THE LOVELY HOLY CATHOLIC | KAIROS GLOBAL | SEPTEMBER 2021

Author: Dr. Chackochan J Njavallil

Kairos Global readers may have noticed the two new columns we have started from Issue 41: Truth Memes and Faithographic. I am writing this not only to marvel at the great things God is doing at Kairos but also to wonder at the great contributions made by millions and especially laity through the Church.

The developments related to truthmemes.org started with a casual talk. How is it possible to respond to the negatives and vicious campaigns taking place especially in the era of social media? It came to light that various groups of people and organisations with varied interests and purposes were attacking the Church, leading believers astray from the way of Truth.

Many discussions took place, various approaches examined and some basic principles accepted. The responses should be truthful, decent, dignified, creative and interesting.

Finally the idea of truthmemes.org emerged, the website and memes developed. It is only the beginning and a lot more is to be done. Thousands of memes on several relevant areas are to be developed and many more enthusiastic missionaries to be associated with the initiative. A small group of deeply committed, learned lay people work behind this initiative – all of them voluntarily contributing their expertise in relevant fields.

The person behind Faithographic is Tena Conil from Trivandrum. In the late 80s and early 90s he was involved in the campus ministry in Kerala, later went abroad and returned back. It was he who came up with the suggestion of initiating such a column in Kairos Global. The time that he spends in developing the content and designing the material is enormous. 

The same is true for all those who contribute articles to Kairos. In the last 25 years of Kairos Media’s existence, we have never made any payment to any of the writers. They have spared their time and effort freely with the sole aim of building the Kingdom of God through Kairos. 

If we look at the Catholic Church all over the world, we can only marvel and wonder at the unbelievable amount of good work done by millions of people in the last two millennia. 

Would anybody be able to prepare a complete list of martyrs who gave their lives for Jesus and his Church? Can anybody be able to measure the tremendous amount of good work that has happened through the Church in the last twenty centuries?

For sure, the community is messy.

People sin. Leaders are sinful.

The fact that Christ uses flawed people to accomplish his work on earth is actually a sign of his grace, not a sign of his absence. Most of the New Testament is not the story of an idealised church where everything worked perfectly all the time.

The New Testament is a story of Jesus using his followers to spread his love in spite of themselves and as they overcome obstacle after obstacle.

I am awestruck whenever I think about the One, Holy, Apostolic, and Catholic Church.