Changanacherry, October 8, 2019: An archdiocese in Kerala has expressed serious concern over the “alarming drop in the birthrate of Christians in the southern Indian state.
During Kerala’s formation in 1956, Christians were the second largest community in the state. But now they are the third with only 18.38 percent of the state’s total population, points out a pastoral letter issued by Changanacherry archdiocese.
“In the recent years, the fertility rate of the Christian community decreased to 14 percent. It is an alarming situation among the Christian community,” reads the pastoral letter signed by Archbishop Joseph Perumthottam.
The pastoral letter was read out in all parishes and church institutions under the archdiocese during the Sunday Masses on October 6.
“As per unofficial data, over one lakh (100,000) Christian grooms, above the age of 30, under Syro Malabar Church, are facing difficulty in finding their life partners. Most of the Christian youths are living as NRIs. Unemployment is the main reason and unemployment largely inside the Christian community,” said the pastoral letter.
The letter also pointed that all sectors in the Christian community are facing serious issues. The farming sector is largely destroyed in the state. The rubber, fisheries and small-scale industries are facing a huge crisis and it is affecting the Christian n community, said the pastoral letter.
The Church plans to publish a book that studies the issues faced by the Christian community.
Source: The Times of India