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HISTORY
A brief history of
the Archdiocese of Trivandrum.
The Archdiocese of Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram)
is one of the big dioceses of Kerala having a Catholic population
of nearly 2,50,000 people even after the bifurcation of
the Diocese of Neyyattinkara four years ago. The 70 parishes
and 52 Mission stations of the Diocese are grouped together
into 8 Vicariates. At present we have 90 priests, including
sick, old, suffering, working, studying, etc.
The very name of this historic city Thiruvananthapuram has
a rich meaning. 'Thiru' means Holy; 'Anantha' means eternal
and 'puram' means city. We say Jerusalem is the Holy City
and Rome is the Eternal City. Now Thiruvananthapuram is
both Jerusalem and Rome because it means the holy eternal
city.
Christianity in these parts dates from the time of the arrival
of the Portuguese in India and perhaps earlier. It is very
likely that the Franciscan and Dominican missionaries of
the middle ages who evangelized Quilon and its suburbs worked
also in Trivandrum;some of the churches of this Diocese
claim to be of pre-Portuguese origin.
With the arrival of the Portuguese but
especially with the advent of the pioneer missionary,St
Francis Xavier,Christianity spread far and wide in these
parts with the result that by the close of the sixteenth
century there where well-established Christian communities
all along the coast.But unfortunately with the suppression
of the society of Jesus this missionary enterprise came
to a close.
The second phase of the missionary enterprise
in the Diocese begins with the dawn of the present century.
The saintly Bishop Benziger who became coadjutor Bishop
of Quilon in 1900 and Bishop in 1905 was the apostle who
propagated Christianity in the Diocese through the fragrance
of his saintly life,wise leadership and unceasing assistance
to his missionary priests. In 1931 when he retired to the
Carmel Hill Monastery Trivandrum there were Christian communities
established in almost all places of the interior region
.As early as 1919,Bishop Benziger recommended the establishment
of the Diocese of Trivandrum ,but it materialized only after
his retirement.
On July 1,1937,by the Bull”In Ora
Malabarica” Pope Pius XI created the Diocese of Trivandrum
with the four taluks of Neyyantinkara,Nedumangad,Trivandrum
and Chirayinkeezh bifurcated from the diocese of Quilon
.Bishop Vincent V Dereere,ocd,Bishop of Quilon was transferred
to the newly erected Diocese of Trivandrum which was entrusted
to the Carmelites of the Flanders Province (Belgium)
In 1952 when the Diocese of Alleppey was
erected by the bifurcation of the Padroado Diocese of Cochin
,the narrow stripe of coastal parishes which formed the
Trivandrum Portuguese Mission was temporarily annexed to
the Diocese of Trivandrum with Bishop Vincent V.Dereere
as its administrator .On May ,20 1955 this territory was
definitely integrated in the Diocese of Trivandrum.
On October 24,1966 when Bishop Vincent
V.Dereere ocd,resigned from the See of Trivandrum, Bishop
Peter Bernard Pereira was the first Indian to be appointed
Bishop of Trivandrum and the Diocese passed into the hands
of the indigenous Clergy.
The Diocese is bounded on the north by the Diocese of Quilon
,on the east by the Ghats ,on the west by the Arabian Sea
and on the south by the Diocese of Kottar.
As much as 90 percent of the laity in our
Diocese of Trivandrum hail from the community of fisherfolk.
This community as a whole is impoverished and is classified
by the Government itself as one of the backward communities.
In social stratification fishermen find their place at the
lowest rank of the ladder of social setup.
These people may be poor in material resources.
But they are rich in faith. 450 years ago St. Francis Xavier
was walking along this sea-coast preaching the Gospel. In
one of his letters addressed to St. Ignatious, St. Francis
Xavier writes about this people as follows: "This region
is utterly barren and poverty - stricken. Since I came here,
I have had no rest. I have been going from village to village.
The children would not let me say my
office or eat or rest till I had taught them some prayer.
It was then that I really began to feel that such is the
kingdom of heaven. I started to teach them catechism and
I saw immediately that they were very intelligent."
This is what St. Francis expressed 450 years ago.
The turning point in the history of the
Diocese was its Golden Jubilee year in 1987, when after
a long and mature deliberation a renewal movement was initiated
by my immediate predecessor Bishop Jacob Acharuparambil.
From that time onwards the Diocese has aimed at developing
a new vision drawing inspiration from the Vatican II Council
Documents Lumen Gentium and steadily moves forward holding
aloft the biblical vision of "the Church as the People
of God". The telling example to this fact is the 1512
Basic Christian Communities. In these units more and more
lay people come forward to share responsibilities. A conscious
effort is made to read the Bible, to understand its message
and to put it into practice in day to day life. Liturgy
is celebrated meaningfully. Devotion to our Blessed Mother
is spread out through praying the Rosary. Social evils are
fought and several charitable activities are carried out.
The problems existing between the families are discussed
and solved. A smooth relationship among the parishners are
created. A serious and sincere effort is now going on in
the Diocese to bring about a radical change in the life
style of our people with the intention of transforming them
to a witnessing community of love that radiates the joy
and peace of Christ.
Today we are committed to its mission of
transforming the whole Diocese of
Trivandrum into a People of God under the able leadership
of Bishop Soosa Pakiam. This is a mission of empowering
the faithful to a deeper church, commitment to uphold human
dignity and Christian values, a mission of attaining deliverance
from oppressive structures and unjust systems; a mission
of bringing about better understanding and communion in
the Church and in the society; and above all a mission of
ushering in the Kingdom of God.
As a result of this we pray and look forward
for the emergence of a new heaven and a
new earth, for that day when a new awareness emerges based
on the eternal values, justice and peace, freedom and equality,
love and happiness.
On 17th June 2004, Holy Father Pope
John Paul II has elevated the Diocese of Trivandrum into
an Archdiocese and its Bishop Soosa Pakiam M. as its first
Archbishop.
General Civil Outline
The total population of this area would
be approximately eighteen and a half lakhs. Though there
are several ethnical groups, the common Dravidian Culture
unifies them to a great extent. Malayalam and Tamil are
the main languages spoken in this area. English is familiar
to the educated and to the socially advanced. The people
in this area are mostly fishermen, agriculturists, farmers,
construction-workers, unskilled labourers and workers in
small cottage industries. There are also a good number of
government employees and a few business men. A few thousands
are employed abroad, especially in the Gulf countries.
Trivandrum, the capital city of the state of Kerala has
always attracted people from other parts of the state. Besides
being the head-quarters of the state's civil administration,
it houses many educational institutions, both professional
and non-professional, and has a number of well equipped
hospitals and health-care centres. All these factors have
contributed towards a steady, yet mild migration to Trivandrum
from other parts of the State.
As any other state in India, Kerala too has a democratically
elected government, run by a council of ministers, headed
by a Chief Minister. Thanks to the many reforms and innovative
steps, there are amble opportunities for the people to involve
themselves and be part of the administration itself. The
three-tier participatory structure system (Panchayat - Zilla(District)-State)
introduced in the state to involve common people in various
welfare programmes and projects, though ideal in itself,
has not yielded the desired results. The widespread corruption
in Government machinary, the lethargic attitude of the common
man, the lack of dedicated leadership and clear vision and
the generaly grim economic scenario of the state have all
contributed towards the present not so bright a state of
affairs in Kerala. Nevertheless, there are signs of progress,
symptoms of growth and predictions of development which
send out rays of hope for a brighter future.
Religious Data
The total number of Catholics in Trivandrum
Archdiocese is 2,31,244, out of which 1,18,309 are male
members and 1,12,935 are female members. We have now 70
well established parishes and 52 mission stations. Most
of the people are God-fearing, deeply religious and law-abiding.
Nevertheless there are instances where Catholics have gone
away to join some non-Catholic denominations, especially
the Pentacost. In most cases, it is not so much out of conviction
that they join the Pentacost, but rather by the benefits
that they are tantalised to join such groups. In rare cases,
staunch Catholics are seen taking shelter under these denominations
for ridiculous reasons, like disagreement with one or other
parish priests or denial of some privileges they might have
expected from the Church, etc. However it is observed that
the stream of flow that was seen in later part of 90's is
not visible in early 2000.
The main trunk of the Catholic population of the Archdiocese
of Trivandrum is on the long coastal belt from Mampally
to Kollencode of the State of Kerala, and from Neerody to
Eraimenthura of the State of Tamilnadu. Along this coastal
strip, there is hardly any presence of non-catholic denominations.
But in other areas of the Archdiocese, there are Christians
belonging to C.S.I. (Church of South India), Jacobites,
Marthomites, Lutherans, Salvation Army, Pentacost, Seventh
Day Adventists, Witnesses of Yahove and the like. Of these,
C.S.I is prominent and the rest have only fugel numbers.
As far as the non-Christians are considered, there are only
two predominant religious groups, the Hindus and the Muslims.
As Hindus do not belong to a homogenious religious sect,
there is diversity in their doctrine, discipline and religious
practices. Population wise, if the whole territory of the
Archdiocese of Trivandrum is taken, Hindus form 53% of the
total population; Muslims - 27%; Catholics - 13% and the
rest of non-Catholics - 7%.
We do not have modern neo-pagans in our Archdiocese as the
word neo-pagans is understood generally. However, if that
term is understood to indicate those baptised Catholics
who no loner profess any religion, then we have some, who
under the influence of Communists ideology and Marxian concept
of religion have given up their religious practices. Their
number is less than 1000, out of a total Catholic population
of 2,31,244.
To Recapitulate the Data
Total Area : 686 Sq.km
Total Population : 18,51,462
Total No. of Families : 4,83,865
Catholic Population : 2,31,244 [Male: 1,18,309 ; Female:
1,12,935]
Total No. of Catholic Families: 52,362
Total No. of Basic Christian
Community Units : 1561
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