Tracing their faith back to Apostolic times when St. Thomas the Apostle traveled to India in AD 52 to preach the Good News, more than 300 members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Missions in Los Angeles gathered July 28-29 at Rancho San Antonio in Chatsworth to celebrate the feast day of their patroness, soon-to-be-canonized Blessed Alphonsa Muttathupandathu.
Father Jose Edassery, recently arrived from Kerala, India, presided at the two-hour Syro-Malabar rite solemn musical High Mass July 29, in which the Chaldean Liturgy is sung by celebrant(s) and congregants in the Malayalam (South Indian) language. (Until Vatican II, the language used in the Syro-Malabar liturgy was Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke in Palestine.)
Parishioners from the Blessed Alphonsa and St. Pius X Knanaya Catholic Syro-Malabar Missions --- formally instituted in 2002 shortly after the only Syro-Malabar diocese outside of India was started in Chicago --- came from as far away as Chino Hills to attend the feast day festivities. Before the missions were officially formed, the Syro-Malabar Catholics gathered monthly at St. John Eudes Church in Chatsworth to celebrate liturgy in their own rite and Malayalam language.
According to Father Paul Kottackal --- Blessed Alphonsa Mission's pastor who came from India six years ago to serve as the mission's pioneering director --- the local growth of the community has flourished with both missions within the archdiocese serving approximately 125 families.
"People every Sunday are coming here, driving maybe 100 miles," said Father Kottackal. "They participate in the liturgy and bring their children to religion class. They are very enthusiastic. Growth has been far beyond my expectations." He estimates at least 100 parishioners attend Sunday 9:30 a.m. Mass celebrated in the Rancho San Antonio Chapel.
Anand and Angel Kuzhimattathil have been attending the Sunday Mass service since they moved five years ago to Los Angeles. "It's part of our faith and keeping up the tradition and the values we have from our native place," said Anand, a software engineer for Warner Brothers. He and his wife brought their two young children, Arya and Bhavya, to the celebration which included a post-liturgy procession in honor of St. Alphonsa.
Beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1986, Blessed Alphonsa was a Poor Clare Sister from Kerala who offered up her physical suffering for the salvation of souls. Hundreds of miraculous cures have been attributed to her since her death in 1946 at age 35 from intestinal tuberculosis. A delegation of parishioners from the local Syro-Malabar missions will attend her canonization ceremony in Rome, which is expected to be announced any day now, according to Father Kottackal.
Annies Alphonsa Pottukalam, a Kerala native, said prays daily to Blessed Alphonsa. "She was so beautiful and she suffered so much for the people," said Pottukalam, who works as a registered nurse and serves as the mission's family unit president for her region in Chatsworth. "I tell my children she's an example. She was always happy."
Kurian Paliakara, one of two trustees of the mission, said the parishioners are very proud of Blessed Alphonsa and look on her "as one of us."
On Aug. 18, the Syro-Malabar community will hold a solemn celebration of St. Pius X, the patron saint of Knanaya Catholic Mission Los Angeles, at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 1241 S. Corning St., Los Angeles, beginning at 6:15 p.m. Special guests at the "Solemn Holy Qurbana" include Rev. Msgr. Abraham Mutholath, vicar general, Syro-Malabar Diocese of Chicago, and Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Solis, archdiocesan vicar of ethnic ministries. For more information on the local Syro-Malabar Missions, e-mail Father Paul Kottackal: paulkottakkal@hotmail.com or log on to www.syromalabarla.org. |