Palai bishop urges families to rediscover roots through family trees

PALAI, Kerala (Indian Catholic News) — Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt of Palai has urged Catholic families to preserve their ancestral roots through a diocesan family tree project, saying strong families are the foundation of society and the Church amid growing pressures from individualism and digital culture.

In a pastoral letter published in the July edition of Santhwanaprakasham, the Palai diocesan newsletter, the bishop reflected on the biblical importance of the family and announced plans to compile a comprehensive diocesan family tree linking generations of Catholic families across the southern Indian diocese.

“The origin of families is from God,” Syro Malabar Bishop Kallarangatt wrote, adding that “throughout salvation history, what we encounter are the histories and events of families.”

Tracing the importance of family from Adam and Eve through Abraham and the Holy Family, the bishop said the birth of Jesus into a human family demonstrates “that God loves the family and how precious the family is.”

He also cited Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas on artificial intelligence, quoting its description of the family as “a supreme social good and the fundamental and irreplaceable cell of all social organizations.”

The bishop said technology should remain at the service of humanity, warning that “human beings must not become slaves to technological systems.” He also highlighted the pope’s reminder that parents should remain vigilant about “the dangers that can arise from children using mobile phones unsupervised by parents in this modern age.”

Families facing modern pressures

Bishop Kallarangatt described the Christian family as a place where “family members live together in unity, loving, protecting, and cooperating with one another.”

He warned, however, that many contemporary trends threaten family life.

“Thoughts against having families, couples’ decisions to live without children, excessive influence of individualism, distance in relationships between parents and children, selfish love, overemphasis on the digital world, sexual aberrations that ignore morality, and the youth’s attraction to addictions all cause internal division in families,” he wrote.

The bishop said parents bear a “grave” responsibility for faith formation, character building and ensuring the safety of their children.

He also stressed the importance of marriage preparation, saying the three-day Pre-Cana retreat provides “genuine knowledge about the sacraments, family life, mental health, sexuality, and financial management.”

“Parents must ensure that their children participate in it before marriage,” he wrote.

Preserving family histories

Bishop Kallarangatt said the Diocese of Palai consists of about 72,000 families whose histories have shaped the region over centuries. He noted that many families have migrated within India and abroad while maintaining their faith traditions.

He said numerous families have already documented their histories, recording “the origin of families, life records of ancestors, generational successions, and major events.”

“Such records help maintain unity among family members and knowledge about family roots,” he wrote.

The bishop proposed extending those efforts by creating “a comprehensive family tree linking all these families on a diocesan level.”

As part of the initiative, the diocesan Family Apostolate plans to create a fraternity of authors of family histories, collect historical publications and prepare texts for public use in the diocesan library before compiling a “Diocesan Family Tree (History of Families in the Diocese of Palai).”

Calling families the foundation of society, Bishop Kallarangatt pointed out that “The family is the backbone that has supported—and continues to support—world history. If the backbone weakens, man weakens; human existence itself comes into question.”

He urged Catholics to “sincerely cooperate with the activities of the Family Apostolate,” which coordinates pastoral initiatives supporting and strengthening families throughout the diocese.

Full pastoral letter available: In original Malayalam and AI‑generated English translation.