Pastoral Letter of the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, Mar Raphael Thattil, on the occasion of the Feast of Dukrana and Syro-Malabar Sabhadhinam

The July 3rd, the day of the martyrdom of St. Thomas the Apostle, our Father in faith, is celebrated in our Church as the Feast of Dukrana. Our Church that began its growth through the proclamation and martyrdom of this courageous Apostle celebrates Sabhadinam on this same day. For us, the members of the Syro-Malabar Church, this commemoration and Sabhadinam are an occasion for expressing gratitude, self-examination, and the renewal of our mission.

Following the example of St. Thomas the Apostle, a Christian way of life that bears witness to the faith holds great significance in the contemporary society.In this age of superficial knowledge and baseless arguments, the Gospel we proclaim will bear fruit only if it springs from a heart, filled with the love of God. It was as an expression of love from his heart that St. Thomas the Apostle gave his personal testimony, distancing from his doubts. The proclamation of faith “My Lord and my God” was a testimony of the Apostle’s personal relationship and deep love for Jesus. The Dukrana of our Father in faith becomes meaningful when each one of us is able to proclaim the truth of the resurrection of Jesus with a heart full of love, amidst crises of faith and uncertainties. Only by enduring the shame and pain of the Cross can one partake in the glorious experience of the Risen Lord. May the holy wounds that St. Thomas, in deep faith, identified in the glorious body of the Risen Christ, give us inspiration and energy for witnessing faith in our life’s journey.

We have been celebrating July 3rd as the Syro-Malabar Sabhadinam for years. Let us make use of this opportunity to thank the Lord for the blessings He has showered on our Church and to pray that the clouds of divine grace may shelter all our activities. It is through sacrificial historical paths that the Syro-Malabar Church has grown to the stature of a Major Archiepiscopal Church. The boundaries of our pastoral interventions have been spread from Kerala to the whole of India and from India’s borders to various countries. It is a matter of joy that the priests, religious sisters, and the laity belonging to the Syro-Malabar Church are witnessing the faith in all parts of the world, which they received from their mother Church. This reality reminds us both of our pastoral responsibility and the immense possibilities that lie ahead of us. The declaration of St. Paul, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16), holds profound relevance for the Syro-Malabar Church. The priests, religious, and lay missionaries whom God has graciously given to our Church must continue to go forth into the mission territories to proclaim the Gospel and to administer the sacraments, even in places where such possibilities are currently limited or absent. In this way, our Church must always remain a missionary Church. It is the need of the hour that eparchies, religious congregations, and lay missionary organizations prepare themselves for reorganization in this field.

According to the statistics presented at the Synodal Session held in January 2025, a total of 283 seminarians from our Church received priestly ordination last year, both from eparchies and institutes of consecrated life. Within the Syro-Malabar institutes of consecrated men, 132 candidates made their first profession, while 145 made their perpetual profession. In the Syro-Malabar institutes of consecrated women, 272 candidates received the religious habit and made their first profession, and 338 sisters made their perpetual profession. In addition to these are the sons and daughters of the Syro-Malabar Church, who by joining the dioceses of other Churches sui iuris or the religious institutes of thee Churches have been ordained or professed their vows.  I share these statistics with you in a spirit of deep gratitude for the abundant blessings that God continues to bestow upon our Church. It is also a call to prayer, especially for our priests, consecrated men and women, and lay missionaries who, in many cases, serve amidst hardships, even facing threats to their very lives. It is my earnest desire that the ecclesial community as a whole may take concerted efforts to identify, encourage, and nurture those who are capable and willing to respond to priestly and religious vocations.

The Universal Church and society were saddened by the passing away of His Holiness Pope Francis on 21April 2025. Participation in the papal funeral service on 26April was a profound spiritual experience for me. I also had the opportunity to celebrate, along with a few bishops of our Church, a memorial Qurbana for the late Pope Francis at the Mary Major Basilica in Rome, where the late Pope was interred. The diseased Pope loved the Syro-Malabar Church.  Let us gratefully remember that it was Pope Francis who granted us pastoral jurisdiction all over India, expedited steps for establishing our own pastoral structures in the Gulf countries, and entrusted to us the Minor Basilica of Santa Anastasia in Rome for the spiritual needs of the faithful of our Church. The paternal interventions made by the Holy Father for nurturing the unity and communion in our Church were indeed expressions of his deep paternal care for us. Following the spirit of synodality, he taught us to walk together by listening to one another and embracing each other. Remembering this venerable Holy Father, who guided us with such wisdom, I offer the love and homage of the Syro-Malabar Church with a heart full of gratitude. Let us continue to pray for the eternal rest of His Holiness Pope Francis.

The newly elected Pope Leo XIV is a gift from God to the Church. During the first days of his pontificate itself, Pope Leo could capture global attention through his clear stances on various issues and his dialogue with the world and the Universal Church. One of the most significant interventions concerning the Eastern Churches took place on 14May 2025. On that day, while addressing the Heads and representatives of the Eastern Churches gathered in Rome for the Jubilee celebrations dedicated to the Eastern Churches, the Holy Father delivered a speech that clearly outlined his pastoral approach toward the Eastern Churches. Pope Leo XIV affirmed that the Eastern Churches are integral to the communion of the Catholic Church. He emphasized the importance of respecting and preserving their unique identity, committing to safeguard their traditions, and honouring the diversity of their liturgy and ecclesiology. His message served both as encouragement and as recognition of the distinctiveness of the Eastern Churches.During the special audience granted to Heads of the Eastern Churches on the same day, I had the opportunity to meet the Holy Father personally and convey the prayerful greetings of the Syro-Malabar Church. We, the children of St. Thomas the Apostle, have received a unique opportunity to move forward as an active presence in the Universal Church while remaining faithful to our Eastern traditions. As the Holy Father has said, as an Eastern Church, we can collectively strive to be a light from the East in the modern world bearing witness to the ancient faith. Let us earnestly pray that the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, who is the Vicar of Christ on earth and the successor of Peter, may be blessed with the strength and the light of the Spirit to fulfil faithfully the immense responsibilities entrusted to him.

Dear brothers and sisters, as I have already mentioned at the beginning, the profession of faith by our Father, St. Thomas the Apostle, was a proclamation that emerged from the depths of his heart, evolved from a personal bond with Jesus. The importance of such a heartfelt connection, both in our personal spiritual lives and in the life of the Church, is powerfully emphasized in Pope Francis’ encyclical “He Loved Us” (Dilexit Nos), published in October 2024. Through this encyclical, the Holy Father teaches us that the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the supreme model of unconditional and total love, a love that invites us to live in communion with God and with our fellow human beings, thus leading us into a life that is truly authentic and complete. The indifference, neglect, and superficiality we witness in today’s world are, in fact, reflections of the emptiness that is growing in the human heart. It is only by uniting the hearts with the heart of Jesus that it becomes possible to reconcile the differences in the society and to renew the human race. Therefore, the renewal of our communities must begin with the personal renewal of each of our hearts. It is only by starting from the heart that our communities will succeed in uniting and reconciling differing minds and wills, so that the Spirit can guide us in unity as brothers and sisters (No. 28).This renewal of the heart can be possible only if we turn towards the Sacred Heart of Jesus, without relying excessively on our own capabilities. It is in the Sacred Heart that we truly discover ourselves and learn to love (No. 30). Therefore, if we desire change, it must begin with the renewal of our hearts. For a genuine renewal of our families and ecclesial communities to take place, each individual must set aside prejudices and personal preferences, establish a relationship with the Heart of Jesus, and through the spiritual awakening received from it, embrace the spirit of fraternity and unity.

I extend the greetings of the Feast of Dukrana and the Sabhadinam to all. May the intercession and blessings of our Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. Thomas the Apostle, and all the saints and blessed be with us and all our endeavours!

Major Archbishop Mar Raphael Thattil

Given from the Major Archiepiscopal Curia at Mount St. Thomas, Kakkanad on June 20, 2025.