Convert Church from maintenance mode to missionary mode: CCBI Deputy Secretary General

Kochi, Keral 28 Dec 2025: Calling the Church in India to move beyond routine activities, Rev. Dr. Stephen Alathara, Deputy Secretary General of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, said the time has come to shift from a maintenance mode Church to a missionary mode Church.

He was delivering the homily at the Jubilee Year concluding Holy Mass at St. Francis Assisi Cathedral, Ernakulam, in the Verapoly Archdiocese on Sunday 28 December 2025.

He said the Church in India is active and vibrant, but largely occupied with internal ministries. Lay faithful are engaged in movements and pious associations. Priests are busy with pastoral duties and the celebration of sacraments. Religious are deeply involved in education and health care. While these are important, he said, this reflects a maintenance mode mindset. Converting this into a missionary mode Church is a major challenge before the Church in India.

Reflecting on the Gospel of the day, he said St. Joseph, after listening to the Lord, chose a different path and fled to Egypt to protect the Child Jesus. The Magi, after meeting Jesus, returned by another way. Those who truly meet Jesus, he said, always take a new way. He urged the faithful to encounter Christ personally and to choose new paths in guiding and leading the Church.

He stressed that taking a new path is not only the task of bishops or Church leaders. It is the responsibility of every baptized person. As pilgrims of hope, he said, the whole Church is journeying together towards Christ as a synodal Church, where all share equal responsibility.

The Jubilee Year, celebrated once every 25 years, began in dioceses across the world on 29 December 2024 and concluded on 28 December 2025. In the universal Church, the Jubilee opened on Christmas Eve 2024 with Pope Francis opening the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. The Jubilee Year will conclude in Rome on 6 January 2026, the Solemnity of the Epiphany, with the closing of the Holy Doors by Pope Leo XIV.

At the concluding Holy Mass at St. Francis Assisi Cathedral, Archbishop Joseph Kalathiparambil of Verapoly was the main celebrant. He appreciated the Jubilee celebrations in the Archdiocese, which included the pilgrimage of the Jubilee Cross to more than two hundred centres, the construction of sixty Jubilee houses, the blessing of two new churches, and several formation and animation programmes. These included gatherings of priests, consecrated persons, and specially challenged persons held at different levels across the Archdiocese.

By Catholic Connect Reporter