Church to support families that multiply; fears decrease

In a bid to counter the dwindling Christian population in Kerala, the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) reiterated, the Church would support families that have more children.

"The fact that the Christian population in Kerala fell from 24% to 19% in the last 50 years should be an eye–opener for all. Hence parents should strive to bring up every human life realising that the mother's womb is a security cover given by God for the protection of life," a pastoral letter from the Thrissur Archdiocese read.

The letter signed by Archbishop Mar Andrews Thazhath and read in churches under the archdiocese restated the Church is against abortion and succinctly warned of the danger it causes to the religion. It urged the Christian “brethren to honour couples with more children."

One of many reasons for the Church’s exhortation is attributed to the increasing number of Muslims in the state. Says Stephen Alathara, spokesperson of KCBC, "While the Muslim population is growing, the Christian population is on the decline. There are fewer children these days, especially among Christians, who generally follow the two–child norm."

Christians account for 19.32% of Kerala’s population of 31.8 million people, with Hindus accounting for around 56% and Muslims 24.7%.

At the two–day meeting of KCBC in Kochi, last week, the 29 Bishops of the 24–member council, and various heads of Church dioceses cogitated on the need of creating awareness to do away with birth control methods.

According to Father Althara, the Church in Kerala would launch aggressive pro–life campaigns through its family apostolate in every diocese. "The Church would take care of the education and health–care needs of children from economically backward families, if they are willing to have more babies," he said.

Apart from free education for such families, the Church has also proposed to offer medical assistance to mothers in Christian–run hospitals. This they believe would ease the financial burden of families during childbirth.

According to an Archbishop in the state, his Syro–Malabar Church is growing the slowest, due to "young parents opting for small families and the educated and economically better off, migrating to abroad countries and choosing to have one child to ensure social security."

In the last two national censuses, taken in 1991 and 2001, the Christian community in Kerala shrank slightly in terms of population percentage.

The origin of Kerala's Christians dates back to 52 AD, when St. Thomas came to the region landing in the port of Cranganore near Cochin. Subsequently, St. Thomas established seven churches in the state.