OUR STORY

The India Catholic Association of America (ICAA) completed 60 Years on January 9, 2020.  It is the oldest active Indian Association in the Chicago area and was originally founded as the Chicago branch of the All India Catholic University Federation (AICUF) by the Rev. Matthew Thekakara, Rev Jacob Chakiamury, Philip, and Annamma Kalayil, and Dr.Jessie Tellis-Nayak. It is open to Catholics from the entire subcontinent of India.

 

In 1970, the membership of AICUF, Chicago, decided to change its name to India Christian Association., In March 1981, the association was renamed the India Catholic Association of America with a new constitution, and on July 31, 1981, it was incorporated as a Not-For-Profit Corporation under the Illinois Not-For-Profit Corporation Act.  The constitution was amended on October 23, 1999.  On March 3, 2003, ICAA obtained tax-exempt 501©(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service.

 

Like any voluntary association, ICAA has had its ups and downs.  In its earlier years, the majority of members were students and the association’s activities focused on their needs. Crossroads Student Center, on the campus of the University of Chicago, provided a friendly setting for their functions. In later years, the majority of members were permanent residents and citizens of the U.S., and before long, their children began to take an active part in ICAA activities.  Also as the number of Indian Catholics grew in numbers, the majority of members of the ICAA were Catholics of the Latin Rite who worshipped in churches in areas where they lived.  Indian Catholics of the Syro Malabar and Syro Malankara Rites have also grown in numbers and have their associations and churches.  ICAA is now part of the Latin Rite Center for Catholics of Indian and Pakistani origin located at St. Timothy  Parish, Chicago, under the Archdiocesan office for Asian Catholics.

 

ICAA has been a training ground for many Indians who have assumed leadership roles in other organizations.  In 1978 ICAA participated in the founding of the Federation of India Associations,  and in 1979, it took a leading role in the formation of the Federation of Indo-American Christians of Chicago which included 26 Indian Christian groups.  ICAA has cooperated with other organizations including the India League of America, the Federation of India Associations, the Indo-American Center, and the Indian American Medical Association of Illinois.  Today it strives to meet the spiritual, cultural, social, and charitable needs of a growing number of Catholic families of Indian descent living in the metropolitan Chicago area.

 

The following is a summary of some of the major highlights in the history of the ICAA

 

Since its inception, ICAA has regularly celebrated Holy Mass at Easter, Halloween, and Christmas, and organized recollection programs during Lent, and fun-filled picnics in the summer.  Seminars on topics of current interest have also been organized from time to time.  ICAA has organized pilgrimages to Holy Hill, Wisconsin, and Our Lady of Snows, Belleville, Illinois as well as visits the “World Alive” exhibit at the Divine Word Seminary in Techny, Illinois, and the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.           

 

Special awards and honorary memberships have been presented to individuals and groups that have made major contributions to the Indian community.  Among those so honored, in 1977, have been Pat and Patty Crowley, founders of the Christian Family Movement and Jerry and Dorothy Spellman.  In 1978, ICAA honored two longstanding friends, Pat and Harry Michalski. During ICAA’s 25th anniversary celebration, on September 22, 1985, at Loyola University, special awards were presented to Phillip and Annamma Kalayil, co-founders of ICAA, Denise Snyers and Louise Gerardy of Crossroads Student Center, the Patna Jesuit Mission, Chicago and the Missionaries of Charity, Chicago.

 

In 1979, ICAA took a leading role in the  Federation of Indo-American Christians of Chicago in protesting the Tyagi “Freedom of Religions Bill, 1978” in the Indian Parliament.  They organized a rally and march on July 14, 1979, at the Daley Plaza Civic Center, Chicago.  This anti-missionary bill was later defeated.  In the late 1990s, the persecution of Christians in India increased dramatically. ICAA joined the Federation of Indo-American Christians of North America and the International Christian Coalition for Human Rights in organizing various meetings to protect the persecution of Christians in India. In 2008 and2009 ICAA participated in Indian Christian protests against the persecution of Christians in the Indian state of Orissa and provided financial support to Archbishop Rafael Cheenath SVD of Orissa.

 

Since 1982, ICAA has participated every year in the “Christmas Around the World” festival at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. ICAA has set up a decorated Christmas tree with a nativity creche and organized a theater program to portray Indian Christmas and cultural traditions.  In August 1985, ICAA participated in India’s Independence Day parade by sponsoring a float portraying Mother Teresa and depicting the history of Catholicism in India.

 

ICAA donates funds for charitable and humanitarian purposes and food cans for the needy.  Contributions have been made to Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, relief activities for the Bhopal chemical tragedy, the Mexico earthquake, the Indian earthquake of 1993. The Kargil Jawan’s Army Central Welfare Fund, the building of a church in Sikkim, the Jesuit mission on the east coast of India that was devastated by the Asian tsunami in 2004 and various other worthy causes.  Since the new millennium, ICAA has taken standardized criteria for charitable donations to conform with IRS requirements.

 

Since 1994, ICAA has joined with other Indian Catholic rites in Chicago to celebrate a Unity Mass.  The first Unity Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Archbishop of Chicago, on March 6, 1994, at Our Lady of Victory Church in Chicago.  The second was celebrated in the Syro-Malabar Catholic rite by Bishop Jacob Thoomkuzhy, Bishop of Thamarassery, India on May 19, 1996, at St.John  Brebeuf church in Niles

In January 1997, ICAA revived the popular religious tradition of devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and the family rosary.  The statue was dedicated to Our Lady Of Victory Church on January 26, 1997, and makes the rounds of ICAA families who sign up to have the statue in their homes.  In 1997 participated in the planning and fundraising for the biggest Indian Catholic project in the USA. Oratory in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. was designed and built in the Indian tradition and dedicated to Our Lady of Good Health, Vailankanni.  The Oratory was inaugurated on August 16. 1997and is a pilgrimage center for all Indian Catholics in North America.

 

In December 2002, the family of Past President of the ICAA for 1994, Joly Kamath, instituted the Joly Kamath Memorial Award for volunteer community service by our youth.  These awards are presented every year at the ICAA Christmas celebration. In the summer of 2003, ICAA received the Award of Excellence from the Cook County Treasurer for its efforts to keep the Indian Catholic community together and preserve its rich religious and cultural heritage.  On October 19. 2003, the day of Mother Teresa’s beatification by Pope John Paul II, ICAA played a prominent part in a special commemorative religious service at St. James Catholic Church in Chicago.

 

ICAA sincerely hopes that its rich history will serve as a good foundation for the training of younger generations in our adopted country and the preservation of its unique cultural and religious heritage in the 21st century.