St. Mary’s Forane Church, Chalakudy, is one of the 10 Foranes or deaneries under the Diocese of Irinjalakuda, which was established in 1978 by the bifurcation of Thrissur Diocese. Prior to that, Chalakudy was part of Thrissur diocese, the most ancient Diocese of the Syro-Malabar Church. Thrissur diocese has since been elevated to an archdiocese within which comes the Irinjalakuda diocese. There are 16 parishes under the Chalakudy Forane. The people of Chalakudy, mainly in business or service sectors, belong to middle or upper-middle class families. They maintain strong family ties and hold spiritual and traditional values in high esteem. Chalakudy is one of those areas in Kerala with high concentration of Christian population majority being Syro-Malabar Catholics.