Page 14 - Faith Connections Issue 2

ISSUE 2 JULY 2021

SYRO-MALABAR CATHOLIC FAITH IN OUR COUNTRY

By Teseline James, 3rd Grade Teacher

As a young child, I deemed the litany to be a prayer associated with food. Like most Malayali

families, we always said our night prayers before dinner, and as a child growing up outside of
Kerala, I depended a lot on context cues to decipher what was spoken in Malayalam. Hence

the response in the litany was transliterated as “we are hungry,” since right after prayer we
had our dinner. It was only years later that I realized that “Njanka veshakanu” and “Njankya
vendi abheshikyaname” had different connotations.

I am sure this story strikes a chord with some of

you, who like me, grappled with defining who we
are to our non- Keralite friends. Growing up in Pune,
I found myself explaining what Syro Malabar faith is

to my friends who assumed that I was a Goan
because of my religion, or a Madarasi because I was
a South Indian. This confusion was a blessing in

disguise as it helped me to appreciate the
uniqueness of being a Syro-Malabar Catholic. When

I relocated to the United States, this faith gave me the strength to deal with the hardships that
came along the way. I still remember singing our beautiful church hymns as lullabies to my
children when they were small babies. When my children were still little, I began praying the

Rosary with them before they went to school in order to avoid fighting among them. Praying
the Rosary was a solution that my late grandmother used with my father and his siblings. Even
if the fighting did not stop, praying the Rosary has become integral to my children.

As a Malayali who grew up outside of Kerala, I can appreciate the amalgamation of our Indian
tradition and the Catholic faith. The ‘velak’ with the St. Thomas Cross is a beautiful example of

this. Being Malayalis, the velak signifies light and as Catholics, Jesus Christ is the light of the
world. For me, this fusion is just like the St. Thomas Cross that symbolizes the Holy Spirit who
guided St. Thomas to come to Kerala to make us followers of Christ. Even though we St.

Thomas Christians have relocated to different parts of the world, we continue to cherish our
traditions and faith wherever we are.

PAGE 14 FAITH IN OUR COUNTRY EDITION | ISSUE 2