The Syro-Malabar community in Sydney has been quickly growing since the first Mass in the Eastern Catholic Rite was celebrated on Australian soil in the early 1980s.
India’s large migration numbers to Australia has made it the nation’s second largest overseas community and has led to the recent consecration of a new St Alphonsa Syro-Malabar Cathedral, located in the northern Melbourne suburb of Epping, that can house more than 1000 people.
Sydney’s West has also benefited from this flourishing community, with the church’s ancient liturgy and colourful culture bringing new life into many Catholic parishes.
The Christ the King Syro-Malabar Mission community in Holsworthy showed off its rich tradition with the recent celebration of the feast of Christ the King on 24 November.
Around 700 people attended the celebration which took place across nine days preceding the feast at St Christopher’s Catholic Church.
In the wider Syro-Malabar tradition, feast days are known as “perunnals” and are celebrated with great festivities, including large-scale processions, carnivals, fireworks and cultural programs.
“The feast of Christ the King is the biggest feast celebration in our church community, and it is a means for all to come together and both praise God, and spend time celebrating our faith and traditions,” said Fr Jerin Arimboor Jacob, chaplain of Christ the King Mission.
“Qurbana, or Holy Mass, was celebrated on all days with a nine-day Christ the King novena.
“On the Sunday, there was a procession following the Mass and all attendees were invited to participate in the ‘snehavirunnu’ meal and activities run by the youth.”
The snehavirunnu meal or “feast of love,” is a meal shared after the liturgy and includes time of faith and fellowship.
This community-building tradition was one of the many unique rituals on display over the course of this important day.
“Main feasts, or ‘perunnal’ as it is known in the Syro-Malabar traditions, always start with a ‘kodiyett’ or ‘raising of the flag’,” explained Fr Jerin to The Catholic Weekly.
“This is a notice that the preparation for the feast as begun.
“Other rituals included the ‘presudhendhi vazcha’ or the ‘Blessing of the Presudhendis’, members of the community who provide offerings to run the feast days.”
Fr Jerin was one of a number of clergies who attended the liturgy including Somascan Fr Chris de Sousa CRS, assistant priest of St Joseph’s Moorebank and St Christopher’s Holsworthy, and Fr Salas Muttathukattil, parish priest of St Christopher’s Panania, who was the main celebrant for the Holy Mass.
Christ the King Syro-Malabar Mission is part of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of St Thomas the Apostle in Melbourne, just one of four outside of India, with the others being in the UK, US and Canada.
