people of the Church of Ireland to pray for peace. I feel so happy that we can grow in that aspect – praying for the world together,” he says.
Revd Jenu is joined in Dublin by his wife Dr Sherin Jacob, who has a doctorate in medical biochemistry and worked in the Mahatma Gandhi University, and their two young children Jordan and Jovita.
In his sermon during the Service of Introduction, Archbishop Jackson, noted that it was a historic moment and a sign of “Communion in action, Communion in harmony, Communion in journeying”.
“The hand of history has enabled us together to be Members of The Anglican Communion since 1947. CSI is one of four United Churches to be Members of The Anglican Communion. In this way we share a particular Christian identity – different yet equivalent. The Dublin Community is not new. The specific pastoral and liturgical provisions being made by your Bishop are new by virtue of the depth of their structural commitment to the community in Ireland and to all other communities who will learn The Faith from this community of faith. Your influence is and will be widespread. You are all here with a ministry of service. We see this in our daily lives and how you shape and mould them. We are all indebted to you and thankful to God for you. For us who are members of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough, this is a positive departure, a significant journey on which we all embark. We welcome you and pray for your flourishing, your journeying mercies,” the Archbishop stated.
More information on the Holy Trinity CSI Congregation is available on their website: http://csichurchdublin.com/
