Christ the King Mission, Holsworthy

The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is one of the 22 Eastern (Oriental) Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome. It is the second largest Eastern Catholic Church after the Ukrainian Church and the largest of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations with 5 million believers. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church with its deep-rooted spirituality and high rate of vocations to priesthood and religious life can be considered the most vibrant Catholic community in the world. The origins of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church go back to Kerala, India. St. Thomas, one of the Apostles of Jesus, came to Kerala in AD 52 with a great missionary spirit and the zeal to preach the risen Christ and to baptise converts. Now the Syro-Malabar faithfuls are spread all over the world.

Currently there are 31 Eparchial Sees and one Exarchate (Canada) in the Syro-Malabar Church, of which 5 are Arch-eparchies and 26 Eparchies. All the 5 Arch-eparchies as well as 13 eparchies are within the territory of Kerala. There are 58 bishops, 9121 priests, 35000 religious sisters, 6836 religious brothers, 2907 seminarians and above all we are blessed to have 3 more saints from Kerala, St. Alphosa, St. Chavara Kuriakose and St. Euphrasia.

We, Christ the King Syro-Malabar Parish Holsworthy, Sydney, can trace our roots back to the strong foundations of the Syro-Malabar Church. Rev. Fr. Andrew Puthussery, celebrated the first Syro-Malabar Mass in 1982 in Sydney. Fr. Joseph Aikkaramattom continued this until Fr. Thomas Kuruthanam replaced him in 1992. Since the appointment as the chaplain of the Sydney Malayalee community by then Archbishop of Sydney George Cardinal Pell in 2004, Fr. Mathew Thekkedath continued his mission until 2011.

In 2011, Fr. Augustine Tharappel was appointed by Archbishop of Sydney George Cardinal Pell as the new chaplain to the Sydney Malayalee Catholic Community and he continued his services until 2015. Fr. Agustine formed a formal committee to coordinate the activities of the community and it was a time of great growth and formation for the community.

The Syro-Malabar Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle, Melbourne was announced in 2013 December 23 and the installation and inauguration of the new diocese was on 25th March 2014, the feast day of Annunciation, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Archdiocese of Melbourne.

In 2015 December Fr. Thomas Alukka was appointed as the Chaplain to Syro-Malabar faithfuls in Sydney by Bishop Bosco Puthur, the Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle of Melbourne of the Syro-Malabar. From January 2016 onwards weekly Mass and Catechism has been underway under the jurisdiction of Fr. Thomas Alukka.

Similarly, there has been great growth of the Syro-Malabar Community in many other areas across Australia under the care of Bishop Bosco Puthur.