Br. Berchmans Joseph is in Chicago now and would like to meet KCS officials.  He is coming to our community Center tomorrow at 7.00 PM ( 12/2/2001) Friday evening. If you are interested to meet him, please come to the community Center at 7.00PM . Please tell your friends and if any one interested to meet him, most welcome to the community center.

 Br. Berchmans Joseph is a knanaya religious brother  from the Montfort Brothers of St Gabriel  who is currently working at St Paul High School Hyderabad. He hails from Elakodickal family Kidangoor. He has started many projects including establishing Agricultural  secondary school and and trade school and high school in Tanzania Africa He was a missionary there for over 15 years. He is well respected by the government of Tanzania and given many awards for his works. He also has developed the villages of Andra Pradesh and is considered as a hero in Hyderabad.
 
He met Pope in 1960's as a young man and went to Rome for studies. About 10 yeras ago he was studying Spirituality in Rome for two years along with our current Archbiship MarMathew Moolakatt who was doing Canon Law. He is a spiritual icon for and is an example for other Montfort Brothers who were mostly recruited by him and trained by him in the Novitiate in Yercaud.He is very simple religious and that is what makes him different.

Dear KCS members,
Our biggest celebration of the year- Knanaya Night-is scheduled for Nov 19, 2011. We are inviting every Chicago Knanayite to attend the Knanaya night and make it a grand success. We are also urging all of you to participate and showcase your artistic talents during knanaya night. For better coordinating the programme, those who interested to participate in any entertaining programs please contact the following persons before Oct 20, 2011.

Opening Segments ( girls from 8th standard) : Chinnu Thottam ( Ph: 630 863 4984 email: c2c4ever@aol.com)

Kids Club ( KG- 4th ) - Cyriac Keezhangatt ( Ph: 1 309 825 8829 email: cyriac78@yahoo.com ) and Tania Puthenparampil ( Ph:630 464 6061 email: ). Selection during the Kids Club hallowen Party on Oct 21 at Community center.
KCJL Kids : Bincy Poothurail ( Ph: 847 454 6274 email: poothurailbincy@yahoo.com ) and Josmy Edukkuthara (Ph: 630 244 9835 email: josmye@hotmail.com)
KCYL : Timmy Idiyalil ( 630 835 4780 email - tim.joseph.0211@gmail.com) and Tissy Vettikattil - tissyann@gmail.com
Yuvajanavedhi : Deepu kandarapallil ( 224 280 8890- kandarappallil86@yahoo.com ) and Abin Kulathil Karottu ( 630 656 2929- abinkerala@yahoo.com )
Womens Forum : Gracy Vachachira ( 630 689 7984- gracyvachachira@yahoo.com) and Della Nediyakalayil ( 847 312 4655- tomyphilip@hotmail.com) & Prathibha Thachet - pthachet@sbcglobal.net- 1 224 805 2433
Adult Men: Jiji Kunnathukizhakkethil ( Ph: 847 207 7008- jijoseph68@yahoo.com)

Requesting everyone's cooperation
For entertaining committie - Roy Chelamalayil, Giji Kunnathukizhakkethil, Anil Edukkuthara, Anitha panayaparampil

..................OPENING DANCE............................
This years Knanaya night is scheduled on Nov 19th 2011 at Taft high school. Ms. Chinu Thottam is coordinating the opening dance. 
Ms. Shingari has agreed to teach the dance. There will be only 5 practices - They are on Nov 5th, 6th, 12th, 13th & 18th. These practices are mandatory for girls wanting to participate in the opening dance.

Girls who are in 8th grade and up and has formal Bharathanatyam training and is interested in performing please contact Chinu as soon as possible.  
It will be on a first come first serve basis.  Please convey this message to anyone who might be interested.  If you have any questions, you may contact Ms.Chinu Thottam at 630-863-4984 or via email at c2c4ever@aol.com

.................KCJL FASHION SHOW...................
                    
KCJL is conducting a fashion show for this year's Knanaya Night. The first practice will be on Saturday, November 5 at the community center at 10:30a.m. Whoever is interested should come to the practice. Further information will be provided later.
If you have any questions call, Bincy Poothurail 847-454-6274        or         Josmy Edukutharayil 630-244-9835

....................Kids Club members...........................
Dates for the Kids Club Knanaya Night practices are below. 
Fri Nov 11th @ KCS Community Center 7pm
Sat Nov 12th @ St. Mary's Church, Morten Grove after the 10 Am mass 
Fri Nov 18 th @ KCS  Community Center 7pm - Dress Rehearsal 

Attendance is mandatory. Due to the fact that we only have a few weeks remaining, those who signed up to participate must attend all practices.  
 Sign up is now closed due to the high number of participants.  If you have any questions, please contact me. 
Thank you, and hoping to see you at the practice.
 Tania Puthenparambil
630-464-6061

The annual KCS Youth Festival for this year has been scheduled on October 1st at the KCS Community Center. The competitions are set to begin at 9.00am. The Youth festival conducted every year is to provide an oppurtunity for the young ones and the youths of our community to show case there talent in a competitive environment inorder to encourage them to develope their artistic and cultural skills. As always an independent panel of judges from outside the community will be the ones judging the event.

We encourage the parents of young children and youths to enrole their children at the earliest for this annual youth festival. The participants will be clubbed into three main categories [A] Sub Juniour (KG-4) [B] Junior (5-8) and [C] Senior (9-12). Food and drinks will be available to all at a nominal rate. Please submit the Registration Form to the Entertainment committee chairman Mr. Roy Chelamalayil. He can also be contacted at 773-319-6279 or roychelamalayil@yahoo.com with any questions or queiries.

For the convenience of the participants, we have attachend below the Registration Form, Youth festival rules, Elocution topics, Sub-Junior Spelling Bee, Junior Spelling Bee and Senior Spelling Bee.

In relation to the 2012 KCCNA convention scheduled for the first weekend of July 2012, a specail puthuyogam has been convened at the KCS community center at 10.00 am. This is open for all KCS members.

The primary purpose of this Puthuyogam is to select a Convention Chairman, Convention Convener, Few committee chairmans and co-chairs. All those interested to be part of the convention committes are requested to provide their name to any member of the KCS Executive. If there are multiple candidates for any of the posts, then that post will be open for election and the voting facilities will be available untill 5.00pm.

The Chairman position made availabe to KCS Chicago  are - Accomodation, Art & Literary competition, Banquet, Children's, Entertainment, Facility, Finance, First Aid, Food Court, Ganamela, Hospitality, Light & Sound, Liturgy, Planning / Time Management, Printing - Banner & Badges, Procession & Marchpast, Publicity, Registration, Security, Sight seeing & tours, Souvenir, Sports, Stage decorations, Transportation, Trophy, Video and Photography.

The Co-Chairmen position made available to Chicago are - Alumni meetings, Awards & recognition, Choir, Cultural programs, Facility, Forane get together, Games, Indoor games, Registration, Security, Seminars, Transportation and Website.

This years annual KCS Olympics will be held at St.Paul Woods Park located at Morton Grove (Caldwell & Oakton St).
In addition to all the fun, food, games and comraderie lots of Forana Based Competitions have been arraanged

* Kaipuzha & Kaduthuruthi forana coordinators are Binoy Puthurayil (847-409-0344) and Libin Thanichuvitil (847-220-3511)
* Chungam & Uzhavoor forana coordinators are Manoj Ammaikunnel (847-877-8618) and Jessmon Puramadathil (224-594-4360)
* Kottayam, Malankara and Padamukam forana coordinator is Jojo Alappattu (773-988-5656)
* Kidangoor, Rajapuram and Perikallor forana coordinators are Febin Kaniyali (847-372-8531) and Saji Vellaramkalayil (312-206-4044)

The KCS Outdoor committe members would like to extend a very warm welcome to all the Knanayites in the greater Chicagoland area to this fun filled community event on the coming 10th says outdoor committe chairman Shiju Mulayanikunnel and outdoor committe members Arun Nellamattam, Johnson Koovakada, Siju Kolathilkarotu, Romy Nedumcherayil and Shajan Annithotam

The Annual KCS Camping for 2011 is scheduled on August 12, 13 and 14th at the "Ideal Beach RV Resort (Morgan RV Resorts)" located at 2882 NW Shafer Dr. Monticello, IN 47960 (Ph: 574-583-1046 &  574 583 8646). As per the KCS Outdoor Committee chairman Mr.Shibu Mulayanikunnel, there are various outdoor activities planned for this years camping to make it a fun filled event for families.  

Inorder to ensure adequate campsite Cabin reservation, every family who wishes to participate in this summer camping are requested to contact The Outdoor committee chairman Mr. Shibu at 630-849-1253 or any KCS Executive member. Please register early.

The camping startes Friday (12th) at 4pm untill  Sunday (14th ) morning.

My Dear Knanaya friends,
It has been almost 4 months since the new KCCNA executive committee and national council took charge.  As many of you remember, I have send a communication on our tentative plans at the beginning of April and now I would like to use this opportunity to share with you some of our accomplishments as well as upcoming events.
Accomplishments and upcoming events:
1) As promised we are able to post the minutes of EC meetings for every one in our Website  KCCNA.COM and we will continue to do that.
2) We have listed various initiatives that we were pursuing and among them the following are already off the ground:
   a) Knanaya Voluntary Service (KVS) - KVS is off the ground with the first event scheduled to take place in Kottayam during June 30th and July 1st. 
   As you know this initiative is lead by Shiju Cheriyathil (RVP, Chicago).  We will have to the first batch of high school students are participating in
   this event.  I sincerely hope that this will be an event that they will cherish for their life time. Additional families are considering participating through
   out the summer when they are traveling to India for vacation.  Please let me or one of the EC members know if any of the families have interest in
   participating in this summer, we will be happy to coordinate this for you.
  b) Additional events are in the works such as a park cleaning effort in NY, and A Habitat for Humanity partnered trip to Hawaii in the winter to build
  Houses - Please stay tuned for more such activities - we as a community need to get involved in local mainstream activities and community service
   was identified as the most important activity that will energize our youth in a recent survey among college going youth of our community in NY.
  c) Creating Knanaya Idol as part of KCCNA.COM - This is almost complete and will be rolling out in the next week or so.
  d) Creating a job site as part of KCCNA.COM - The initial site is almost complete which will allow us to post jobs and will be online in a week,
   however a  more interactive one will be available by September.
 
We sincerely hope this will be a huge step for our community as many of you know there are lot of our graduates who are without jobs and if we come
together as a community, we will be able to help at least a some of them. Those professional, especially who have young kids, must take this
opportunity very seriously since if we help our young adults today they will be there for us when our kids grow up.  We appreciate the leadership of Noel
Charath (Joint Sec) and Rohit Madaparampath (RVP, Boston, Phiilly and Washington) for spearheading this effort.
At this time we like to thank Mr. BABY and Mrs. ALEYAMMA KAITHAMATTATHIL from Houston (SEE ATTACHED) who came forward made the
initial contribution of $1500.00 for the development of KCCNA job site after evaluating the project plan.  As you know the enhancements we are planning are expensive and we certainly appreciate additional contributions from our community members.  Various enhancements that we are working on will help our community across the globe to be more connected and leverage our fellow members for each other.
3) Promote activities for the youth:  KCCNA is promoting various programs through member associations, KCYLNA and Women's forum in
planning various activities for our youth and some of the examples are: a) Mohan Kaduthodil (RVP of NY) along with fellow NC member Sibin
Thachet and their friends arranged a gathering of College students during easter weekend in  NY.
    b) Women's forum is arranging seminars across various associations focused on some of the problems facing our youth and helping parents
         to deal with the challenges of raising teenagers.
    c) KCCNA and KCYLNA are jointly planning a weekend event for 18 and up youth on the labor day weekend and they are in the final stages.
        We should be able to announce it within a week.  We encourage all parents to talking about this to your kids.  We are expecting this
        event to be conducted with no registration rather through sponsorship from community members and please consider supporting this community
        event as well.
    d) KCYLNA is in the final stages of announcing the dates for a High School students submit in Atlanta in December.  Please keep your calendars 
        open.  The number of seats will be limited.  Please stay tune for additional details from KCYLNA executives. We sincerely appreciate the
       dedication and hard work of Gracy Vachachira and women's forum executives, Anish Nadakuzakkal and KCYLNA executives/directors, our young
       NC members in making all of the above a reality.  The community need to continue to support them as they come up with new initiatives
4) KCCNA operations - To enable transparent governance of KCCNA and to address our community's future needs 
     a) National Council discussed and approved the intent of DKCC and developed a clear criteria for electing delegates to DKCC in addition to     
      establishing defined term.
      b) Filled all vacancies to Strategic Planning Commission (except 1) and the SPC is working hard to present a 10 year plan for the community
      c) Reinstated Ecclesiastical Enhancement Committee (EEC) and the committee is working hard to find a meaningful solution to our issues.
      d) National Council established clear guidance with respect to when KCCNA can get involved in resolving conflicts in member associations.
      e) National Council Decided to host the 2012 KCCNA convention in CHICAGO hosted by KCS - Chicago.  Further details will be coming soon.
We sincerely appreciate the hard work of Domy Tharayil and team (SPC) and Rinly Moolakkat and team (EEC) since both of these committees
have monumental tasks.
5) Centenary celebrations planning and support from KCCNA
    a) KCCNA was able to raise about 130K (rupees) in a week's time to support the sports and arts competitions held in Kottayam in May 2011
    b) KCCNA is organizing a Kalasandhya to be performed on 26th of August in Kottayam and those who are interested please give their names 
         to Joji Manalel (EVP, KCCNA)
    c) There are about 50 registrations as of last week for the pravasisangamam from North America.  Please go to the ApnaDes website and
         register for the event if you have not already and planning to be in India during August 26th.
    d) KCCNA will be participating the procession on August 28th and we are encouraging every one from North America to stand behind the
         banner of KCCNA
    e) We have several couples registered for the fund raising dinner to be held on August . The cost is $120/couple and please write the check
        in the name of KCCNA and KCCNA will provide a single check to the diocese for the event.
We sincerely appreciate all the committee members from various associations as well as our Executive Vice President, Joji Manalel for
working behind the scenes to organize our participation in this once in a life time event.  In addition we appreciate the help of Mr. Sabu
Koovakkattil who is coordinating for us in Kottayam.

Some of the issues raised by community members during the past 3 months:
1) Communications from KCCNA is not regular:  I take full responsibility for this problem and we are trying our best
to communicate as much as possible through our member associations. 
We are constituting a committee to coordinate publication of "Knanaya Times".  Through this committee, we will also try to provide more
news releases through public media.
2) There are lot of questions in recent months on ownership of Churches that we bought for Knanaya Missions: 
I assure that KCCNA EC and national council will discuss this issue to get full disclosure of the facts.  I personally think it is important to resolve
this issue in no uncertain terms since there are a lot of community members who donated their hard earned money for various projects and we owe
them an answer.  We will work very closely with our mission directors and if needed, will seek independent legal review of the articles of incorporation of these corporations, to provide clarity to community members.   Transparency is so important in all our interactions so that the credibility of various entities can be safeguarded.

Dear Friends,  We sincerely appreciate your continued support.  We encourage our local associations to plan more activities and I think the example set by Houston in creating a Knanaya Resource Group (KRG) is a good one, by which we can energize our community members towards a common cause.  We all have to work together to take this great community to the next decade and to the next generation.  We the EC and NC members are working hard to do our part however whatever we do can only be fully implemented and realized with the help of all of every one in the community.
In sincerely hope that Knanaya Associations and Missions will continue to explore opportunities to work together/respect each other rather than competing against each other since both serve the same community members understanding the each others' purposes and differences. Given the nature/structure of our missions/parishes here in North America, the role of associations are extremely important to promote the identity and uniqueness of our community unlike back in Kerala where we have our own diocese and parishes. Please let me and or fellow EC/NC members know if you have any questions/suggestions.  I hope the above update is complete and if I have missed anything, I will follow up with  an addendum.
Sincerely
Shiens Akasala
President, KCCNA

The annual Knanaya Picnic organized by KCS Chicago, will be conducted on Saturday June 11th 2011 from 10 AM onwards in Skokie  at the HARMS WOOD PARK ( Golf Rd & Central).

Please  come and enjoy the variety programs and delicious foods  that our out door committee is  arranged for you all.

KCS out door committee and KCS Executive board  are inviting you to the picnic.

Dear Friends, 
We are  hereby reminding everybody about the KCS  Parents Day celebrations on May 28th , Saturday at our Community Center at 7 PM.All are here by invited to be part of this important programme as we appreciate the services and sacrifices of our parents. We will also honoring parents who are 70yrs and above. Their will be a family quiz  based on the Kottayam  Diocese  and Knanaya community.  We are urging all  of you to take part in fun filled quiz  competition.A lot of variety entertainments are also included.

See you all at community center at 7PM  on My 28, 2011.
 
For  KCS Executive Board,
Simon Muttathil - Secretary,
Knanaya Catholic Society of  Chicago
5110 N. Elston Ave, Chicago , IL. 60630
1 847 910 4531
chicagokcs@gmail.com / samuttathil@gmail.com / 
www.kcschicago.com

Mission Statement
KVS is being founded on the idea that an organization, well established as KCCNA should not only nurture the growth of its own people but also extend their services to those people in the world who are in need. KVS strive to provide the opportunity for Knanaya people of all ages worldwide to participate in volunteer activities that will enrich their lives by helping those who are in need. We believe that KCCNA members of all ages could benefit from such experiences. When community members work together towards the same cause, they are given the opportunity to build and strengthen relationships with fellow KCCNA members regardless of age and learn from each other. We are devoted to providing learning experiences that help strengthen character, social skills, self confidence and increase awareness of the prevalence of the underprivileged in the world and we make a difference together as a united community.

Committee Members
Mr. Shiju Cheriyathil (Regional Vice President and KVS Initiative Champion, Chicago)         Tel (847) 341- 1088, Email – shijuphilip@sbcglobal.net
Mr. Shaji Palliveettil (National Council Member, Chicago)                                                         Tel (773) 544 - 9596, Email ID -3354shaji@comcast.net
Mr. Jackson Kudilil (National Council Member, Atlanta)                                                           Tel (404) 786 - 0757. Email ID – abialexis@yahoo.com
Mrs. Sheena Puthenpurayil (Chicago)                                                                                          Tel (773) 426 - 8699
Ms. Nimisha Kulathilkarottu (Chicago)                                                                                        Tel (404) 434 - 8277
Mr. Abraham Perumanisseril (National Council Member, New York)                                      Tel (516) 390 - 4469 Email ID – perumanisseril@gmail.com

Action Plan
As part of the champion initiative we are planning three volunteer events for the 2011-2013 term. The hours spent on KCCNA’s volunteer efforts will count towards required school and college volunteer goals and KCCNA will certify volunteer participants who are required to provide proof of service hours either to their schools or to prospected colleges as part of the admission process.

Event 1 - Volunteer efforts in India
Coordinators – Mr. Shiju Cheryaithil, Mr. Shaji Palliveettil
Date: June 30th and July 1st, 2011
Members of KCCNA will help the mentally and physically challenged in an orphanage in India.
Details and logistics are still to be worked out. We are anticipating a minimum of 10 people for this event.
Please contact Shiju Cheriyathil and Shaji Palliveetil if you are interested in having your high schoolers participate in this event. We will schedule additional events in India during summer months if there is lot of interest in this effort.

Event 2 - Volunteer efforts in U.S
Coordinators - Nimisha, Sheena, Jackson
Date: January or February 2012
Plans are underway to provide KCCNA members with an opportunity to help the needy in Chicago. Details will be provided shortly.

Event 3 - Volunteer efforts in U.S
Coordinators - Sheena, Nimisha, Abraham
Date: KCCNA Convention 2012
Members of KCCNA will be given the opportunity to participate in a volunteer effort to help the underprivileged as part of the KCCNA convention. The event will be held on the days following the convention to allow more participation. The type of volunteer activity has not been decided. Details and
logistics need to be worked out.

KCCNA expects that there will be additional events that will be planned executed within local associations.
For more information please contact any of the committee members. Those who would like to join hand with this team, please contact Shiju Cheriyathil.

Contact information of Initiative Champion - Mr. Shiju Philip Cheriathil             Cell Phone # (847) 341-1088 / Email ID - shijuphilip@sbcglobal.net

Projects:
• Medical insurance for all knanaya Families in Kerala, RS 450 per family of 5 members
• Knanaya portal, knanayacatholic.org, a scientific study of our community
• Centenary Education fund; Collection one month salary contribution from all knanaya families (that includes one month salary from priests and nuns).
• Ente sneha veedu. at least 100 homes 1 lakh each

Special programs:
August 21 Sunday - Missionary Get together: All Knanaya Missionaries working outside the Archdiocese
August 23 Tuesday - Knanaya fundraising dinner at Chaithanya
August 26 Friday - Pravasi Sangamam at Chaithanya : Symposium, public meeting cultural program participation from all knanaya people residing
outside the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese
August 28, Sunday - Samskarika Rally: Beselius college to Nehru Stadium, Public meeting
August 29 Monday - Centenary Holy Mass at Cathedral and Concluding meeting

Kala Sandhya
Your Participation is requested !!

August 26th 2011 (Friday)
Kottayam Archdiocese is hosting Pravasi Knanaya Sangamam at the Chaithanya Pastoral Center on 26th August 2011, starting at 10:00 AM.
During the day there will be many seminars exclusively for pravasis followed by public meeting at 3:00 PM. At 6:00 PM in the evening,
there will be Cultural program (Kala Sandhya) by talented Knanaya artists around the globe. Tentatively scheduled as : KCCNA (1.0 Hour),

Middle East (1.0 Hour) and UKCC (1.0 Hour)
For the Kala Sandhya, KCCNA is coordinating an hour long cultural program with our talented artists from all 20 units. KCCNA encourages
members from ALL regional associations, to participate in Kala Sandhya. Please contact your local association President / Secretary and the Coordinator Mr. Joji Manalel, if you can join this Kala Sandhya on or before May 31st 2011. Mr. Joji shall provide further details to the participants of the program later on. Exec. VP, Mr. Joji Manalel can be reached by Cell Number (818) 687- 8742 and by Email ID - jojijacob@yahoo.com

Registration fees for the Pravasi Sangamam has been waived
However the families still needs to submit an application. Online application should become available on the Apna Des
website sometime this week. By end of this week or early next week, please check www.apnades.in and submit your
application online.

Detailed day by day event information as part of the Centenary celebrations are expected to be available sometime next week.

Dear Community Members
 
The newly established KCS 30-40 Club will have its first event this Saturday, April 30th, at 6:00 pm at the KCS Community Center.  The 30-40 club is open to all of the young Knanaya couples in our community. Our goal is to provide a forum for couples to network with others in our community through entertaining and educational programs.  
 
Saturday’s event will include time for socializing, ice breakers, open discussion to plan future events, and dinner.  Dress code is casual.
 
If you have any questions, please contact any of the following individuals or the KCS Executive Board.
 
Ronnie Puthenparambil    630.730.6060         ronjoseph@gmail.com
Jose Manakkattu               847.830.4128          josemanakkattu@yahoo.com
James Koladyil                   224.628.6074         jameskdu80@yahoo.com
Shybu Kizhakkekuttu        708.699.6805          mshybu@yahoo.com
Tinu Paranjattu                 847.845.7022          tinuparanjadan@gmail.com
 
 Thanks,
Ronnie Joseph Puthenparambil

Conducted at Holiday Inn, Mount Prospect, IL

Inauguration ceremony on Jan 29th, 2011 at the KCS Community Center