Marthoma Community Podcast
Sharing conversations with members and friends of the Mar Thoma Church community, particularly among those in the Diocese of North America & Europe. Interviews typically include a guest sharing their thoughts on various topics including (but not limited to) faith and traditions, personal experiences, and anything else that we might not normally get to talk about before or after church. Leave a Facebook Review Read: https://marthomacommunity.blog/ Support: https://www.patreon.com/c/marthopodcast www.marthopodcast.com
Episodes
Joshua currently works as the Director of Recruitment for Teach for America while also serving as a local representative on the Prince George's County Board of Education. My relationship with Josh began with me as a youth leader and him as an energetic and creative teenager, so hearing about his journey and accomplishments was especially rewarding.
Guest: Joshua M. Thomas
Interview Date: April 27, 20...
Dony Oommen has been a Marthoma choir enthusiast for many years both as a choir member and as a choir leader. More recently, he has been sharing his musical talents through his YouTube channel, DeeCee Music Productions. We discuss his journey, our shared experiences with MTC choirs, and his thoughts on opportunities for improvement.
Interview Date: April 3, 2021
Guest: Dony Oommen
Parish: Christos MTC (Philadelphia)
Links
...Betsy Chacko is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW), Therapist, Christian Counselor, and author of her blog, TheFamilyIBuilt.com. Our conversation covers her professional work, as well as how she goes about creating content for her site. We also explore how the topics she covers can benefit our community.
Interview Date: April 5, 2021
Guest: Betsy Chacko
Parish: Staten Island MTC
Connect With Betsy
Captain Shibu Philipose currently serves as the Assistant Chief for the Investigative Branch of the Maryland-National Capital Park Police based in Silver Spring, Maryland. He also serves as the Vice President for America Malayalee Law Enforcement United (AMLEU). Their mission, “To be a conduit between law enforcement and the community it serves, primarily the Malayalee American community.”
Shibu and I discuss family, h...
Guest: Merlin Kochunilathil
Parish: St. Thomas MTC Delaware Valley
Interview Date: February 9, 2021
This year’s Diocesan Leadership Conference was held virtually due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was also the first MTC leadership conference that my guest, Merlin, has had a chance to attend, so I was curious to hear her thoughts.
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Guest: Divya Mathew
Parish: Carmel MTC (Boston)
Interview Date: February 2, 2021
Divya and I discuss how she was informed that she was ineligible to serve as a lay leader (executive committee role) for her parish based on her gender. We then go on to discuss the actions she’s taken since then along with the comments and feedback she has been getting as a result.
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Guest: Rev. Dennis Abraham
Mother Parish: St. John’s MTC (NY)
Current Parish: Vicar of the MTC of San Fransico Bay Area
Interview Date: January 26, 2021
I sit down with Dennis Achen to reflect on his path to ministry, his experiences as a Vicar, and how his current studies are broadening his views on the mission of the church, and the role the Mar Thoma Church must play moving forward.
As of this i...
Guest: Been David
Parish: St. Thomas MTC (Lombard, IL)
Interview Date: January 19, 2021
In this interview, Beena and I have fun geeking-out on the challenges of singing an Eastern classic after years of training and experience as a Western classically trained vocalist.
The song, Yahoodiayile Oru Grammathil, is a popular Christmas devotional song that was made popular by Yesudas. Beena's ...
Guest: Pushpa Samuel
Parish: Silicon Valley MTC (CA) & Horeb MTC (Los Angeles, CA)
Interview Date: January 5, 2021
Pushpa shares the story of her journey to the present day where she is getting ready to finish her theological studies (M. Div.) with plans to become a board-certified chaplain. She hopes that sharing her story will be an encouragement to others interested in ministry, especially women, and loo...
Guest: Ron Jacob
Parish: Long Island MTC (NY)
Interview Date: December 30, 2020
KEY TOPICS:
Part 1
- Ron's background
- Experience of serving in the Diocesan Assembly and Council
- The Mar Thoma Church Constitution
Part 2
- Women serving as lay leaders (lay ministers)
- "The Revolution" (Article by Ron, published in the Marthoma Messenger)
- Background on "Be The Match"
Guest: Ron Jacob
Parish: Long Island MTC (NY)
Interview Date: December 30, 2020
KEY TOPICS:
Part 1 (Previous Episode)
- Ron's background
- Experience of serving in the Diocesan Assembly and Council
- The Mar Thoma Church Constitution
Part 2
- Women serving as lay leaders (lay ministers)
- "The Revolution" (Article by Ron, originally published in the Marthoma Messenger, click here for the fu...
Guest: Merry Thomas
Parish: Horeb MTC of Los Angles (Los Angeles, CA)
Interview Date: December 14, 2020
After ending our interview, we decided to hit record again and explore the topic of women serving as lay leaders in the madhbaha (altar). We also hear the story of how she was asked to do just that.
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VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.marthopodcast.com
CONTACT...
Part 2 of 2 (Go back and listen to Part 1 first!)
Guest: Merry Thomas
Parish: Horeb MTC of Los Angles (Los Angeles, CA)
Interview Date: December 14, 2020
Our interview continues as we reflect on the role that Youth Chaplains play in our diocese, and we discuss the possible future of a lay chaplain ministry.
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VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.marthopod...
Guest: Merry Thomas
Parish: Horeb MTC of Los Angles (Los Angeles, CA)
Interview Date: December 14, 2020
EPISODE SUMMARY
Merry and I share our observations and thoughts after attending this year’s Diocesan Assembly meeting as representatives for our respective parishes.
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VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.marthopodcast.com
CONTACT ME DIRECTLY: george@marthomacommu...
Go back and listen to Episode #11 for Part 1 of this interview!
Guest: Rev. Larry Varghese
Parishes: MTC of Silicon Valley, Sacramento Congregation
Interview Date: 6/4/2020
“The church exists by mission as fire exists by burning.”
-- Emil Brunner, Swiss Reformed Theologian
References Mentioned:
- The Marthoma Church Heritage and Mission by Alexander Mar Thoma
- Mission and Liturgy...
Don't miss the second half of this interview in episode #12!
Guest: Rev. Larry Varghese
Parishes: MTC of Silicon Valley, Sacramento Congregation
Interview Date: 6/4/2020
References Mentioned:
- The Marthoma Church Heritage and Mission by Alexander Mar Thoma
- Mission and Liturgy: Contest, Convergence and Congruence with special reference to the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church
Co...
Guest: Shaun Rajan
Parish: St. Andrews MTC (NY)
Interview Date: 5/30/2020
During my conversation with Shaun, I also got to hear some of Shaun's thoughts around an article by Charles Samuel that he had shared on Twitter several days before. It didn't quite go with the episode topic, so I've broken out as a bonus episode. Enjoy!
Referenced Article: I Still Believe The 'India...
Guest: Shaun Rajan
Parish: St. Andrews MTC (NY)
Interview Date: 5/30/2020
Back in May, I spoke with Shaun about his thoughts on the impact that COVID has had on both his teaching and on our worshipping community as a result of the push to go exclusively virtual.
Shaun is an assistant professor of mathematics at Westchester Community College in New York and is currently a member at St. Andrews...
Guest: Nirmala Abraham
Parish: Philadelphia MTC
Interview Date: 5/16/2020
I chat with Mrs. Nirmala Abraham about how she, as a grandparent and an elder in our community, works to "stay relevant" in the eyes of her grandchildren and our MTC community.
Our conversation ranges from her engagements with her children, grandchildren, and their peers to our missions fields among Native Am...
Danielle Verghese, an internal medicine resident, recently helped to organize demonstrations supporting #WhiteCoatsForBlackLives in Philadelphia. Her original tweet from their first event has had over 44K views as of this post, and was "liked" by 2.5K people. But more importantly, Danielle tells us the story of why she felt the need to get involved, how the initial event came to be, and what the experience h...
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