London ∙ The Great Britain Syro Malabar Church has a new temple in Birmingham. The Pastoral Center will start functioning on September 16 to coordinate the pastoral services of the Diocese of Great Britain, which is a part of the Church of Syro-Malabar, and the headquarters of the Diocese, Mar Joseph Srambical.

On September 16, Major Archbishop Mar Raphael, who is also the head of the church, will inaugurate and inaugurate the Pastoral Center at Attic. The 13,500 square foot Pastoral Center is located in Birmingham’s Old Oscott Hill (Old Oscott Hill 99, B44 9SR), which has been the main center of Catholicism in Britain since the 19th century.

The Pastoral Center is the result of fervent prayer and determined fundraising by all priests, nuns and faithful from all missions under the leadership of Mar Joseph Srambical, President of the Diocese of Great Britain. The diocese has raised £1.1 million (about Rs. 11 crore) in a short period of time to make the pastoral center a reality. Fund-raising efforts are still ongoing, focusing on the Diocese’s missions and mass centers throughout Britain.

The key exchange of the building took place on Thursday. Then the pastoral center became part of the diocese with the community sacrifice led by Mar Joseph Srambical. The Diocese of Syro-Malabar in Britain, which officially started functioning on July 16, 2016, is completing eight years, and the Diocesan Headquarters and Pastoral Center are moving to their own building.

Until now, the activities of the Sisters of Virgin Mary were carried out here. St Cecilia’s Abbey was built for nuns who converted to Catholicism from the Anglican Church. The property includes 1.8 acres of land and a car park. The building currently has 22 bedrooms, a dormitory for 50 people, adjoining halls, a dining hall and kitchen for 50 people to eat at a time, and a chapel for 100 people. When the renovation works are completed, the church officials hope that more facilities can be arranged in the building.

The activities of the Syro-Malabar Church in Britain are under the leadership of seventy priests and five monks in twelve regions such as Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Cambridge, Canterbury, Leeds, Leicester, London, Manchester, Oxford, Preston, Scotland and Southampton. The work of the Syro-Malabar Church is organized in 90 cities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including four own parishes, 55 missions and 31 proposed missions. At present there are 27 different commissions functioning in the diocese. The decision to establish the Pastoral Center in Birmingham was made as a convenient location for all regions.

Old Oscot Hill in Birmingham was the center of activity of Cardinal Newman, a prominent theologian who was a Protestant priest and later converted to Catholicism and elevated to the rank of Cardinal. After converting to Catholicism, Cardinal Newman lived at Maryvale Seminary, adjacent to the diocese’s new pastoral center.

Diocese of Great Britain Syro-Malabar grew into a faith community with more than 70,000 members under the leadership of Mar Joseph Srambical in a few years in Britain. The activities of the church are aimed at preserving the faith tradition of the Syro Malabar church members who came to Britain in search of work and higher education and the spiritual and material upliftment of the new generation born and raised here. Under the leadership of the archdiocese, Mar Joseph Srambical, and various commissions, faithless activities are going on in all the missions in Breton.

Apart from being the permanent residence of the Archdiocese, the Pastoral Center will also serve as the official headquarters of the faithful, clergy and laity of the Diocese of Syro-Malabar in Britain.

children The Pastoral Center will serve as a gathering place for youth and family groups to provide much-needed training. The Pastoral Center will facilitate programs of various Commissions of the Diocese, meditations, general gatherings and marriage preparation seminars. The Pastoral Center will also serve as a convenient gathering place for people who are volunteering for various needs of the diocese.

In addition to the cost of the building, the church leadership hopes to raise the two million pounds from the faithful for the necessary renovation and expansion of the sixty-year-old building, and by September 16, the long-desired headquarters building will be almost fully operational.