ST. MATHEW'S MAR THOMA CHURCH, TORONTO

St. Mathew's Mar Thoma Church, Toronto -- the second Mar Thoma parish to be established in Greater Toronto was born out of a compelling need to better serve the Mar Thoma families living in the western portion of metroplitan Toronto, and the cities further west. These include Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, Dundas, Ancaster, Brantford, Guelph, Cambridge, Waterloo, Stratford, London, and St. Thomas. The families living in these areas were previously members of the Canadian Mar Thoma Church in Markham, Ontario to the north-east of Toronto for many years, and had been participating in most church activities travelling inordinately long distances with travel time ranging from 45 minutes to 21/2 hours each way. With the steady arrival of new immigrants over the years, the membership at the Markham parish grew from about 95 families in 1987 when the church building was acquired, to around 215 families by the end of 2000. This posed tremendous challenges in terms of accommodating the worshippers on Sundays in the limited capacity of the church sanctuary, particularly on special occasions when large numbers would attend. The number of cars arriving far exceeded the capacity of the parking lot. Expansion of the church building was not an option, as it was a protected heritage building originally built in 1870. Intiatives over the last five or six years to acquire a bigger and more centrally located property or existing church building convenient for the majority, did not materialise due to various reasons.

In light of the above factors -- primarily the excessive distance for members in the west, and the overcrowding, it was clear that a serious search for a viable solution to resolve this situation was needed. As part of the Christmas Social Evening on 15th December 2000 in the west end, a business meeting was convened seeking input from a large number of member families who were present at the occasion. A number of members expressed their views, and there was an overwhelming indication of support for separating from the 'mother parish' in Markham, and establishing an independent parish located in the west to serve families in the above mention areas. The general opinion was that there were enough member families in these areas to form a viable self supporting parish. Accordingly, the members at this meeting chaired by the then Vicar Rev. George Mathew, took a unanimous decision to pursue the goal of forming an independent parish, and a committee of 10 members with the Vicar as President was elected with a mandate to accomplish that. As this committee was created for a special purpose, it was called an Ad-hoc Committee, and consisted of the elected members in this list. The committee was given a target time-frame of July/August 2001 for accomplishing this objective, subject to a proper feasibility study indicating its positive viability. This time-frame was chosen to coincide with the annual Sunday School closure so as to make a smooth transition. The committee was also asked to report back to the members on the progress achieved after about three to four months.

The Ad-hoc Committee convened periodical meetings starting on 2nd January 2001 to chart out the action plan to deliver its mandate. After first deliberating on and ensuring the financial viability for the plan, in accordance with procedures indicated by the Vicar, an Application to Form a Separate Parish was drawn up. The text of the Application is reproduced here . All members in the above mentioned areas were approached for their and their adult family members' signatures to request the Church hierarchy to grant the request in this Application. On March 5th 2001, the Application with the signatures of adult members of 84 families was officially submitted to the Vicar and Diocesan Bishop. After peliminary evaluation the Diocesan Bishop Dr. Zacharias Mar Theophilus Episcopa met with the Ad-hoc Committee on a visit to Toronto in April 2001. He also met with the Markham parish Executive Committee and a group of proponents campaigning for pursuing a single centrally located church solution, to obtain their views on the matter and come to a fair decision. Based on his findings, Thirumeni (the Diocesan Bishop) came to the conclusion that the formation of a second parish in Toronto was the best solution to address the needs of all concerned. He thereafter forwarded the Application with his favorable recommendation to the Synod which met in Thiruvalla from 2nd June 2001. On 8th June the Synod resolved to grant the request in the Application from members in the west, and also that the new parish to be formed would be named St. Mathew's Mar Thoma Church, Toronto. A "Kalpana" (Bishop's order) to that effect was issued on 22nd June 2001 to the 'mother parish' by the Diocesan Bishop. In his Kalpana, the Bishop appointed Rev. Mathew Thomas already in Toronto as Assistant Vicar of the Markham parish, as Vicar-in-charge of the new parish.

The Ad-hoc Committee sent letters to all west area member families informing them of this wonderful news, and planned for the inauguration celebrations. Meanwhile, a very diligent search by the committee resulted in finding a suitable church which could be rented to conduct regular Sunday services. This was the Christ (Anglican) Church Mimico, on Royal York Road in Etobicoke. The Diocesan Bishop advised of his availability in Toronto the third weekend of July 2001. Accordingly, the inaugural Holy Communion Service was arranged and held on 22nd July 2001 at the First United Church in Port Credit, Mississauga, with The Rt. Rev. Dr. Zacharias Mar Theophilus as celebrant. Immediately after this Holy Communion service, an Inauguration Meeting was held to recognize and celebrate the formation of the new parish -- St. Mathew's Mar Thoma Church, Toronto. This meeting was attended by a number of distiguished clergy which included the Anglican and Orthodox Church Bishops, and Vicars of several other Malayalam churches in Toronto. A full list of invited guests can be seen in the evening's Programme sheet . The day's entire programme was a great success, with a large number of members from the west areas, the 'mother parish', and many from other sister churches attending. Dinner was served for all at the end of it. All of the initial establishment costs of the parish, and inaugural day expenses were met by generous contributions from members of the new parish.

Thus was born the new Mar Thoma parish in the west of Toronto, on 22nd July 2001. Thereafter, under the leadership of Rev. Mathew Thomas regular Sunday services, Sunday School, and other activities are being conducted at the Christ (Anglican) Church Mimico, 329 Royal York Road, Etobicoke through a lease arrangement. Within two weeks of the inauguration in July 2001, the official parish membership roll had 93 families. At the time of creating this web-site in mid-December 2001, the membership strength stood at 110 families. Thanks be to Almighty God for His grace in fullfilling this cherished dream of the families in this new parish, and may He shower His abundant blessings for its continued prosperity and spiritual growth.