KOCHI: Kerala's Syro Malabar Church is facing allegations by Kerala migrants living in the United Kingdom of creating a divide between them and the native population. A group of migrants fear that the activities of the Syro Malabar church in UK, deemed as 'divisive', could revive racist sentiments among the natives.Members of the migrant population in the United Kingdom allege that Syro Malabar's "parallel church system" sidelining the native Latin Catholic church has led to a divide between Keralites and the natives.The migrants allege that acquiring native Latin Catholic churches and organising mass exclusively for the Keralite migrants is financially motivated and is a hindrance in the naturalization of their younger generation.Varghese John (name changed), migrated to Liverpool in 2003 and attended his first Syro Malabar church in UK. He said that he has witnessed a growing number of financially struggling native churches being acquired by the Syro Malabar Church which then compels the migrants to attend these instead of native Latin Catholic churches.Explaining why he condemns such activities, John told 'Samayam Malayalam',"Interaction with the native community during church sessions helped migrants build good reputation with the natives and put an end to racial attacks. But forming a separate 'Syro Malabar Malayalee' tribe is equal to bringing back the past when racial attacks towards Keralites were a common."Unlike Syro Malabar priests, other prominent migrant communities such as Polish or Philippines share churches with the native community and their priests are not adamant to acquire native-run churches for their own use, John added.Aby Kurian, a strong critic of the Catholic church, living in the UK, said that the acquisition of churches is usually driven by the interest of priests. However, he adds that the whole responsibility of the current crisis faced by Kerala Catholics in the UK cannot be put on the shoulders of Syro Malabar Church."The Kerala church was growing naturally under the shades of first-generation migrants who are not willing to cut off the roots with their homeland. But the natives will have a natural tendency to set aside a 'tribe' who conducts possessions and mass gathering, wearing strange attire and raising slogans in an unheard language through the calm and quiet streets of England. The situation is worse in places where the Asian population and Islamophobia are higher," said Kurian.Read this story in Malayalam here.