Chai Brady
Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil of the Syro-Malabar Church poses with children and parents during the
Syro-Malabar pilgrimage to Knock in May. The Syro-Malabar community are a bedrock of Irish society and the Church here could learn much from them, Chai Brady writes
Looking at the figures from the 2022 Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Indian community in Ireland grew exponentially in the year before the census, and this has continued to increase.
In 2022 there were 45,449 Indians – who were not Irish citizens – living In Ireland. While almost half of these Indian citizens were Hindu, interestingly almost a quarter were Catholic.
While Hinduism is one of the fastest growing religions in Ireland – with the number of adherents almost trebling from 2016 to 2022 – there were 10,624 (23%) Indians who are Catholic according to the latest census. They mostly belong to the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara communities which are two rites within the Catholic Church. This number has continued to grow, with more than 17,000 Syro-Malabars registered on the island of Ireland by 2024.
Given that just 1.5% of India’s population is Catholic, they are significantly over-represented among the Indian migrant population here. Already their colourful presence is noticeable at Irish holy sites, and also during celebrations for feast days.
The Eastern Catholic Churches are different from the Western Catholic Church by their liturgy, spirituality, discipline and theology. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is one among 23 Eastern Churches and follow the East Syrian tradition. It is in full communion with the Holy See and worldwide Catholic Church.
The National Coordinator of the Syro-Malabars in Ireland is Fr Joseph Mathew Oliakkattil who puts the reason for the growing Syro-Malabar community in Ireland down to job opportunities and living standards.
Fr Joseph told The Irish Catholic: “The student visa for higher education studies is available, and the finance for the studies is available from the financial institutions of India to a large extent. The work visa for various professions is promoted by the Government of Ireland. Now in Ireland, including Northern Ireland, we have about 17,000 registered Syro-Malabar faithful. The actual numbers are more than this.”
Asked about the occupations of the Syro-Malabar faithful, Fr Joseph said that the majority work in the healthcare sector, both in hospitals and care homes, adding: “During the Covid-19 pandemic, the committed services of the Syro-Malabar nurses were well appreciated. Nowadays there are many people of our community who work in the IT field also.”
Ministry
Fr Joseph said the community has numerous ministries, movements and associations. The ministries include: Liturgy, Catechism, Bible Apostolate and Evangelisation, Family Apostolate, Family Units (Basic Catholic Communities), Youth Ministry, Children Ministry, Communication and Media.
He explained: “We promote Sunday liturgy because it is the day of our Lord Jesus. The identity and uniqueness of our Syro-Malabar liturgy is promoted in every Mass centre. Catechism for the children up to senior cert is regular in all the Mass centres. There are 4,570 students and 577 teachers. All the teachers render their service voluntarily for the benefit of the children and the community. Altar servers are promoted in our community who serve the Eucharistic celebration. There are more than 600 altar servers in Ireland.
“The marriage preparation course is conducted three times a year for three days with a given syllabus and the average participation in a group is 50. The Knock annual pilgrimage on the second Saturday of May is a remarkable celebration of the Syro-Malabar community at national level. Youth ministry is a very challenging one and they are known as the ‘Syro-Malabar Youth Movement’ (SMYM) under the guidance of animators. It helps to develop leadership and engage the wider community.”
Xenophobia and racism
An Irish Times/Ipsos poll in May of 1,500 people, representative of about four million adults aged 18 and upwards, found that 36% identified immigration control as a source of concern – a massive increase from only 7% in 2022. At the time, 79% wanted the Government to do more to manage the issue of immigration.
When it came to asylum seekers, 73% of people wanted the Government to do more regarding the deportation of people whose asylum application failed. Also, according to the poll, there was a call for a more closed policy regarding the number of asylum seekers coming to Ireland with 63% favouring tighter restrictions.
The Irish community is alienated from their own land. The scarcity in housing facilities, the inflation and the socio-political situations make life more expensive”
Looking at the changing attitude towards migration and the possible negative feeling towards migrants themselves, Fr Joseph said that the Syro-Malabar community has not experienced targeted xenophobia to date, but he is concerned that the Irish Government’s policy around immigration and asylum seekers may “accelerate such an attitude” in Irish society.
Regarding the Syro-Malabar community, he said: “In Ireland there were no issues regarding immigration in earlier times. But the Government is accommodating a large number of refugees from other countries and provide them all kinds of facilities and security, this in one way or another affects migrant communities.
“While the Government, including the opposition parties, cater to the needs of refugees, the Irish community is alienated from their own land: The scarcity in housing facilities, the inflation and the socio-political situations make life more expensive.
“The appeasing of one community by promoting Halal food in schools is the latest example of how that affects other communities. There are a few people that think this situation is due to all migrants, as they may identify it with the refugees. This makes some sort of issues for the migrant communities, including Syro-Malabar. We don’t have any specific instances of xenophobia, but the above situation will accelerate such attitudes.”
Secularism
The number of people who reported having no religion increased to 736,210, over 14% of the population by 2022. This was an increase of 63% since the 2016 census, and of 187% since the 2011 census. There were a further 3,823 people who reported that they were Agnostic or Atheist.
Asked about the growing secularisation in Irish society, Fr Joseph said: “Secularism has affected Irish Faith life to a large extent. That is reflected in all the spiritual life of people here. The Government policies and new ideologies are a reason for that. The family bond and community aspects have decreased. Irish missionaries were the pioneers of the missionary work even in India. While the universal Church is flourishing there is a decrease in faith life today in Ireland.
The secularism and the anti-religious attitude of the people [in Ireland] has decreased the Faith life. Even though we have institutions, good leadership: there are a lot of obstacles”
“Regarding the Syro-Malabar communities, catechism, family values, prayer life etc., they are strong and well promoted. The youth and children face the situation of secularism at present, and this will continue into the future – the signs of which are seen here and there,” he added.
Looking to the future of the Church in Ireland, and how the Syro-Malabars may be an evangelising presence by their witness, Fr Joseph said: “The Syro-Malabar community is a migrant community and as an Eastern Catholic Church we acknowledge our missionary responsibility to revive the Faith in this country. The strong family relationships, real Faith life, commitment to the Catholic life, new vocations to priesthood etc., would foster the revitalisation of Catholic faith. For instance, one of our children has started his journey to priesthood and is in the seminary now.”
Fr Joseph, responding to a question about his hopes for the future, said: “The Catholic Church grew up through struggles and suffering. The secularism and the anti-religious attitude of the people [in Ireland] has decreased the Faith life. Even though we have institutions, good leadership: there are a lot of obstacles. Church-centred spirituality is to be developed and the definition of family as in the Constitution is to be regained through regular catechism, family visits, counselling, resolving the issues related to faith, making use of facilities and occasions for the revival of the Faith life.”
Administration
Looking at how they keep all their work going, Fr Joseph explained that the National Pastoral Council is the apex body of the Syro-Malabar administrative system. It is the consultative council constituted according to the teaching of the Church and adapted to the nature of the national coordination of the Syro-Malabar Church in Ireland. It comprises all the Syro-Malabar chaplains and the selected representatives from the Mass centres around Ireland to help the National Coordinator.
Regarding Syro-Malabar administration there are four regions consisting of 37 ‘Mass centres’. The Mass centres are formed mainly of a number of families and faithful and provide the facilities to deliver Mass and other spiritual assistance. The facilities for Catechism for children are also an important aspect.
Dublin has 14 Mass centres, Cork has 5, Galway, 11, and Belfast with 7. The centres span 19 dioceses, catered for by 22 priests working for the Syro-Malabar faithful in Ireland.
In each Mass centre there are basic Christian communities (BCC), consisting of 30 to 40 families and prayers and gatherings are conducted almost every month. Representatives of the BCCs are part of Mass centre committees, which include representatives from various pious associations – men and women and children. The trustees are the elected members of the Mass centres and they manage finance with the assistance of the chaplain.
The Syro-Malabars are a relatively young community, while there are not exact figures on Catholic Indians, it’s known – through CSO 2022 statistics – that the Indian population pyramid in Ireland shows that there were two main age cohorts: almost 75% were aged from 23 to 43 years and the other main cohort was children of primary school age.
It’s clear that the Syro-Malabars are, and will continue, making an important contribution to the Faith life of the Irish Church, and should be celebrated for their dedication and fervour in bringing Christ’s message – through their words and deeds – in an environment where Catholicism is in decline.
History of the Syro-Malabars in Ireland
2000
The first Syro-Malabar migrants to Ireland arrived almost 25 years ago, according to Fr Joseph, and were a team of seven nurses who started work in the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin on August 31, 2000.
Priests of the Society of St Paul facilitated Mass for them in their own language (Malayalam, a language in India mainly spoken in the southern state of Kerala) in a house in Blackrock in Dublin. Later this shifted to Tallaght, where they availed of a church for regular celebration of Mass.
2004
By 2004, when there were about 300 Syro-Malabar families in Ireland, the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil sent Bishop Gregory Karotembrayil – chairman of the Migrant Commission of Syro-Malabar Church – to Ireland. By 2005, there were a considerable number of Syro-Malabar faithful in Tallaght, Lucan, Blanchardstown, Phibsborough, Swords, Bray and in Belfast.
2006
Fr Mathew Arakaparambil, and Fr Thankachan Njaliyath were officially appointed as the priests in charge of the Syro-Malabar community in Dublin. By the next year Fr Johnson Chalissery was appointed in Cork. Chaplains began to be appointed in several dioceses across Ireland.
2014
On January 17, 2014, the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference appointed Msgr Antony Perumayan as the National Coordinator who was in charge of the faithful in Belfast. There were about 13 priests who worked for the Syro-Malabar community across Ireland serving as curates in various dioceses, both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
2016
On July 28 during the Jubilee year of Mercy, Pope Francis nominated Stephen Chirappanath, Titular Bishop of Slebte and Apostolic Visitator for the Syro-Malabar Faithful in Europe.
2024
Currently there are 128 Mass centres in Europe of which 37 are in Ireland, which now boasts 22 Syro-Malabar priests. There are 66 priests working in 14 countries in Europe – excluding Britain. From 2020-2022 Fr Clement Padathiparambil served as the National Coordinator of the community in Ireland until Fr Joseph took the reins in 2023.