A GROWING CHURCH IN THE UK

When St Thomas introduced Christianity to India, he founded a vibrant church that has endured through the ages and is now flourishing world-wide.

A NEW DIOCESE

Recently Pope Francis announced that there was to be a new Diocese created in the UK. This unusual step recognises the importance of the Syro-Malabar Catholics’ contribution to the life of the Catholic Church in this country. Traditionally within the Church, countries are split into geographical areas called dioceses, each having its own Bishop or Archbishop and administrative and pastoral departments to oversee the Catholics within that geographical area. This new ‘virtual’ diocese covers the whole of the UK and will oversee the Syro-Malabar Catholics, who have moved to this country mainly from India. Their form of worship (or Rite) is different to the Roman Catholic Mass as it is derived from the Liturgy that was celebrated in Eastern Syria for many hundreds of years but it is recognized and accepted by the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, many Syro-Malabar Catholics do attend Mass in their local Parishes using the Latin Rite because their own Mass is not always available.

ST THOMAS

The Syro-Malabar Church traces its history back to St Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles. It is said that he landed in Kerala, India around the year 52, and began founding Christian communities. It is believed that St Thomas was martyred about twenty years later by a fanatic Hindu priest. The Feast of the Martyrdom of St Thomas is kept as a day of obligation for the Syro-Malabar Catholics. As the early Church in India was outside the Roman Empire it had little contact with the Roman Catholic Church that was very influential in the West. Instead it was linked with the Church that was formed in the nearby Persian Empire which later came to be known as the East Syrian or Chaldean Church. For many centuries the Syro-Malabar Bishops were Syrians who had been appointed by the Patriarch of the Syrian Church and sent to serve in India.

A DILEMMA

In 1498 Portuguese explorers led by Vasco da Gama landed in Kerala and were surprised to discover an established group of Christians living along the West Coast of India. As it was so different to their own, they did not recognize the Christian worship that they witnessed in Kerala and assumed that the Church had somehow fallen into error over the years. So they tried to make them adopt the Latin Rite of the Church in Rome. This caused a great dilemma in the Indian Church, and caused many arguments but eventually Pope Leo XIII declared that the Rite of the St Thomas Catholics would be separate from that of the Latin Catholics for those who wished to retain their Syrian traditions. Eventually the Syro-Malabar Church split from the Syrian Church and became a branch of the Roman Catholic Church.

MODERN TIMES

Following the migration of many of its families the Syro-Malabar Church today is worldwide. There are four million faithful living in fve Archdioceses as well as fifteen dioceses in Kerala and twelve outside Kerala. There are already ‘virtual’ dioceses in Chicago in the USA and in Melbourne, Australia to serve the Keralite communities there. Worldwide, the Syro-Malabar Church is served by 7,000 priests and 30,000 nuns and there are currently around 2,300 seminarians preparing for the priesthood to serve the Church in the future. The Church runs over 3,500 schools, 180 colleges and 580 hospitals and clinics. It supports hundreds of charitable institutions, and numerous other organizations. St Alphonsa, St Kuriakose Elias Chavara, and St Euphrasia, who have been canonized within the last ten years, all belonged to the Syro-Malabar Church.

AN EVANGELISING CHURCH

The last thirty years have seen a growing influx of immigrants from India to the British Isles. More than 38,000 Syro-Malabar faithful now live in England, Scotland and Wales. They are concentrated mainly in the big cities like London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. There are twenty-three Syro-Malabar priests working in the UK, these have been coordinated since 2013 by Dr. Thomas Parayadiyil, MST. They provide Masses in the Syro-Malabar rite and have also established catechetical programs for adults and children. Many groups of families meet together regularly to pray and support one another as they try to live out the call of Jesus to spread the Gospel message to those who do not know him. Traditionally this has been through running evangelising retreats for families and young people and this continues today in many countries, reaching out to their friends and neighbours.

A NEW BISHOP

Preston, a small Lancashire town in the Diocese of Lancaster, will be the headquarters of the new diocese and the residence of the new Bishop will be there. Fr Joseph (Benny Mathew) Srampickal will move to Preston from Rome where he has been the Vice Rector of the Pontifcal Urbaniana College of the Propaganda Fide. A new Cathedral in Preston will be dedicated to St. Alphonsa for the diocese. Please pray for Fr Joseph Srampickal as he is ordained Bishop of the new Diocese of Preston and for all Syro-Malabar Catholics who are working to spread the Kingdom of God. St. Thomas, Pray for us.