St. Mary’s Church

St.Mary’s Syro Malabar Catholic Church, Pearland

St. Mary’s Syro Malabar Catholic Church was established as a Mass Center under the St. Thomas Syro Malabar Diocese of Chicago in November 2010. The purpose of the Mass center was to preserve the spiritual and religious needs of the Syro Malabar Catholic Community in the Pearland, Clearlake, and Pasadena regions. This was mainly due to overcrowding in St. Joseph Church as a lot of people started moving to Greater Houston areas from all parts of the Country because of the presence of a Syro-Malabar Church, favorable weather and better job opportunities.
 
The Mass Center was officially started with Holy Qurbana on 28 November 2010 with 60 registered families.  The faith formation classes were started on the first day itself with 60 students.  Today the Mission has 120 registered families and 167 students enrolled in the faith formation classes. The Mission is fortunate to have a dedicated team of CCD Teachers. The Mass Center was raised to the level of a Mission of the Diocese on 11/06/2011 and christened as St. Mary’s Syro Malabar Catholic Mission, Pearland.
 
In 2012, a Building Committee was formed to plan and execute the construction of the future church. Under the leadership of Fr. Christy Parambukattil, we bought 9.60 acres of land at 1610 O’Day Rd, Pearland, as the proposed future home for the church.   

The Building Committee and the Mission Council worked feverishly under the spiritual leadership of Fr. Zacharias Thottuvelil to develop a church plan.

In February 2015, we started the bidding process. The General Body meeting held on March 2015 decided to award the contract to Triad Construction Company being the lowest bidder. It is also noteworthy that in March 2015, Curia approved the plans and permitted awarding the contract to Triad Construction Company. By the grace of God and with generous monetary support of our members, the Mission was able to raise $500,000.00 for the down payment and Independent Bank provided a $1.4 million loan.
 
On April 11, 2015, Mar Jacob Angadiath, Bishop of St. Thomas Syro Malabar Diocese of Chicago laid the Foundation Stone of the Church in the presence of Fr. Wilson Antony. The church features a 5,000 sq ft Worship area,  650 sq ft Altar area, a 900 sq ft Chapel, 1800 sq ft of Catechism classrooms,  1350 sq ft open foyer, a Cry room, a Choir room, Office rooms, Restrooms, Kitchen, etc. In August 2015, Triad Construction Company started the site work and completed the church construction work on March 9, 2016. The construction cost of this beautiful 11,700 sq ft church building is $1.86 million.
 
The Mission Council and the Building Committee, under the leadership of Fr. Kurian Neduvelichalumkal, worked very hard for the construction of this beautiful church facility. The solemn consecration and dedication of the new church in the esteemed presence of Mar Jacob Angadiath, the Bishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago, and Mar Joy Alappat, Auxiliary Bishop of Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Chicago, took place on May 29, 2016. St. Mary's Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Pearland, TX became the 39th full fledged Parish of St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Diocese of Chicago on the same day.

On June 26, 2016, Rev. Fr. Antony Xavier Pullukattu appointed as our first full time Vicar/ Pastor of the new church. Eventhough he is only with us for 7 months, he made our new church in order and created a new system for our CCE program.

Rev. Fr. Ruban J. Thannickal took charge as our vicar on 5th February, 2017. Under his dynamic leadership the parish could reach new heighs and witness tremendous growth.

Rev. Fr. Jobi Joseph Chelakunnel is appointed as our new vicar and took charge on 18th August, 2020.