As the massive wave of migration to Europe and Canada that has engulfed Kerala threatens to spiral out of control, the Catholic Church in central Travancore is exerting itself to put the brakes on the trend.
Concerned over the flatlining of its population, the numerically dominant Syro-Malabar Church is launching a drastic countermeasure to persuade its youth to remain in the State. A project launched by the Changanassery Archdiocese in this direction proposes establishing new industrial and business units by mobilising Catholic youths at the parish level.
The project to be implemented in association with the dioceses of Changanassery, Pala, and Kanjirappally, which have jurisdiction in the vast Christian belt of Kottayam, Idukki, and Pathanamthitta districts, aims to turn the labour market buoyant and draw the youth into entrepreneurship by extending technological and investment support.
It will take off with a technology hackathon in June, which seeks to convert business ideas into working models.
Commenting on the initiative, James Palackal, Vicar General at the Archdiocese of Changanassery, says the project aims at fuelling the aspirations of younger generations leaving the country in search of better opportunities.
“The Church realises that our society is losing a critical extent of its intelligentsia in the form of this mass migration. So the attempt is to facilitate their entry into industry and commerce guided by the successful entrepreneurs as well as the Church,” he explains.
Although the project will be open to all, the parish churches under the three dioceses will be the primary beneficiaries of this project.
Church sources, meanwhile, describe the development as a direct response to the falling number of youths in its parish churches in Kerala and the social crisis that it has triggered. “The increasing levels of income and education among Catholic youths have raised their aspirations to migrate as it will ensure the long-term wellbeing of families,” says a church source.
With a large number of its members settling in the wealthy west, the churches in Kerala too have established dioceses in different countries, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia.
“Migration has been an integral part of Christianity in Kerala from its beginning but the Catholic Church definitely regards the current wave of mass migration as a concern. For, this has torn many families apart and if the current trend persists, it even raises the spectre of the Christian community in Kerala staring at an existential crisis,” says Jacob G. Palakkapilly, official spokesperson, Kerala Catholic Bishops Council.
