Dr Robyn Andrews, a Research Fellow at Massey University and a parishioner at St Mary’s in Palmerston North, brings a unique perspective to her research on contemporary parish life in Aotearoa New Zealand.
She will also be publishing a series of more detailed pieces in Tui Motu.
This report continues the series focussing on parishioner groups in ‘migrant churches’ with Kerala’s Syro-Malabar community the focus here.
India has a close to two-thousand-year history of Christianity, dating back to when Christ’s disciple, Thomas, is understood to have arrived in India in 52 AD. India now has a Catholic population of over 23 million (about 1.6% of the country’s population) which includes Latin Rite (Roman) Catholics, Syriac Rite (Syro-Malabar) Catholics and others. Those who migrate from the Southern state of Kerala are predominantly of the Syriac Rite. When they arrive in Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ) they generally join established Roman Catholic parishes. Of the experience, one Syro-Malabar parishioner I interviewed said:
I still remember going to [the parish] that first day, in 2018, and what I have to tell about [the parish] is that it’s very welcoming – the people of [this parish]. And still I feel that. From day one, ‘til now, I feel the same. Everybody is welcoming. That’s the thing. And then we have our community, the Indian community masses there.
Like Filipinos (focussed on in the last report), these parishioners miss aspects of the Catholicism they practiced in their country of origin. They spoke about the annual pilgrimages and retreats they had easy and frequent access to in India, as well as practices around particular festivals and feast days. They also noted the difference in scale and public nature of their celebrations in India, and in the ‘everyday’ nature of their devotions, as opposed to the mostly ‘Sunday’ devotions in ANZ.
They replicate some of their practices in ANZ, for example, on Good Friday in one city parish they carry a cross up a prominent hill in procession, and then share kanji (a kind of rice porridge) with all involved. In another of the parishes, I was invited to take part in one of their pre-Christmas celebrations: Over the course of several evenings in the week before Christmas, members of the community came together and travelled by bus to the parishioners’ homes. In each, they sang carols, admired nativity scenes and blessed the home. It was a fun, noisy, festive, family event.
As well as meeting up for extra observances around church festivals such as Easter and Christmas, throughout the year these parishioners meet outside of mass, mostly in small home-based prayer and rosary groups, emulating Kerala-style family prayer units. The rosary is recited at home by family members, and school-aged children meet weekly for catechism in their Rite. I was told that in one parish they have an attendance of about 200. They run a youth group that meets twice a month lead by a lay leader and their Syro-Malabar priest. The Catholic schools are considered a blessing. As I was told, “they help ensure a smooth transition for our children into the school system while keeping them connected with our faith values”. It was emphasised that what is most important to this community is to pass on their faith to the younger generation in this new environment.
They maintain strong ties with their original parishes in India with many making annual trips back (excluding Covid-disrupted years). Children frequently celebrate their sacraments of Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation in their Indian parishes. In this way they can celebrate with their families there too, in their first language of Malayalam, and with the Syro-Malabar rituals that are most familiar and meaningful to them.
In the diocese I carried out research in, they receive good support, and more frequently now, can participate in Syro-Malabar masses once or twice a month. These are celebrated in Malayalam, the official language of the state of Kerala. The majority of time though, they participate in Latin Rite masses, in English. Several years ago, at the request of interested non-Indian parishioners, Syro-Malabar masses were twice celebrated in English so that other parishioners could better experience this liturgy. While many aspects are the same in both Rites, the differences highlighted how much these Syro-Malabar parishioners have adjusted to celebrating in the Roman Rite, and how much they must cherish the familiarity of their own masses.
There is an awareness from the Syro-Malabar community that their new parish is first and foremost a Roman Catholic parish serving the ANZ Catholic population, as this quote from a young adult interviewee demonstrates:
Because the thing is that here we have two Indian priests. Even when the Bishop came, he was telling us that, “see you have to support the local church. Without the local church you cannot survive here.” You have to support the local church in whatever ways you can.
Members of this group are doing that by serving on parish committees and taking various liturgical and ministry roles: as mass coordinators, readers, music and eucharistic ministers, as well as altar servers.
In conclusion, the faith of this group is deeply significant to them, and they are finding ways to satisfy their devotional needs in ANZ. This is achieved both through the willingness of the church of ANZ to work with them, and by drawing on their own resources as a community. As they ardently practice their faith, they add vitality to the parishes they settle into and exemplify the universality of Catholicism.
