Friday, March 29, AD 2024 6:55am

Catholicism Flourishes in Kerala

Luca Fiore of Oasis magazine wrote an article on the Christians in Kerala titled, The Amazing Secrets of Kerala.  I will briefly summarize this article presented by the eloquent Sandro Magister of Chiesa.

Legend has it that Saint Thomas the Apostle arrived and preached in Mylapore, India, not far from Madras, where he suffered martyrdom and where his tomb is kept today.  Prior to his martyrdom Saint Thomas arrived in Kerala at about A.D. 52.  The Christians in south west India called Thomas Christians due to the missionary efforts of Saint Thomas.

St. Thomas the Apostles Tomb Chennai Madras

The Christians in Kerala are of the Syro-Malabar Rite within Catholicism and they constitute up to 20% of the population, where in the rest of India Christians are just a bit over 2%.  Kerala is a pluralistic society where the majority of residents are Hindu, Muslims make up 25%, and Christians 20%.  All the faiths live in peaceful harmony which is unlike some parts of India.

The state of Kerala is somewhat of an anomaly in India.  With relative peace among the different faiths, Kerala also has the highest literacy rates in the country, over 90% compared to roughly 65% to the rest of India.  Another exception is that Kerala is also the only government with Marxists in control.  This coming from a state where the majority of the schools, from elementary to university levels, are predominantly Christian.

Conversions are not common, but when they occur, there is normally no violent reaction whether they convert to Christianity from Hinduism or Islam, though Pentecostals are the most militant and cause the most disturbance among the residents of all faiths.  There are many reasons for conversion to Christianity, some convert because of the communal aspects of worship which is lacking in some Hindu strains.  Other convert due to the love the converts witness that is carried out among Christians.  But there is no definitive evidence of the major reasons behind conversions.

Kerala does suffer violence amongst the faiths, though the majority are between Hindus and Muslims, and overall, no one has died from any religious violence.  The violence that does exist towards Christians come from the many conversions of the untouchable caste of Hindus which has provoked some resentment.  This resentment is primarily from militant Hindus such as the notorious BJP party of India and their military branch, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.  As for the Muslims, they remain the exception to the Muslims in the rest of India.  They speak a mixed Kerala dialect and Arabic, wherein the rest of India’s Muslims mostly speak Urdu.  So they are cocooned from the fanatacism that infests the rest of India’s Muslims.

Education seems to be the common denominator that keeps the religious fanaticism to an absolute minimum.  Most of this can be attributed to the Catholic Church.  Even prior to the arrival of the Portuguese, Kerala already carried a rich educational tradition that started from the first converts learning Syriac, which eventually blossomed to the establishment of schools and an expanded on other subjects.

Religious vocations are flourishing, unlike the rest of the industrialized world, to the point that I can personally know two priests of the Syro-Malabar Rite that are in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston (probably more if I bothered to do any research).  The reasons given are not necessarily the learning of secular subjects at school, but mainly due to the education received at home!  Especially to devout Christian families.

“there are still many families who are deeply devoted to religion and have a profound respect for the vocation to priesthood. As a result they do not try to stop their children from undertaking this path a priori. It must be said however that even here the numbers are slowly diminishing”.

Large vocations help staff hospitals and schools as well as provide parish priests.  Unlike here in the United States where Catholic schools are closing down because of the expense of having to hire lay staff members instead of providing a teaching vocation to nuns, brothers, and priests.

Keep note that all of the schools and hospitals are open to Hindus and Muslims.  And because of the commitment to social justice causes that the Catholic Church provides, orphanages, rest homes, and publications are kept fully staffed for the general public.

To read the complete story that this posting is based on by Luca Fiore of Oasis magazine click here.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
9 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
DarwinCatholic
Thursday, October 8, AD 2009 1:49pm

Thanks for the fascinating post, Tito.

JI
JI
Sunday, March 28, AD 2010 12:50pm

Generally speaking, there’s very little inter-religious fighting and the church is flourishing. The church doesn’t like the Communists because of their atheist agenda. The Hindu fundamentalist BJP has very little support here.

I’m proud to me a St Thomas Christian myself!

Tito Edwards
Sunday, March 28, AD 2010 12:53pm

The Saint Thomas Christians will be the ones that ultimately turn India into a great Christian nation!

sabi joseph
sabi joseph
Sunday, March 28, AD 2010 9:21pm

I am very proud,because I am an Indian malayali and a roman catholic

A.S.Mathew
A.S.Mathew
Saturday, July 10, AD 2010 7:48pm

I am from Kerala, living in the U.S. for the last
40 years. Through the persecution perpetrated by
the Hindu religious party BJP and her allies
made dramatic changes to create a solid unity in
between the Christian denominations. The Christian
Church will not grow without severe persecution,
so the equation is working well in India. The
Holy Spirit is working in full force, and millions
of people are coming to follow Christ. The Hindus
who are educated know, what the Christians have done
for them in education and social uplift. But the
crooked politicians are using the spade card of
religion, but their strategy is not working as they have planned, and they are getting discouraged every day.

The people of India, especially the Hindu community
are seeking after the truth and they are finding
the truth “Jesus Christ” and following by the thousands. Also, many miracles are taking place
all across India, and that brings a lot of non-Christians to the Christian faith.

joseph
Thursday, August 19, AD 2010 11:36am

u ignorant mathew take care of ur own catholicism first,u have enemy within before converting others.once theconverts gets education they realise the truth of god and will follow hindu way of life.

joseph
Thursday, August 19, AD 2010 11:40am

dear mathew what british couldnt do for 300 years do u think is possible to do now,this type of ignorance is making people to still follow ur religion with out reasoning,logical thinking and making money for drunkards,paedopholes.because they are ur priests

joseph
Thursday, August 19, AD 2010 11:44am

as long as america sends money your religion will survive in the world once that money stops flowing ur downfall starts

Tito Edwards
Thursday, August 19, AD 2010 11:48am

Joseph,

It’s interesting that you conflate the British Raj with missionary work.

Why are you so concerned about an extremely small minority roughly 2.3%?

Why do you feel the need to lash out at Christians as such?

You think it is money that is fueling their faith?

You have it completely wrong.

If you can’t keep this discussion civil your comments won’t get approved.

Discover more from The American Catholic

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top