SMCB Family Units

The Divine Mercy Prayer Unit was officially formed in 2007 under the leadership of late Michael uncle, Teelar uncle and Philip uncle. During that period, Rev. Fr. Kuriakose Vadana was our Achan. In Achan's leadership, several families joined the first gathering. Since that day, we have been hosting regular monthly prayer meetings. During the initial few years, we had a total of 7 families. Later on, some families have had to relocate but new families joined our group. Currently our unit has a total of 13 families.

The Marian Family Unit is one of the pioneer family units formed as the scattered but gradually increasing community of Syro Malabar Malayalees in the New England Area were laying foundations to form a parish and church that they could call their own. The first Marian Family Unit had six families. Mr. Thomas Kattapuram was our first selected President. But within a few months his family had to relocate to Texas and so Paul Mechery graciously accepted to become our President and Gracy James the Secretary.

In those years, most of us were new to the country and were going through the initial struggles of settling in America itself and so finding ourselves among families with similar struggles formed the basis of initial bonding and camaraderie. One of the fondest memories that we the Marian family unit members hold in our hearts about our first gatherings is of the Thanksgiving Dinner hosted by Jose Chettan and Sherly Chechi's family at their house. For most of us, that was our first introduction to this beautiful gratitude filled celebration and the traditional turkey. They have carried on with this tradition to this day. Like all other family units, we meet once a month at different family's house. This meeting has become a platform for us not only to come together to pray in one accord but also to exchange ideas regarding various other aspects of life like food recipes (we have regular potlucks), gardening tips, parenting tips, life hacks etc. Other extracurricular activities we enjoy as a family unit are our Summer picnic and Carol singing in December when all adults and children perform on stage with costumes to bring alive, the Nativity Pageant Musical.

Over these years, we have been blessed by having many new families become part of our unit and have also bid goodbyes to many as they relocate. At present, we have total of 13 families. Our Current President is Cyril Cherian and Secretary is Merly Ajeesh.