ABSTRACT
This chapter helps to understand the role of the religious realm in the situation of immigration and shows how it enables cultural identity to be expressed. Pondicherrians form the largest community of Indians residing in France. The study presented here deals with Pondicherrians established in le de France who are Tamil and Catholic. The cultural rites included in certain of the masses that are organized by Pondicherrians conform entirely to the recommendation of the episcopate during the Second Vatican Council to recognize the cultural diversity of Christians within the Catholic community. The chaplaincies, under the direction of the Roman Catholic Church, have been created to come to the assistance of the immigrant Catholic communities. Among the Tamil priests who managed the Indian chaplaincy, two personages distinguished themselves by their inclination towards handling the hierarchy models and Indianizing the Catholic rites.
