The aroma of Indian food and the sound of Malayalam songs wafted through Holy Family Church’s gym on July 27 as Louisville’s Syro-Malabar community gathered for its annual feast.
More than 200 attendees — including many dressed in colorful Indian attire — sat in fellowship around circular tables, their plates filled to the brim with traditional Indian cuisine, as the community’s children entertained with song and dance.
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is one of 22 Eastern Catholic churches in full communion with the Holy See. The local congregation, known as the Divine Mercy Syro-Malabar Mission, which belongs to the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Diocese in Chicago, worships at Holy Family Church, 3925 Poplar Level Road.
Each summer, the mission hosts a feast, said Franciscan Father George Munjanattu, pastor of Holy Family and the Divine Mercy Syro-Malabar Mission. It’s a tradition in Kerala, a southwestern state in India, where the Syro-Malabar Church originated, he explained.
“It took a while for the community to build. Now it’s flourishing”
— Julie Thomas
“In our tradition in Kerala, each church has its own annual feast. Usually that feast is celebrated under the name of that parish.”
The annual feast — which includes dinner, music and dancing — always begins with a solemn Mass known as the “Holy Qurbana” in the Catholic Church’s Syro-Malabar Rite, he said.
Each year, the celebration welcomes many non-Catholics, as well, who are interested in the celebration, said Father Munjanattu. “Even Hindu, nonreligious people also come because they like the celebration, and some of our American friends come.”
Syro-Malabar Catholics are sometimes known as “St. Thomas Christians” because of the church’s origins with St. Thomas the Apostle’s evangelizing efforts in Kerala in the first century, Father Munjanattu noted. The Syro-Malabar tradition includes more than five million people worldwide, he said.
The Syro-Malabar Rite has been present in the United States since the 1950s, but has only been in the Louisville area for a little more than a decade, he added.
In Louisville, the Divine Mercy Syro-Malabar mission began as a small community of five to 10 families that first met in the undercroft of the Cathedral of the Assumption, said Father Munjanattu.
Julie Thomas, an active member of Louisville’s Syro-Malabar community, remembers the early days at the cathedral, when the participating families would take turns hosting priests who travelled monthly from Chicago to celebrate the Syro-Malabar Rite, she said. She, her husband and her two children were one of the original families.
Over time, the arrival of Indian priests in the archdiocese — such as Father Munjanattu — gave the community a more regular celebrant for the Qurbana. Then, in 2017, the community gained a more permanent worshipping space at Holy Family.
Now, the mission — which meets twice a month — has an average of about 100 attendees for Sunday Masses and more than 25 registered families, mostly from Kerala, said Father Munjanattu.
“It took a while for the community to build. Now it’s flourishing,” said Thomas.
While in full communion with Rome, the Syro-Malabar Church has its “own history, liturgy and spiritual tradition,” said Father Munjanattu, noting that the church follows a different lectionary and a different liturgical calendar.
Additionally, the liturgy includes “a lot of singing” and “our own style of saying the prayers,” he said. “It’s a very vibrant liturgy.”
The Qurbana is spoken in Malayalam, the native language of Kerala. Most of the registered families’ older adults speak Malayalam, and the young adults and children understand the language, said Father Munjanattu.
“The parents teach the liturgy and prayers in Malayalam so they (the children) can still practice our liturgy,” said Father Munjanattu, noting that many children serve at the Masses. “We have a strong faith family tradition.”
Parents also bring their children for “traditional catechism” in the Syro-Malabar tradition before the Qurbana. More than 35 children attend these classes, Father Munjanattu noted.
Thomas is one of several parents who serve as catechists. Their classes teach the children about the prayers and feasts emphasized in the Syro-Malabar Church, such as the Divine Mercy prayer and feast of St. Thomas, as well as basic Catholic practices, like how to genuflect and attend adoration, she said.
The catechism classes are meant to teach the children alongside instruction from their parents, she said. “I tell the parents they have to teach the kids their prayers.”
For Thomas, raising her children with an understanding of the Syro-Malabar Church was important, she said. “I wanted the kids to know our culture” and “carry on our tradition.”
The members of the community also gather after the Qurbana for community time, said Thomas. The families “share a bond” and are quick to pray or cook a meal for another family when someone is sick, she added.
The priests that serve the community — Father Munjanattu and Father John Pozhathuparambil — bring the community together, she said.
“When you have good priests that are so humble, so down to earth, taking care of us, feeding us good food and getting the community together,” people want to stay, she said. “You will see them (the priests) cleaning the floors after the event.”
The registered members are supportive of one another and are very active in the mission, said Father Munjanattu. “We help each other and we love each other.”
Because the mission only meets twice monthly, the members are also registered and active in other parishes, such as Holy Family Church, he added.
Parishioners of Holy Family Church, where the mission worships, have a special relationship with the Syro-Malabar community, he said. “Holy Family parishioners love our community. We don’t distinguish — they come here, our community also helps with our fish fries, picnics. It’s like a give and take,” he said.
The Divine Mercy Syro-Malabar mission meets for the Qurbana at 3 p.m. on the second and fourth Sundays of the month at Holy Family Church.
