Festival of faith and Christian unity

By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic

Photography: JIM DAVIS | FC

HOLLYWOOD | A social call by a bishop turned into a singing, dancing, feasting celebration of Asian Indian Christians in South Florida.

The main event was a visit by Bishop Philipos Mar Stephanos Thottathil, head of Syro-Malankara Catholics in the U.S. and Canada. He was saying hello to St. Mary’s, the church’s only congregation in South Florida.

But the Jan. 14 event at Nativity Church grew into a cultural festival drawing people of Kerala, the historic homeland of Christianity in South India.

Catholics and Eastern Orthodox alike, they worshiped at the chapel of Nativity Church, where St. Mary’s worships on Sundays. They then filled Nativity’s parish hall for the festival.

“The Catholic Church is a beautiful garden of different flowers, each with its special fragrance,” said Bishop Philipos, primate of the Eparchy of Queen of Peace, based in Elmont, New York. “Culturally and historically, we are Indians. In faith, we are Christian.”

The bishop’s brisk, 48-hour visit was a courtesy call to the families at St. Mary’s. It’s one of 25 Syro-Malankara parishes and missions in the U.S. and Canada, with 10,000 people.

“It’s a family get-together, sharing felicitations,” he said with a smile.

About 150 people attended, even though St. Mary has only 27 families. The others came from places as far-flung as West Palm Beach, Orlando, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York.

Some were friends and relatives of the participants, like Sajan George, who'd driven his wife, mother and two children from Tampa that day.

“We’re friends with Sarah’s family,” George said, referring to Sarah Kurain, 10, who was receiving her first holy Communion. “We’re excited to be here.”

Besides St. Mary’s, the festival drew priests and women religious from Our Lady of Health Church, Coral Springs. The church, a Syro-Malabar Catholic congregation, was likewise born in India but follows a different liturgy.

The event even brought two local Indian Orthodox priests, although their churches are not in communion with the Vatican. Father Shaun Mathew of St. Thomas Orthodox Church, Hollywood, said he and Father Santhosh Thomas, pastor of St. Mary’s, often visit each other’s church.

Father Mathew added that Keralan Indians in South Florida – Catholic and otherwise – often get together to share culture and the Malayalam language of the region. “Cultural events enable the next generation to get a feel for their unique ancestry.”

Preceding the social was a Qurbono, or Mass. Bishop Philipos wore the distinctive head veil of a Syro-Malankara bishop: a short cloth cap with 13 stars for Jesus and the apostles.

Nor was the Qurbono the only sign of unity that night. During the festival, the clergy gathered around a nilavilakku, a standing lamp topped with a cross. Each man stepped forward and lighted a wick.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami, who lit one of the seven wicks, said the various traditions represented by the event were a “great sign of the unity of the Church. Jesus came for the salvation of all nations.”

He added that just as skin unifies a human body, and roots keep a tree grounded, cultural traditions can keep people healthy in America. “We can remain fully American, and fully Polish, and fully Haitian, and fully Indian.”

The two Indian Catholic churches, Syro-Malankara and Syro-Malabar, emerged from centuries of religious currents on the Indian subcontinent.  They say they were founded by St. Thomas, who came to India in the year 52, evangelized widely and was martyred there.

An infusion of Middle Eastern Catholics in the fourth century added to the mix, as did Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century. After a series of divisions and disputes, both groups of Syrian Catholics won acceptance from Rome, while keeping their distinctive liturgies.

Nowadays, with such matters settled and parishioners living in a different land, differences have faded, and Indian Christians emphasize unity rather than division.

“This is a time of great solidarity,” said Father Thomas of St. Mary’s. “Things like this (festival) bring strength and unity.”

He noted that the Jan. 14 gathering took place shortly before the ecumenical Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Jan. 18-25 this year.

The festival laid out a broad menu of cultural offerings. Some members sang while others recited poetry. The church youths performed a combination of devotional and Bollywood dance. Some even gave demonstrations of Kalaripayattu, a centuries-old martial art of India.

Food for the occasion included dry roast beef, fish curry and chicken stew, plus brown rice and Indian vegetables. Also on hand were the rice patties known as palappam.

Bishop Philipos beamed as one youth after another was called to the stage for various honors, cheered on with screams and applause from friends. “That is a sign of vibrancy here,” he remarked.

The Indian churches add to the variety of eastern Catholics in the Archdiocese of Miami. Others include Maronite, Ukrainian and Byzantine-rite churches. They came here for the same reasons that others did: jobs, freedom, opportunity, room to grow. And, of course, the warm climate.

However, the area is often a forerunner for developments in the rest of America, Archbishop Wenski noted. “Miami has been called the city of the future. And the religious landscape of Miami is the future of the United States.”

The success of the festival has prompted St. Mary's to make it an annual event, according to Gimol Thomas George, its public relations officer. She said it will be planned for the first Sunday after Jan. 14 each year.