Our History

Migration of Syro-Malabar faithful to the United States and to Hartford began in the early seventies. Even though they were few in number, they kept in touch with each other along with other Kerala Christians during the seventies and eighties. The early nineties saw a few more families migrating to Hartford, but the flow slowly started its momentum by the late nineties. Since 1985, Malayalam Mass in Syro Malabar rite was started at St. Mary' s Church in Newington and continued by priests of the Syro Malabar rite working in the Archdiocese of Hartford, to mention specially, Fr. Joseph Parel and Fr. Cyriac Maliekal. In 1991 Papal Delegate Bishop Gregory Karottemprel visited Hartford and met with the Syro Malabar priests and faithful and later established a mission here in 1994 and appointed Fr. Thomas Puthiyidom as the director of the mission. St. Thomas Syro Malabar diocese of Chicago was erected in 2001 and the Catholic community in Hartford was officially approved as one of the Missions of this diocese in the same year by Bishop Jacob Angadiath and the mission was named after St. Thomas the Apostle.

From 1998 onwards, Church of Saint Helena and its other facilities were made available for the liturgical and other socio-cultural activities of the community. The cooperation and encouragement given by Fr. Francis P. Johnson, then pastor and the parishioners of St. Helena was unfathomable. Of course, without their support, St. Thomas mission would not have made the growth that it has achieved at this period of time.

Fr. Joseph Naduvilekutt was appointed as the full time director of the Mission on May, 2011. Realizing that faith formation was the backbone of any healthy community, he started CCD program on all Sundays with about 18 children and Holy Mass. The appointment of Fr.Francis Nambiaparambil from the diocese of Bridgeport as director to the Syro-Malabar Catholics of Hartford on August , 2013 paved the way towards the growth of the community and the number of faithful attending. Year 2014 was a specially blessed year with the visit of Mar Jacob Angadiath on the feasts of Saint Thomas and Saint Alphonsa. His Excellency celebrated solemn Qurbana  and three children from the Community received First Holy Communion and nine received confirmation. Fr. Joseph Pullikattil took charge of the Mission in February, 2015.

Recently, we started Eucharistic Adoration on the first Friday of every month with the intention of consecrating the Community to the Eucharistic Lord to guide us and direct us according to His plans. Our Mission is gifted with many talented singers and the choir sings every Sunday and on special occasions and celebrations. Besides liturgical services, there are many socio-cultural activities like  Christmas & New Year program, Annual Picnic etc.,organized by the parishioners which make the members interact with and connected to each other.

Our goal as a Syro-Malabar Mission is to have a vibrant community of faith, love and commitment. And it is hoped that as we grow in faith and commitment, we would need a place of our own to celebrate our faith and to train our future generations in the faith. Fund-raising programs were organized to achieve our dream of having a church of our own for worship and other activities. The recent successful Mega Show "Kerala Express" organized by our Men's forum along with parish council and the wholehearted support from parishioners proved without any doubt that we have the potential and the ability to do many more such programs to raise more funds to realize our long-cherished dream in the nearest future. We are a strong team of purpose, good will, and tenacity that works together to achieve any goal with God’s help. The Women's Forum tries to enliven all the women of the Community to be better and committed spouses and parents, thus transforming the home and the family into a vibrant domestic church. We are planning to form a Youth Group which would bring all the young people together and get firmly rooted in the faith through timely instruction to be the leaders of the church tomorrow. Their active involvement in the liturgy and faith formation programs heralds a bright future for the church.
 
Our Mission has a parish council comprised of twelve members. It acts as an advisory board to the director in taking all important decisions with regard to the mission. This Mission has seven family units. The members of each unit meet in the home of a family to pray together, to study the Bible and to socialize. This is a small community of about 60 plus registered families  united in love and we invite all our dear friends and families in the region who are yet to become members to join us to share the faith and tradition of the St.  Thomas Christians.