Ernie Garcia

elgarcia@lohud.com

A Yonkers Roman Catholic church shuttered last year in a parish consolidation will celebrate its rebirth Saturday as an Eastern Rite congregation.

The Rev. Sunny Mathew, 43, the new congregation's pastor, said the move to Yonkers realizes a longtime dream for his parishioners, who began their congregation in 1984 in New York City. Most Holy Trinity Church at 18 Trinity Plaza will be occupied by St. Mary's Malankara Catholic Church, an Indian congregation that for 17 years worshiped in the chapel at Salesian High School in New Rochelle.

"It is a realization of our almost 32-year dream. At the same time, we hope it will increase the self-esteem of our people and it will help them to establish their own identity here," Mathew said. "This will help them to witness more to the rich Eastern tradition."



St. Mary's Malankara Catholic Church will hold its inaugural celebration at 4 p.m. Saturday in English. It will be the first Malankara Catholic church in Westchester County.

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Mathew said he invited the church's former parishioners as well as representatives from Yonkers' many Indian Christian denominations and the bishop of the Malankara Catholic Church in the United States.

"It will be their house too," Mathew said of Most Holy Trinity's former parishioners. "Just as our people go to the Latin holy Mass, they can come to this Mass."

Mathew said it's uncertain what name the congregation will use in the future. He said the new name could be a combination of Most Holy Trinity and St. Mary's.

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, also known as the Malankara Syrian Catholic Church, is a Kerala, India-based eastern-Catholic denomination in full communion with Rome but with many traditions that resemble Orthodox Christian denominations. The Malankara church is one of several Indian Christian denominations that trace their origin to the Apostle St. Thomas, who is believed to have evangelized in India.

Most Holy Trinity dates to 1909, according the cornerstone at the church, but the Slovak-immigrant congregation that built it formerly had a church in the late 19th century where Most Holy Trinity's former parochial school now stands. Most Holy Trinity closed July 31 after a merger with St. John the Baptist on Yonkers Avenue under the New York Archdiocese's Making All Things New consolidation program.

Most Holy Trinity was one of eight Catholic churches in Westchester and Rockland counties closed last summer by the archdiocese. The church's adoption by an Indian Christian congregation is the latest example of a population shift occurring in Yonkers.

Nearby Indian Orthodox congregations occupy the former St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church on Chestnut Street and a former Methodist church on Park Hill Avenue. Mathew, a Bronx resident who came to the United States in 2011, said that most of his almost 300 parishioners live in central and southern Westchester County, as well as the Bronx.

The new congregation will hold one Sunday service that starts at 10 a.m. and typically lasts until 11:30. The church will alternate its services every week between English and Malayalam, the predominant language spoken in Kerala.

Raymond Barone, a former parishioner at Most Holy Trinity, said many former Most Holy Trinity parishioners "are thrilled" about the church's new life.

"It is a beautiful church built by their ancestors, and they were heartbroken when it was closed by the archdiocese," Barone said. "This new beginning helps accept the loss of the parish, knowing that the church itself will live on, and be available to all."

Steve Kubasek, whose uncle the Rev. John Kubasek ministered at Most Holy Trinity from 1913 until 1950, is also happy about the rebirth, and he's been helping the new congregation.

"I think it's going to be great," Kubasek said.

If regular Roman-rite Masses begin at Most Holy Trinity, Kubasek said he will attend. He also expressed admiration for the Indian congregation.

"They're pioneers like the Slovak people. The congregation from what I understand is small, but they took on this project, they bought the church," Kubasek said. "They have a lot of ambition. It takes a lot to do that these days."

Twitter: @ErnieJourno