Golden Club

Our Church was founded in 1972 and is going to celebrate its 40th anniversary this year. Since its inception, the vision and inspiration provided by our vicar, Rev. Fr. A. K. Cherian have held the parish in high esteem. The services on Sundays and obligatory days have been supplemented by the activities of the spiritual organizations and have all combined to serve God and the parishioners better than ever before. However, as in any community, people were aging and retiring which presented the challenge of how to keep these members active within the parish. This idea was put to deliberation and as a result there evolved a spiritual fellowship under the name “Golden Club” of the Bronx parish. The name “Golden Club” was aptly chosen in view of the fact that membership is for those who are above 50 years of age [golden jubilee year].

The Golden Club was formed on December 18th, 2005. Mr. A.M. Alexander, one of the founding members of the parish was instrumental in initiating this program under the leadership of our vicar with the approval of the parish managing committee. The purpose was to make use of the senior members’ talents and time to build up the community and parish. Our Vicar is the President. Mr. Thomas John and Mr. K. T. Idiculla serve as the Vice Presidents, Mr. Joey Joseph serves as the Secretary and Mr. T. Chacko serves as the Treasurer.

The objectives of the Golden Club are:

  1.  To enhance the interpersonal relationships among parishioners.
  2. To promote the feeling of “one for all and all for one”.
  3. To help the younger generation of our parish in various areas.
  4. To help the parish grow through the life experiences of the elders.
  5. To venture towards inter-parish cooperation.

Activities and achievements:

  • Conduct meetings after Holy Qurbana.
  • Visit the sick members and their families and also send fruit baskets when deemed appropriate.
  • Arrange trips to biblical shows in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In fact, the club is planning to see the “Sight and Sound” show during the fall of 2012.
  • Organize Defensive Driving classes.
  • Published the Parish Directory.
  • Organize Skits or Group Songs for the Family Night.
  • Recognize members on milestone birthdays by presenting a “ponnada” to them. We have recognized our Achen’s 40th anniversary of priesthood and congratulated Achen and Kochamma for their 40 years of married life by presenting a “ponnada” to them.

All the financial needs for the Golden Club are met by contributions from members and from excess income, if any, from the biblical shows in Pennsylvania. Just like any new venture, there have been challenges that we had faced along the way, but with God’s grace the Golden Club is surviving. I thank God Almighty for His continued blessings. We are ever grateful to our vicar for his sincere leadership and guidance, to the office bearers for their hard work and to all the members of the parish for their earnest support.

Joey Joseph, Golden Club Secretary

 

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