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BACKGROUND OF THE COMMUNITY IN BAHRAIN Since the early 1960s, with Fr. Eugene Mattioli as the
Parish Priest, the Catholic parishioners of Kerala used to get together for
Easter, Christmas, and New Year Celebrations at the Sacred Heart Church under the
banner of the Kerala Catholic Community. On 1st January, every year,
the 6.00 p.m.HolyMass was celebrated exclusively for the Kerala Catholics,
followed by a social gathering at the Fr. Bath Hall. In the 1970s,
an Association of Kerala Catholics (KCA)
was formed, closely associated with the Sacred Heart Parish during the tenure
of Fr. Adrian Benini as Parish Priest with Mr. P.S. Abraham as President, Mr.
J.T. Glorious as Vice President, and Mr. John Cruz as Secretary. Up until the early 1990s, the KCA was active
in promoting and providing for the needs of the Catholic Community from Kerala,
functioning under the supervision of the parish authorities during the tenures of Fr. Marcell Perumpilly and Fr. Felicio Diniz,
as Parish Priests, with office space allotted in the church premises. The KCA functioning under the Sacred Heart Parish organized
various socio-cultural events for the Catholic Community at Christmas and St.
Thomas Day Celebrations on 3rd July every year until 1992. Some of
the prime movers of these events included Mr. Mathew Sebastian, Mr. Francis
Joseph, Mr. P.P. Chakkunny, and Mr. P.C. Abraham among many others. Since the functioning of private or linguistic prayer
groups in the church premises was not an
established practice at that point in time, a group of Kerala Catholics used to
gather at Mr.John Cruz's home for prayer
meetings in Malayalam. In 1992, this group was invited to hold their prayer
sessions within the Sacred Heart Church premises, following the visit of the
mission preacher Fr. James Manjakkal. This crystallized in the formation of a Malayalam Prayer Group with a
functioning Core Group in charge of its administration. In the mid
1990s, with Fr. Felicio Diniz as the Parish Priest, Malayalam Mass (once a month
on Mondays) was scheduled under the supervision of Fr.Clarence Amirtham (OFM
Cap.). Lay parishioners helped in the
translation of the liturgy for these services. Later, Fr. Lester Mendonca and
Fr. Oswin Fernandez also helped to celebrate Malayalam Masses with the help of lay
translators. Since the year 2001, Malayalam Mass on Fridays has
become a weekly feature, with the Charismatic Prayer Services of Fridays having
been moved to Thursdays. An active and energetic Malayalam Choir has always
been an integral part of the Malayalam Community services. Some of the past coordinators of the Malayalam Prayer Group were: ·
Mr. Jaganathan
Kunjoomen ·
Mr. Tommy
Xavier ·
Mr. Abraham
John ·
Mr. Kurvilla
P.A. ·
Mr. Mathew
K. Thomas ·
Mrs.
Thresiamma Sebastian (passed away in 1994) ·
Mr. Mathew
Thomas ·
Mr. Harry
Fernandes ·
Mr. Johnny
Kuriakose ·
Mr. Babu
Thangalathil ·
Mr. Paul
Chakkalakkal ***************************************************************************** |