The beginning of St. Mary’s Malankara Catholic Church, a center of liturgical identity, sacramental nourishment, cultural bond and faith development for the malankara catholics residing in and around of Dallas and Fort Worth counties is to be traced back to a small prayer meeting consisting of 11 families started on 14th of Nov. 1991. At this time most of these families were associated with the Syro-Malabar parish. Whenever malankara catholic bishops or priest visited Dallas, Fr. Jacob Angadiath, pastor of the Syro- Malabar parish welcomed them and made arrangements for liturgical celebrations. Thus the late Malanakra Metropolitan Archbishop Most Rev. Benedict Mar Gregorios of happy memory and Most Rev. Rev.Geevarghese Mar Timotheos, Bishop of Tiruvalla were accorded grand welcome. These two pastoral visits and periodic visits from Fr. William O.I.C ( Malankara pastor, Chicago)gave impetus to the malankrites here towards the idea and the subsequent starting of the malankara catholic mission.
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The Mission was officially inaugurated by the late Metropolitan Archbishop Most Rev. Rev. Benedict Mar Gregorios in September 1993 and Rev. Augustine Kailath O.I.C. was appointed as the first pastor of the newly founded malankara mission. Fr.Augustine’s ministry, though only for a short period, was important for the beginning stage of the community. Rev. Abraham Kadamala who succeeded Rev. Augustine in 1994 is the founding pastor of the present church building. His strong leadership mobilized the community towards securing a permanent place for worship within a relatively brief period of time. Thus today the community owns a fully paid off church building and an acre of land in downtown Garland.
Though the remodeled church building was in use from the new year of 1996 the official consecration was done only on 23rd June by Most Rev. Geevarghese Mar Timotheos, bishop of Tiruvalla. A church of their own indeed is a freedom and pride for the malankara community that had to depend on the mercy of others and go from one place to another, like ancient nomads, for liturgical and community celebrations. God bless all those who toiled hard or paid generously towards this common achievement of a malanakra parish in Dallas.
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Of course, God is The Prime Mover in all our human endeavors. However, there are secondary "prime movers". As far as the Dallas malankara community is concerned, we have to remember many prime movers with gratitude and prayers. First and foremost we offer grateful prayers at the holy memory of Moran Mar Ivanios, the founder of Reunion Movement and that of his worthy successor late Metropolitan Archbishop Most Rev. Benedict Mar Gregorios who is the founder of the malanakra catholic mission of Dallas.
We are very much blessed with the generous support and able leadership of our Venerable Malankara Hierarchy. We always look up towards the Head of our Church, Metropolitan Archbishop Most Rev.Cyril Mar Baselios for ecclesial vision and dynamic leadership. The fact that Most Rev. Geevarghese Mar Timotheos consecrated our church and that he has been sending us priests form 1994 onwards makes our relationship with His Excellency special. The parish has been blessed by the visits of Their Excellencies Geevarghese Mar Divanasios, Youhanon Mar Chrysostom and Thomas Mar Koorilos. We are also indebted to the Bethany Congregation for having given us the service of two of their priests.
But for the generous support and understanding of our local Bishop, Most Rev. Charles V. Grahmann, a malankara catholic church in Dallas would not have been possible. His Excellency, his curia and priests of the diocese of Dallas have been very magnanimous towards us. The diocese did not hesitate to recognize 32 malankara families as a full fledged parish and respect all their particular liturgical and ecclesial identities. Also, the hospitality and support from Rev. Robert Crisp and from the Good Shepherd parish, Garland can never be forgotten by the Dallas malankara community.
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Though not large in number, the Dallas malankara community is very active in almost all the aspects of parish life and ecclesial participation. We have an active program of religious instruction. There are Sunday school classes on every Sunday after the Holy Qurbana. Active involvement of our youth in church activities especially in altar service is a special strength of this community. We have a unit of the Malankara Catholic Youth Movement and also a council of Legion of Mary.
Other activities include prayer meetings in different homes on the third Saturday of every month and Malayalam classes for our youth. Aware of our special
call to be at the service of christian unity, the community takes very active interest in all the ecumenical opportunities in the area.
Special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is a notable motif of this church. Special Intercession (madhyastha prardhana) to Our Blessed Mother is invoked on every first Sunday of the month. Solemn observance of the 8 day fast (ettu nombu) in honor of the Nativity of the Divine Mother is another important tradition of ours. The parish feast is on the first Sunday after the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady.
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