Kerala church sponsors baby boom

(Aug.31, 2011) Parishes in southern India’s Kerala State have instituted incentives to encourage families to have more children amid worries that the Catholic population in the area has begun to drop. The scheme, begun last week, was planned and executed with assistance from Sion Prolife Movement in Mananthavady diocese. A parish in Wayanad district now offers fixed-rate deposits of 10,000 rupees (US$225), held in the name of the fifth child in a family that is born this year. Fr. Jose Kocharackal, vicar of St Vincent De Paul Forane Church in Kalpetta, said on Wednesday, that the church had issued deposits to two families in the parish. He added that part of the Sunday collection is set aside for funding the deposits. Salu Mecheril, regional coordinator of Sion, said the campaign is gaining popularity, with a second parish preparing to adopt the same plan. “We are working to spread the campaign in all the parishes of the diocese,” he said.
The plan to increase family size runs counter to a previous initiative by the federal government that encouraged residents to make two children the norm for families. Similar population concerns in Kerala state were expressed in 2008, at which time, Church leaders also encouraged parents to have more children. The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Conference said at the time that a trend among families to have only one child or none at all, would imperil the Catholic community.