The Syro-Malabar Eparchy of St Thomas the Apostle of Melbourne will hold its first Eparchial Assembly this month, giving thanks for faith received from St Thomas the Apostle and discern how that faith can be lived and shared today.
Planning for the assembly has been underway since January 14, when the preparatory document, known as a lineamenta, was distributed to all parishes, missions and community members of the eparchy.
Titled “Rooted in the Eucharist, Strengthening the Domestic Church, Renewed for Mission,” the lineamenta proposed five themes for reflection: liturgy, family, catechesis, youth, and the empowerment of our community within the Australian and New Zealand context.
Over the following months, parish priests, pastoral councils, family units, catechism teachers, youth ministries, and individual members of the faithful from more than 75 parishes, missions, and Mass centres studied the lineamenta and submitted their reflections, concerns, and proposals.
Their responses, consolidated in the Report of the Parish Consultations, form the foundation of the assembly’s instrumentum laboris, or working document.
While the lineamenta introduced the themes and initiated the consultation process, this document gathers what has been heard and provides a common basis for the assembly’s prayer, study, and discussion.
Each chapter presents the theological grounding of its theme in Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church, summarises the principal findings of the consultation, and offers two questions for discussion in the Assembly’s small groups. The pastoral proposals contained herein are offered for discernment and are not approved decisions.
“Ours is a young and growing Eparchy whose members have come from many parts of India and now live across Australia and New Zealand,” a statement from the Syro-Malabar Eparchy secretariat said.
“The consultation revealed a community that treasures its East Syriac heritage and seeks meaningful ways to live, teach, and pass it on to children growing up in these societies.
“Preserving this inheritance and responding to our present context are not separate tasks but part of the same calling: fidelity to Christ, encountered in the Holy Qurbana [the eucharistic liturgy celebrated by the eparchy] and witnessed in daily life.”
The Eparchial Assembly will take at the Syro-Malabar Eparchy’s pastoral centre, Santhom Grove, in Wesburn in Victoria’s Yarra Valley.
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Eparchial Assembly 2026 (Syro-Malabar Eparchy)
