The Syro Malabar community of Auckland ran a Family Renewal Retreat at Ellerslie Church last month.
The retreat, held over four days, was part of the Lent Celebrations.
It was attended by 600 people every day.
The retreat included Mass, healing prayers, preaching the word of God, and Adoration every evening.
A special prayer for purification of the family tree, especially for previous and future generations was conducted.
The Auckland Syro Malabar community consists of more than 500 families who meet every Friday and Sunday at Ellerslie Church for prayers and mass and conduct Catechism classes.
The Auckland retreat was the first of 6 that have been organised. They have also been held in Hamilton, Hastings, Palmerston North and Wellington.
A final retreat will be run in Christchurch this week.
The Church of Malabar Syrian Catholics is an Eastern Catholic Major Archiepiscopal Church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome.
The Church is headed by Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry of the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly in Kerala, India.
It is the largest of the Nasrani denominations with around 5.01 million believers and traces its origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.
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