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The Catholic Church today consists of Western and Eastern rites based on its difference in tradition and culture. The Eastern Catholic Church of India consists of Syro- Malabar and Syro-Malankara having allegiance to the papacy in Rome. Recently Zenith reported that the place from which we have the highest number of vocation to priesthood and religious life today is South India. There is even a single parish in Kerala from which we have more than two hundred priests now working in different parts of the world. The flourishing Eastern Catholic Church of India is very much indebted to the life and mission of St. Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ.
The ancient history tells us that already from the famous Jewish kings of David and Solomon, i.e. from 1000 B.C on many Jews settled down in South India, especially in Kerala. These Jews were mostly sea-faring merchants trading on the rare south Indian spices such as ginger, pepper, cardamom, turmeric, cloves, camphor, and brought also elephant tusks, fragrant sandal wood, peacocks, monkeys etc. Many thousands of Jewish people had settled in South India with amicable relations with Indians and eventually these Jews became part of the Indian population. In fact one of the oldest synagogues in the world is at Mattancherry in Kerala. St. Thomas coming from Syria-Palestine easily spoke the Jewish language, and his language and culture ties with the Jews opened the door for the evangelization of the Jews. During the apostolate of St. Thomas, i.e. between 52-72 AD, many of these Jews embraced the path of Jesus Christ (in opposition to the Hindu paths of Bhakti, Karma, and Jnana). And the seven churches which St. Thomas founded in South India were seven Jewish settlements, mostly on river banks or sea costs. These seven original churches founded by St. Thomas are Kollam, Kodungalloor, Kottakkav, Kokkamangalam, Chayal, Niranam and Palayoor. Thus St. Thomas one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ established the Christian church already at the same time when Saint Peter and Paul founded the church in Rome through their preaching and martyrdom. Hence the apostolicity and antiquity of the Indian Syrian church or Syro- Malabar church rooted in the ministry of St. Thomas in India. Saint Peter and Paul won the palm of martyrdom in AD.67 during the reign of Nero, the Roman emperor ; and St. Thomas suffered martyrdom in 72 five years later, and two years after the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. It is interesting and illuminating to consider the ancient Indian tradition that St. Thomas brought a copy of the Aramaic or Syriac gospel to Kerala.
As years passed by, the Syrian Catholics faced many challenges in the practice of their faith and preserving their rich heritage. Then in the 16th century when the Portuguese Christians came into contact with the ancient St. Thomas Christians of South India they made futile attempts to “convert” these ancient Catholics into Latin or Roman Catholics because they could not even dream of the fact that the Syrian Catholics in Kerala has been a genuine catholic and apostolic church founded by St. Thomas the apostle just two decades after the resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. In 17th century a good number of the Syrian Catholics, infuriated by the illegal Diamper Synod decided to break away from the Catholic church. Later on realizing that, separation through historical vicissitudes and ecclesiastical intrigues from the Catholic church was a mistake, in the year 1930 two leading Jacobite-Orthodox bishops got re-united with the catholic church and accepted full communion with the pope. They are now known as Syro-Malankara catholics. The ancient Syrian Catholic church of South India which maintained inter communion with Rome even at the time of this split, patiently remaining under foreign bishops was finally blessed and rewarded. In 1896 Pope Leo XIII erected Syro- Malabar hierarchy creating three dioceses in Kerala. After the erection of the Syro- Malabar hierarchy, the growth of the Catholic Church in Kerala has been phenomenal. In fact this church is the back-bone of Indian Christianity and it now has 25 dioceses, 24 in India and one in Chicago, USA.
Syro-Malbar Catholic diocese of Chicago
The establishment of the Syro-Malabar diocese of Chicago is a historical landmark in the history of the Syro-Malabar church. This diocese was erected by Pope John Paul II in 2001 and Rev. Dr. Jacob Angadiath was appointed as its first bishop. Now there are more than 100,000 Indian Catholics following this rite in USA and Canada and the number is increasing because of the immigration of professionals. The diocese has established 8 parishes in different parts of the country and there are close to 30 missions where people have registered their names and priests of the diocese appointed to cater to their needs. ‘Kerala Catholic Mission of Georgia’ is one of the missions in the diocese. The Knanaya community has their own missions under the pastoral guidance of Knanaya priests and they also come under this diocese. Out of the 9000 families registered in the diocese 1500 families are Knanaites.
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