A parish in an Indian arch-diocese established to serve a strictly endogamous communi-ty has taken the unprecedented step of permitting a member to marry a Catholic from another diocese. Sacred Heart Knanaya Catholic Church, Monippally, in the Archeparchy of Kotta-yam. Shijan Kaakkara via Wi-kimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).
The pastor of St. Anne’s Knanaya Catholic Church in Kottody, Kerala State, report-edly issued a letter of permi-ssion April 15 to 31-year-old Justin John, who was engaged two days later to Vijimol Shaji, a member of the Archdiocese of Tellicherry.
John, who plans to marry in mid-May, is a member of the Archeparchy of Kottayam, a unique ecclesiastical circum-scription in southern India for members of the Knanaya ethnic group, who for almost 1,700 years have married exclusively within their community.
Knanaya men who marry Catholics outside the archepa-rchy are usually no longer regarded as members of the archeparchy and are expected to join a non-Knanaya parish.
Indian media described the granting of permission to John as a historic step that could signal the death knell for the archeparchy’s marriage rules.