Beyond Diaspora – Integration or Disintegration ?

Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas

To think about ‘Beyond Diaspora’ is not to forget about the present, which is not yet happily settled, and still trying to figure out what to do under the present circumstances of Kerala Christian Diaspora and other Christians from India including the Marthomites. Actually, there are no studies conducted by any of the main denominations in Kerala into the future of Diaspora Christians from Kerala and it is a still a grey area to begin with. It is a reality that Diaspora Christians from Kerala are all over the world and they have established parishes in many countries and the y are provided with pastoral care from their respective parent denominations. In very limited cases, priests born and brought up in a Diaspora context also serve these Diaspora communities including few congregations dedicated to English speaking generations of these Diaspora Christians from Kerala. But the question is how far the facilities provided to Diaspora Christians and their younger generations by their mother denominations enable them to continue their loyalty to their denominations and at the same time continue in the faith and practices of their respective denominations. Without defining or studying the issues of Diaspora Christians facing now, it is futile to think about the concept of ‘Beyond Diaspora.’ Let me try to define the issues faced by D iaspora Christians from Kerala, especially the Marthomites and how they can move together and then look ‘Beyond Diaspora’ and into the future of Diaspora Christians from Kerala.

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Mar Theodosius, Rev. K. E. Geevarghese, and Dr. Mathew T. Thomas, wrote an article ‘Where Do We Go from Here?’ It was published in the Mar Thoma Messenger in January 2014 (Page 27); it has discussed how we can bring back the younger generation who left the Mar Thoma Church in the Diocese of North America and Europe. It is noteworthy to mention the important things, which need to be done on an urgent basis to stop the exodus of younger generation from the Church, as stated in the article.

1. Preserving timeless traditions while adapting to changes;

2. Easing tensions between the earlier and new generations;

3. Initiating adequate counseling facilities for new generations;

4. Enhancing communication between the parent church, diocese, and parishes;

5. Negating identity crisis from within and without by educating our community and community around us about what we are and who we are;

6. Identifying mission in the neighborhood;

I believe the above issues can be categorized into mainly three areas and involving four distinct groups of people.

Firstly, the main issues are between the earlier firstgeneration immigrants and their parent Churches; se condly, issues between the first -generation immigrants and subsequent generations, and thirdly, issues between Diaspora Christians from Kerala and local community around them. The four groups of people involved in these issues are the earlier first-generation immigrants, parent denominations, subsequent generations, and community around them. Hence, when we discuss ‘Beyond Diaspora,’ we should be thinking about bridging the gap between these four groups of peoples by sorting out the issues between them and finding the ways to address them in meaningful ways so that each group can live without any conflicts and in harmony with the other groups.

The issues between the earlier immigrants and their parent Churches are alienating several of first-generation immigrants from their respective Churches. It is to be noted that the earlier immigrants are the one who struggled hard to establish parishes in these regions, among the difficult life situations and adjusting to an entirely different culture. They kept their faith and loyalty to their Churches and established parishes and finally established dioceses of various denominations. Now after almost 50 years of establishing congregations and parishes, these earlier immigrants and parent Churches still find it difficult to accommodate each other, especially with their younger generations by understanding the needs and means to address them. This is resulting in tensions between the earlier immigrants and their parent Churches, which is reflected in parishes on a daily basis.

One of the main issues that led to the misunderstanding is that the earlier immigrants believe that they established the congregations and parishes without much blessings from parental Churches, and now once they are established, parental churches are controlling their affairs without giving any importance to laity, especially those earlier immigrants. Most of the earlier immigrants think that parental Churches are using them and their parishes as a source of income for parental Churches to spent in India for building structures, without doing anything effectively for them or for their new generations. They also believe that they are not given any adequate representations in the different central decision-making bodies of parental Churches. Parent denominations and the earlier immigrants must engage in meaningful studies and conversations with each other and sort out their differences or misunderstandings and how they can move together into the future.

The issues between the earlier immigrants and subsequent generations are mainly based on the cultural differences under which they lived or are living now. Parents lived in an entirely different culture especially in their motherland, in India, and still struggling to adapt to the culture in which they are living now. The subsequent generations either grown up in the new countries or born and raised in the countries in which they now live, but do not have any loyalty or understanding or affinity towards the culture of their parents. This distinct attitude of each group resulted in a cultural conflict between the two, which led majority of the subsequent generation to walk out of the doors of parishes of Diaspora Kerala Christians. The earlier immigrants believe that parental churches are not doing anything to stop the exodus of subsequent generation from these parishes. These new generations blame it on the ill-equipped pastors, who are sent from India to minister parishes here, especially the English only speaking generations, the lengthy monotonous liturgy repeated every Sunday, language of worship, and sermon etc. The earlier immigrants thought that if young people among them came forward to be trained and join the fold of ordained ministry, it might solve these problems. Even though several Diaspora Christians from Kerala have youths ministering in their parishes as pastors or as Youth Chaplains, but they failed to meet expectations of the earlier immigrants and the subsequent generations are not completely happy about it too.

According to many second and third generation Kerala Diaspora Christians, our reputation as Diaspora Christians living in Western countries is that of uncompassionate culture warriors, quick to shout about LGBT community or abortion or political issues and ideologies, but slow to show grace and mercy in our everyday lives to others. These ungraceful acts of the earlier generation have far more power to damage the reputation and influence among fut ure generations, than anything, which can damage them from outside. How we can be a true witne ssing community to our younger generations and also to the community in which we are living? The concept of missions beyond the diaspora refers to the notion that diasporic believers are not only called to reach their own generations and peoples but are also to be involved in cross-cultural missionary work. Many Westerners are not aware of the fact that there are a large number of followers of Jesus who are migrating to the West from other countries especially from Asian countries including India, with some understanding of themselves to be on a mission in their new homelands. ‘Mission is from everywhere to everywhere’, according to Jesus when he asked us to be the missionaries to the end of the world.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life recently released an important report on the religious affiliations of migrants in the United States. Of the 43 million foreignborn people living in the United States, an estimated 32 million (74%) are Christians. The U.S leads all other countries as a destination for international migrants. This is an opportunity for Kerala Diaspora Christians to reach the unreached who have migrated into our neighborhoods. Many of the world’s unreached people have migrated to the West, which is a God-given opportunity to do God’s mission among such people. Many strangers next door are mission fields for evangelism. It seems that our parishes lost this opportunity or not yet fully used it in our newly adopted countries as Diaspora Christians from Kerala.

The concept of mission beyond diaspora refers to the notion that diasporic believers are not only called to reach their own peoples but are also to be involved in crosscultural mission. I believe this is the great calling of Diaspora Kerala Christians to reach out to our own generations and also to reach out to communities and neighborhoods in which we are living and where our parishes are established. Reaching out should be our focus and mission for the future and also important to attract our younger generations to the fold of Kerala Christian Diaspora. It is encouraging to note that various denom ina tions are actively involved in various local missions in collaboration with other faith-based organizations. But it seems that parishes and its members especially the ea rlier generations are not inclined to get deeply involved in these missional activities. This is equally true of our subsequent generations, since only a very few percentages of our younger generations are actively involved in local mission activities of their parishes or Dioceses.

As stated above, out of the 43 million foreign- born people living in the United States, an estimated 32 million (74%) are Christians. What about the Christians who were born and brought up here? According to studies conducted, the attendance of mainline denominational churches in United States are declining rapidly. As a Diasporic community, it is the responsibility of Kerala Christian Diaspora to rea ch out to other communities in which we live and be the witnesses of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are trying to remain within our own cultural boundary, neither go out of it or let others to enter in to it. We live and work in a multicultural society on a daily basis and interact with people of different cultures and religion from around the world, who have migrated here like us. But look at our parishes, do we allow Christian believers from other cultures to a ttend our services? We need to cross the cultural boundary to be the true witnesses of our Lord and that is what really expected from a Diasporic community like us. We need to move from the center to the periphery.

The Institute of Faith and Life of the Catholic Church, an organization based in California, published a study titled, ‘Ministry in Multicultural, National/Ethnic Parishes.’ It is by Ken Johnson Montragon; he sheds light on how to minister to multicultural, national, and ethnic people. Kerala Christian Diaspora Denominations had never done any such studies and it is high time that we address the issue of ministering to our own younger generations and also to the multicultural, national, and ethnic Christians by conducting our own research studies. In the above study, it is stated that in an effort to foster ministry that is responsive to the new cultural landscape of immigrants from various cultures forming about 20% of Catholic Churches (not counting their children), they have articulated pastoral ministry that includes provision of ministry and services in the native languages of the people and also to be attentive to the needs of the younger generat ions who have the challenge of maturing in the midst of two cultures – neither of which are entirely their own –can make it difficult for them to feel at home in a Church.

Culture creates a shared identity and establishes boundaries of a human group by defining behavior patterns that allow individuals to feel confident when relating to other members of a group. It is both learned and in a constant process of being created as it is passed from generation to generation. As manifestation of culture, language cuts across all levels of culture. Each group must develop a cultural competency and also a language that is understandable to each other, which will enable them to interact with other groups comfortably and confidently. Unfortunately, the cultural heritage, the language and culture of the ancestors of the earlier immigrants do not find any place in the subsequent generations. They are living in between two cultures – one of their parents and the other one of the societies in which they are living, which is often described as a melting pot of different cultures. This ca uses an acculturative stress in the younger generation of Diaspora Ch ristians both within the family and church context. This tension leads to several unhealthy trends among us both in family and in our faith life.

In order to keep their Christian identity, the younger generation is struggling hard in a society they are living. At the same time, they are facing cultural conflicts from their parents. There should be earnest efforts for cultural tra nsition and cultural assimilation for these two distinctive groups in our parishes, namely the earlier immigrants and the subsequent generations. Melvin L. Varghese, in his research study titled, ‘The Relationship Between Relig ious Support and Acculturative Stress in Second Generation Asian American Christians,’ published in August 2011, points out the conflict between this cultura l transition and cultural assimilation and the consequent stress occurring in second generation Asian Christians. His study concluded that religious support plays a prominent part in reducing the acculturative stress among second generation Asian Christians. Hence, the role of Kerala Christian Diaspora believers is to play a significant part, when they think about ‘Beyond Diaspora’ and how to integrate, assimilate, and transition into the culture of our subsequent generations.

Katherine Marshall – the executive director of the World Faiths Development Dialogue, in a paper titled “Religion, Refugees, and Diaspora Communities in the United States,” in partnership with the Pluralism Project at Harvard University – in May 2016 observed: “The United States is often described as a nation of immigrants, but certain groups, often because they have arrived relatively recently, maintain particularly strong ties with their place of origin; they are commonly referred to as diaspora communities. All arrive with cultural and religious heritage and practices that shape American culture continuously. Familiar services like grocery stores, restaurants, health centers, and places of worship established by diaspora communities are part of the American social fabric.”

Religious beliefs, practices, and institutions play important roles in many diaspora communities including Kerala Christian Diaspora. Immigrants have long played an important role in shaping the religious landscape in the United States. The Hart-Cellar Immigration Act of 1965 notably diversified the racial and ethnic background of immigrants in the United States. Coming largely from Latin America and Asia, these immigrants also transplanted their home country’s religions into new neighborhoods; they either integrated into native congregations or established new churches, temples, and mosques.

Professor Helen Rose Ebaugh, a sociologist and founder of the Religion, Ethnicity, New Immigrants Research project in Houston, Texas, succinctly summarizes central issues of Diaspora communities: (a) the central role religious institutions play in the reproduction of ethnic identity; (b) the role of religion as an agent in the incorporation of immigrants into American society; (c) congregationalism as the primary form of organization; (d) conflict and segregation within multiethnic congregations; (e) the relationship between the second generation and immigrant religious institutions; (f) the role and status of immigrant women as impacted by their religious congregations; and (g) transnational religious ties between immigrants in the United States and their home communities.

The above study also points out the fact that “Religion and congregations have played a role helping immigrants settle and adapt, but immigrants have also transformed religion in the United States. Christianity provides the easiest route to assimilation; however, increasing diversity within and outside religious communities in the United States allow immigrants, in many cases, to revitalize and/or transform religious institutions and even theology. Rather than simply transplanting religious structures they bring with them; immigrants adapt to social conditions.”

All of the above studies points to the future of Diaspora Christians and their integration into Western culture and adapting to it without losing the rich heritage and faith of their ancestors who immigrated to other countries for various reasons.

To conclude, where we go from here as Diaspora Christians from Kerala living around the world? Are we going to integrate with the local community at the same time keeping our rich heritage, faith and practices or we are going to disintegrate and vanish into the local community around us? Are we going to be like the 10 lost tribes of Israel? The ten tribes of Israel and Judea occupied by the two tribes assimilated into the local community and lost in the history. This is the question we need to ponder upon as we move forward and to watch our generations in the years to come.