CMIssion for July-September 2017

Akkappillil 49 CMI Mission in ArgentinaWell-organized parish committee, youth ministry,charismatic groups, healing Masses, visiting the sick anddying, visiting the houses and conducting house blessings,helping the poor, etc., are the main activities carried outthroughout the year. Fr. Jose is also the chaplain of thesisters’ community of Nuestra Sra de Salud. A church thathad witnessed only 150 to 200 people on Sundays now hasmore than 1000 people joining the services on every Sunday.The community comprises of people of differentnationalities. They appreciate the activities and dedicatedservice of Fr. Jose. There also hundreds of people awaitingto receive baptism and other sacraments. We can easilyreach out to the people. Never had any sort of resistancefrom any corner. The people really are motivated and thechurch became a vibrant one with mass participation inliturgical services and other events organized by the parishcommunity.Father Antony Akkappillil CMIFr. Antony was the parish priest of Nuestra Senora deLujan, El Jaguel. This parish was the poorest of the diocesein terms of resources and people. The parish building was asmall one to accommodate the people. It is a zone affectedby drugs and other social evils. Many people were involvedin black-magic, spiritism, etc. Due to the hard work of Fr.Antony this parish became economically the richest in thediocese. People used to come even from the capital city toattend the healing Masses. On the eighth day of everymonth, they conduct a procession reciting the Holy Rosary.The church is very near to the railway station. DuringSundays, usually, around 1500 people participate in theliturgical celebrations. Even on the weekdays, the church isalmost full with the presence of people and children.Visiting houses, visiting sick and afflicted, confessions,monthly rosary processions, healing Masses in and outside

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 50 CMIssion July-September 2017the parish, baptisms, youth ministry, charismatic groups,family catechesis, Bible mission (with the distribution ofBible), charity works, etc., are the main activities in thisparish. The parish had a very small church building. Fr. Antony,with the help of the parishioners, started the constructionworks and almost 80% of the same was completed. Thepeople of the locality extended their support to this project.The construction workers donated their labour and none ofthem accepted any remuneration. In the name of Saint Mother Teresa, we have started afree food programme. Monday-to-Saturday, aroundhundred or more poor and destitute people come to thecentre to have food. The people of the localitywholeheartedly support this programme by donating foodmaterials. Another programme aimed at the poor people is “letthem have their daily bread.” This was to help the poor,aged, and the sick people. We take to homes bread and milk,twice a week. This programme also had the support of thelocal people and other charitable organizations. Even thenon-Catholics and non-Christians collaborate with thesecharitable activities.Fathers Thomas Ayankudy CMI and Joy KochupurackalCMISince 2013 Fr. Thomas is working as the parish priest of OurLady of Carmel Church at Tandil in the Diocese of Azul,around 400 km away from the capital Buenos Aires. Later,in 2015, Fr. Joy joined him. This is a church owned by theCarmelites Fathers and entrusted to us for 9 years with acontract. It is a huge church near the pilgrim centre ofCalvario. At the pilgrim centre, we have a book centre and astation church. During the Holy Week thousands of peoplegather here as part of Via Cruzis. The parish has two more

Akkappillil 51 CMI Mission in Argentinastation churches. Catechism, youth ministry, familycounselling, visiting the sick at hospitals, charismatic prayergroups, ministry of consolation, etc., are the main activities.The University of Tandil is very near to the parish. Manyyoung people and students come to our church forconfessions and spiritual direction. At Tandil, Fr. Thomashas created a good reputation. He is known as the ‘healingpriest’. It is a peaceful city with a lot of pastoral needs.People come to our parish even from the nearby parishes.They find some special experience in our celebrations. Manypeople search for our priests for blessing their houses.Future of the CMI Mission in ArgentinaThe CMI Mission has a bright future in Argentina. Peopleare generally God-fearing. The faith in God and devotion tothe Blessed Mother are deep-rooted among the Catholicfaithful. But the fact is that only three per cent of the totalCatholic population has a live relation with the church.Three per cent go regularly to the church. Another four percent go to the church once or twice a year. The EvangelicalChurches and the Brazilian Churches are very strong inArgentina. Catholic flock in large numbers are now movingtowards the Evangelical Churches. Yet, the Catholic Churchremains a lively church. The people generally do notdiscriminate. We feel like as if we are in a Kerala parish.Though there are many atheists and agnostics, none of themcriticize the faith of the other. Of course, there are agitationsagainst the official church, against corruption, and,naturally, many of the faithful also side with politicians. In general, almost all the parishes have four to eightstation churches with 30,000 to 70,000 Catholics in eachparish. Some parishes have more than fifteen stationchurches. It is impossible for a single priest to care for thepastoral needs of these faithful single-handedly. Somestation churches have Holy Mass only once in two months.

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 52 CMIssion July-September 2017This is in general the situation in Buenos Aires, the capitalcity of Argentina. In other states of Argentina, the situation is still worse.The people are generally religious. Almost 80 to 90 per centare Catholics. But the plight is that there are no priests toattend the people. The church is satisfied with those whoparticipate in the Sunday Masses. Priests do not have timeto visit homes of the faithful or even to attend funeral rites.There are certain zones where people live in utter poverty.The states like Tucuman, Salta, Chaco, and Jujui areexamples. Their religiosity and participation in the churchactivities is tremendous. They respect priests and doeverything possible for their wellbeing. Their longing for aHoly Mass and the preparations are really inspiring.Another fact is that there are thousands of people andchildren to be baptized. Many are there to receive othersacraments. They have an open heart. But there are very fewordained ministers to invite and prepare them. In somestates, the young generation is under the clutches of drugs.Broken families and lack of good religious education arecauses for such a situation. This situation could be better addressed by attending tothe following: (1) Baptisms: during a period of two years, Ihave baptized more than 1,700 people. The situation in theparishes of other Fathers is the same. Perhaps they mighthave baptized more people than what I could do. (2)Catechism: In a parish, every year nearly 600 childrenparticipate in the catechism for Holy Communion.Moreover, there is catechism for confirmation, adultcatechesis, family catechesis, etc. (3) Sacrament ofMatrimony: The new generation Catholics, especially youth,are in favour of the sacrament of matrimony. In my parish,in one year there were 24 marriages celebrated.

Akkappillil 53 CMI Mission in ArgentinaNew openingsIn the state of Tucuman, there are only a few priests to lookafter the faithful. There are many dioceses with seriousdearth of priests. Concepcion is another large diocese. But ithas only 20 priests. A priest has to attend five to sixchurches. Many people get a Eucharistic celebration onlyonce in two months. I used to visit these areas as part ofmission visit from my previous parish. The people are verymuch religious. They are mostly workers in the sugarcaneindustry. They went to the bishop and requested for Indianpriests. As a result, the bishop once invited me to theBishop’s House and requested our help by way of sendingmore CMI priests to his diocese. Later, he contacted Fr.Thomas Ayankudy to repeat the same request. It is greatopportunity to serve the Church in Argentina and to expandCMI Mission in Argentina provided we could send a fewpriests to that diocese. Chaco is another province which has a great need forpriests. The bishop of this diocese also is looking for priests.Jujui is the province at the very north of Argentina. It has alandscape almost like that of Kerala and has semi-tropicalclimate. The young bishop of Jujui is also in search of priestsas the diocese experiences serious shortage of priests.ConclusionThe people of Argentina are God-fearing and good incharity. They need pastors. They have great appreciation forIndian priests. It is a great pastoral experience to be with thepeople of Argentina and of other Latin American countries.They respect us, like the Syro-Malabar Christians or evenbetter than the faithful in India. There are so many religious houses closed or run onlywith elderly persons. If we could establish good contact anda functional contract with some of the religiouscongregations or dioceses, we could open a common

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 54 CMIssion July-September 2017religious house to open up CMI formation house; it willhave greater prospects for the CMI Mission in Argentina. Formation of our brothers or young priests in the culturalcontext of Argentina is a must if we wish to make ourmission more fruitful. We need persons who speak Spanishfluently. Moreover, we need to form our brothers in thepastoral context of Argentina. I am reminded of the words of our Divine Master: “Theharvest is in abundance but the workers are few…” Thougha Christian country, may be only 30 per cent of thepopulation of Argentina are initiated into the fundamentalsof Christian faith. People of Argentina have an open attitudeand greater respect for the Catholic faith. But they needpriests who could reach out to their pastoral needs. Theyneed pastors to guide them in the ways of Christ.

Celebrating CMI Missions TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH CMI Chilean Community Fr. Noble Joseph CMIIt was at midnight on 25 August 2013 that two CMImissionaries landed in Chile. In Santiago Air Port, thetemperature was +2 degree Celsius. The then provincial Fr.Jose Kuzhichalil CMI came early in Chile to prepare the wayfor us. He came along with a deacon and they carried sackclothes for us, reminding us of John the Baptist in thewilderness. Even inside the sack it was freezing cold.Anyone aspiring to have this chilling experience is welcometo Chile. The following days too were very cold, and thetemperature went down even to -2 degree Celsius. Therewas snowfall on the nearby mountains. It was indeed abeautiful sight to see the mountains covered with snow.Although I was almost getting sick, by the grace of God andwith my regular yoga, I recovered very fast. As the dayswent on the temperature picked up. The Santiago City, where we live, is a well-planned citywith a lot of modern facilities. Metro Santiago is the first ofits kind. Roads are wide and special with fine finishing. Themost wonderful attractions are the parks with longmeadows and beautiful trees. In fact, this note is writtenbeing seated on a bench inside a beautiful park. All theempty spaces are developed into parks with a lot ofgymnastic equipments to facilitate exercise and healthyliving among the people. If CMI Chile Mission is a successful mission all credits goto Fr. Jose Panthaplamthottiyil CMI, the former PriorGeneral of the Congregation. It was he who took theinitiative of presenting the willingness of the Congregationto serve the people of God in any part of the world during 55

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 56 CMIssion July-September 2017the Synod of Bishops in Rome. As a result, Cardinal RicardoEzzati asked for priests in the Diocese of Santiago, Chile.Hats off to the then provincial Fr. Jose Kuzhichalil CMI, whoreadily took up the mission by sending two priests, namely,Fr. Joy Manickanamparampil CMI and Fr. Noble JosephCMI to Chile! The mission officially started in 2013, whenthe Diocese entrusted to us the parish St. Sebastian of laPintana. The parishioners were so kind to us, alwayshelping us in our needs and supporting us in overcomingthe barriers of culture and language. They gave us gifts ondifferent occasions expressing their love and concerntowards the missionary priests. The parishioners invite us to their homes in order that wemay feel at home in Chile. The people in general are veryclose to each other. They hug and give shakehandswhenever they meet each other. This attitude helps them tokeep the warmth of meeting each other. Indeed, Chileansociety is a vibrant community. On the part of the Diocese, there is a genuine concerntowards CMIs. For example, when one our priests wasattacked by some dogs, while he was on a bicycle, theyimmediately provided him with a car at the request of thethen Provincial. The Chilean society is a just society. Social justice is ofprime importance in Chilean psyche. There is zero tolerancewith corruption. For an allegation that some of the cabinetmembers received money for election campaign fromfactory owners, the president changed the entire cabinet andappointed new ministers. It is, in fact, a lesson for thepoliticians elsewhere, including India, who are totallyimmersed in corruption. Another interesting aspect of thissociety is that there is no much difference between thesalaries of a government job and a private job. There shouldbe a clear cut contract between the private employer andemployee. Government servants are really servants in the

Noble Joseph 57 CMI Chilean Communityletter and spirit; we do experience it when we visit agovernment office. Again, it is a lesson for many Indiangovernment servants for whom corruption is the order ofthe day. One day I have seen a woman is beating a police man at arailway station. The policeman did not even try to defendhimself. Out of curiosity when I asked the people about theincident the answer was interesting: The policeman is neversupposed to beat a thief or a culprit; if the thief or a culpritgave a complaint and showed some evidence like marks ofbeating, it is sure that the policeman will lose his job. Theidea is that the policeman is supposed to maintain peaceand harmony in the society. If he himself becomes a cause ofdisturbance, it is not tolerated by the system. It is a greatlesson for our policemen, who indiscriminately beat thepoor and ordinary people and let go the powerful and rich. As it is said, “communion is the crux of community.” Inour CMI community, we gather every Sunday evening forRamsa, Laliya, and Eucharistic adoration. These moments ofprayer and worship offer really joyful experience in ourChilean mission. We share our joy as well as sorrows inthese gatherings. This is really a vibrant spiritualcommunity experience. At present four CMI priests are involved in pastoralministry in Chile. They are (1) Fr. Saju Avimootil CMI(Parish Priest of St. Sebastian Church), (2) Fr. Noble JosephCMI (Assistant Parish Priest of Jesus Lord of Life), (3) Fr.Saju Perumpananickal CMI (Assistant Parish Priest of St.Cristina Parish), and (4) Fr. Thomas Kaniyamnadackal CMI(Assistant Parish Priest of St. Jacob Church). We have a contusive atmosphere to proclaim and live theGospel irrespective of our limited knowledge of thelanguage and culture. Giving witness to Christ is ourprimary motive. As part of this Gospel culture, Fr. SajuAvimootil and Fr. Saju Perumpananickal move in cassocks

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 58 CMIssion July-September 2017in communities and streets. This has a real witnessing value,facilitating occasions of spiritual encounters. In St. Sebastian Church, the parish entrusted to us,participation of people in the Holy Eucharist is steadilyincreasing. Recalling the teaching of the Second VaticanCouncil, Fr. Saju Avimootil reiterates that the HolyEucharist is the centre and summit of the community. Fr. Saju Perumpananickal is a great artist, especially inhandicrafts. If you give him a piece of waste paper, he willmake it into a beautiful flower within no time. Such a greatskilled artist he is. He uses his skills to animate the elderlyand the young equally. Fr. Thomas Kaniyamnadackal is a pastor-theologian. Hehas a special skill of asking biblical questions to people andin making them think, after the model of Aristotle and Plato. Fr. Noble Joseph is the ambassador of CMI charism inChile. People say that he has four layers of skin. InMalayalam, we say ‘tholikatty’. He goes every Monday to thecentral house of Columban Fathers for the communitygathering, Eucharistia, Diakonia, Koinonia, and Agape. Dogs and football are the two weaknesses of people. Fr.Saju Avimootil always says that if football can give such ajoy, what a great eternal joy would be the joy that God givesus. Drug addiction is the major problem among the youth.We are collectively thinking to eradicate drug addictionfrom the continent. In short, the spirit of unity and unanimity is maintainedin the micro and macro levels of communities. Here, it is aunion of age-old Indian spiritual traditions and the fastdeveloped communicative Latin American Culture, aperfect union of the occidental and the oriental. The author of this article is personally wants to informhis younger brothers that they must use every occasion andopportunity to get ready for our mission. No opportunity

Noble Joseph 59 CMI Chilean Communitywould come to you; one should go in search ofopportunities. For example, making spontaneous prayers inprayer gatherings, spiritual sharing in spiritual conferences,and making use of the communication skills in meetingsthat we attend are crucial in the Latin American culture.Don’t fight each other; instead promote each other.Vengeance and enmity can only destroy us; in contrast,patience and forgiveness can transform us into creative andactive people who are ready to be launched into the missionof our CMI community.

Celebrating CMI Missionaries 1 PADMABHUSHAN FATHER GABRIEL CHIRAMEL CMIA Mission Accomplished with and for the People Fr. Wilson Tharayil CMIFather Gabriel CMI was born in 1914, in a village Manalurin Thrissur district, Kerala, as the son of Kunjala and PavuChiramel. He completed his school education at St. Joseph’sSchool, Pavaraty. Later, he studied philosophy at Mutholyand theology at Chethipuzha, respectively. He was ordainedpriest in 1942. Afterwards he was sent to pursue highereducation and did his intermediate and, later, took hishonours degree from Presidency College, Chennai, MadrasUniversity. Fr. Gabriel started his teaching ministry from theUpper Primary School at Chethipuzha. Soon after, he joinedthe Department of Biology as a lecturer at Sacred HeartCollege, Thevara. But Fr. Gabriel was destined to becomethe chief architect of Christ College, Irinjalakuda, where hewas appointed the founder principal. He succeeded inelevating the college as one of the best colleges in India withthe active cooperation of his colleagues and teamwork witheveryone, which in the course of time became his brand ofeducational apostolate and he could accomplish any taskassigned to him by the Congregation. The ultimate aim of a religious priest is to serve God andthe people of God. He heard the call of Jesus Christ tobecome actively involved in ‘catching’ the people. SaintKuriakose Elias Chavara, the founder of the CMICongregation and its foster-father, has been in the forefrontof saints because he preached and practised the principle ofbecoming a priest who ‘caught’ people and brought themcloser to Jesus. It is in the same line that Fr. Gabriel alsoprogrammed his lifestyle as a priest to be with the people 60

Tharayil 61 Padmabhushan Father Gabrieland for the people through his life as a visionary, as aneducationalist and, above all, as a ‘guru’ in every sense. Hewas successful in catching people and using them for noblepurposes, for fulfilling his dreams, and for the uplift of thesociety.Father Gabriel and His Prophetic Role for the PeopleFather Gabriel had a special ability to know people veryclosely. He knew them in two distinct ways: One way ofknowing them was by being very intimate with God bywhich God himself revealed the true nature of the people tohim. The second was to know the people by being very closeto them or rather being with them. As I tried to examine thelife and mission of Fr. Gabriel, I was convinced that theintimacy he established with the Almighty was the basis ofhis success in life. It was a very strong relationship whichresulted in forming a powerful personality with a propheticnature. This prophetic mission in Fr. Gabriel was meant tolisten to the needs of the time and to put them into practiceas demanded by God; it is well exemplified in the tasks heundertook and accomplished throughout his life as a priest. When he took charge as the first principal of ChristCollege, Irinjalakuda, he had a clear vision about the futureof the institution and also about the potentials of its studentsand staff, both teaching and non-teaching. This is wellreflected in the strategic planning he did in devising theprogrammes for curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities in the college. He was also keen ondeveloping the God-given talents possessed by eachindividual and worked hard to help them make the best useof such abilities for the benefit of the humankind. For thisreason, he was very particular to choose and selectcommitted teachers and dedicated priests to the institutionand entrusted them with various responsibilities. He didthis with utmost care and meticulous precision. He also

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 62 CMIssion July-September 2017appointed very talented and meritorious personnel to fosterthe co-curricular activities in the college, which he believedwas an integral part of developing all-round personalities. Itis perhaps because of these reasons that Christ College,during his tenure of office as principal, was rated as one ofthe best institutions of higher learning. The very specialapproach with which Fr. Gabriel dealt with the day-to-dayaffairs of the college made every alumnus proud of his AlmaMater. The historical background of establishing Amala CancerHospital at Thrissur was a different story. During 1970s,cancer was a deadly disease and the rate of victims of thisdisease was very high. Fr. Gabriel understood the agony ofthe people and he wanted to help the people to find waysand means to address this menace. He wanted to establish acancer hospital and a research centre which he thought wasthe need of the hour. A considerable part of his life wasdedicated to this mission, which was one of the rarestprojects undertaken by any individual or any voluntarygroup. The result of such a determination and decision of Fr.Gabriel culminated in Amala Institute of Medical Sciences aswe see it today. Chethana Studio, Chiyyaram, Thrissur, is the realizationof a long cherished dream of Fr. Gabriel. His farsightednessabout the importance of visual media in the modern worldwas the inspiration behind encouraging and taking initialsteps to undertake such a venture in the CMI DevamathaProvince. Thus, it was Fr. Gabriel who took initiative forsuch a project which was looked at with much suspicionand reluctance by some members in the Congregation inparticular and the Church in Kerala in general. He insistedon sending priests for special training in the field andidentified the talented persons, encouraged them, andprepared them to face the challenges of the futuregeneration. Today Chethana group of institutions and the

Tharayil 63 Padmabhushan Father Gabrielprogrammes undertaken by them have been identified as agreat asset to the Catholic Church at a period in historywhen the relevance of print and visual media together withart and culture is gaining greater relevance. One wonders atthe visionary impetus Fr. Gabriel possessed inunderstanding the future needs of an advancing society. The English education in Kerala was instrumental for alarge number of people from the state to go to other states inthe country and even to other continents in search of jobopportunities. Today, Kerala has become one of the rarestates with a considerable amount of foreign remittancefrom those working abroad. It was the CMI Congregationwhich pioneered in introducing English medium schools inthe state and Fr. Gabriel was in the forefront in this venturetoo, which changed the destiny of this small state. It is yetanother testimony to highlight the prophetic quality that Fr.Gabriel possessed. Today, we see a number of schools withacademic excellence catering to the growing demands of theera throughout the length and breadth of the state and evenoutside managed by the CMI Congregation. Fr. Gabriel literally put into practice what was spoken byEdwin Elliot. He said: “By being yourself, you putsomething wonderful in the world that was not therebefore.” Indeed, Fr. Gabriel contributed somethingwonderful to the world. It is in this context that I wouldreiterate in most unequivocal terms that Fr. Gabriel was atrue prophet of God Almighty. He achieved this propheticstature by being with God, by listening to his words, and byfulfilling his wishes.Always with the PeopleFr. Gabriel as a monk had the special ability to read andunderstand the special qualities of individuals and,especially, that of the people of God. He could focus hisattention on their God-given individual talents. He could

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 64 CMIssion July-September 2017easily identify these inborn talents in the people he met, thestudents he taught, and the staff he recruited to the variousestablishments. As a true follower of Christ, Fr. Gabriel had the quality tofind the goodness and positive qualities in others. Whoeverhe met and got acquainted with, he was keen on going intotheir personal self and find out the goodness in them. Afteridentifying their goodness he successfully made good use ofsuch qualities for the benefit of others and the humanity ingeneral. He made it a point to know and accept individualsas they are. He tried to understand the abilities andweaknesses of individuals he came in contact with andbecause of this reason majority of the people with whom hewas acquainted with were very much attached to him. He was successful in creating a large group of peoplebelonging to different strata of the society as his admirers, asthey were ready to associate with him in all ventures. Fr.Gabriel succeeded in making them understand the needsand demands of the society and brought his admirers to joinhands with him to cater to the needs of the society. In all themajor projects he undertook, he first called people together,exhorted them about the urgency and the need of theproject, inspired them and brought them to action. Therewere several thousands of people who loved him so much,which was earned on the basis of the principle “Besomebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody.” I am reminded of the sentence he used to reiterate. Heoften said: “Human resource is the best asset. Money willcome with them in a natural course.” Any endeavour can beaccomplished if we are able to convince people about thenecessity of such a project and be ready to be at the helm ofaffairs. Today, the failure of many programmes and projectsis due to the lack of understanding of this principle by theleadership which is reflected in every field of activity. Fr.Gabriel was a genius who was thorough with the in and out

Tharayil 65 Padmabhushan Father Gabrielof this continuous process which perhaps was the secret ofhis success in the ministries he undertook. The key words of today’s business world ‘profit’ and‘loss’ were not in Fr. Gabriel’s dictionary. His modus operandi(mode of operation) was based on the need of the peopleand people-oriented projects. There was God’s presence,influence, and interference in all his activities. Fr. Gabrielfirmly believed that the end result of any God orientedactivity will definitely find a successful culmination. He even thought that anything undertaken for thewelfare of the people will never find a failure. In short, Fr.Gabriel was a bundle of firm convictions which he provedright through his own life manifestations. Fr. Gabriel hadthe special ability to understand and assess every individualhe met with and he made use of their special talents for thegood of the society. He had a special charism to facilitate theflow of economic resources from the rich for the progress ofthe society. Likewise, he made the best use of people with goodorganizational skills and the intelligentsia for the benefit ofthe faithful, the church, and the society at large. Fr. Gabrielwas quite aware of the respect and recognition that eachperson deserves and for himself he commanded respectfrom all, though never demanded it. He gave due respect tothe members of the community he lived in, the superior, theprovincial, and the prior general of the Congregation. Heknew from close quarters the leaders of other religions,political and social leaders, and peoples representatives atall levels and maintained a friendly relationship with themall. This special ‘skill’ helped him to be cent per centsuccessful in all his activities which paved the way for thesuccessful establishment of many organizations andinstitutions. It is the quality of a genius, a good shepherd,and a charismatic leader. So, if we examine and try to

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 66 CMIssion July-September 2017analyse his style of execution of the projects andprogrammes there were six distinct factors: (i) Intimacy withGod (a prayerful life); (ii) Ability to know the people (athorough analysis of people); (iii) Recognize the people(accepting individuals as they are); (iv) Inspire the people(exciting them in the desired direction); (v) Ability toactivate the people (bringing people together for collectivepositive action); and (vi) Realization of the ultimate goal(reaching or achieving the target).ConclusionFr. Gabriel was just like Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, atool in the hands of God. He was able to identify the needsof God’s people, and was ready to wipe the tears of thepeople who suffered in their difficulties of life. He wassuccessful in streamlining the onward march of the peoplethrough his visionary insight (intuitions). He had thespiritual depth to realize the fact that his short span of lifewas precious and it has to be utilized for the benefit ofGod’s people. He sacrificed his life for the sole purpose ofliving with the people and for doing good to the peoplethrough a number of projects he undertook and institutionshe established. God’s will was his chief concern and prayerand commitment were his tools. He spent his life tostrengthen the faith in God and the Catholic Church. Till theend he worked hard for the good of the humanity and toestablish a welfare Kingdom of God. There is no wonderthat the nation honoured Fr. Gabriel with the title‘Padmabhushan’, one of the highest recognitions to the mostdistinguished citizens of the country. He also must havereceived due recognition in the Kingdom of God. It ispossible that the future generations may forget the sacrificesrendered and the hard work behind building up theinstitutions and organizations which played a pivotal role inchanging the destiny of humankind in this part of the world.

Tharayil 67 Padmabhushan Father GabrielBut hundreds and thousands of people continue to expresstheir prayerful gratitude to God for the immensebenevolence they have been receiving from such projects,programmes, establishments, and institutions. A portion ofsuch gratitude expressed will definitely go into the accountof this great soul who toiled all through his life for realizingthe same. Fr. Gabriel, through his life and mission, stands out as aguiding star and as a source of inspiration for thegenerations to come. As an individual, Fr. Gabriel could bestudied in detail with special reference to his lifestyle andmode of operation. He was undoubtedly a fervent religious,a committed priest, a brilliant academician, an ableadministrator, an ardent humanitarian, a friend of all, and,above all, a prophet of God in our times. Memories of Fr.Gabriel will be passed on from generation to generation.The statement “A true prophet of God who sacrificed his lifefor the people of God” will be reiterated by all those whocome to know him. That was, is, and will be Fr. Gabriel.

Celebrating CMI Missionaries 2 A ‘COMPLETE’ MISSIONARY Father Raymond Mancheril CMI Fr. John Chakkanatt CMIFr. Raymond Mancheril CMI, one of the pioneeringmissionaries of Bijnor Mission and one of the foundingFathers of St. John’s CMI Province, Bijnor, slept in the Lordearly in the morning on 30 June 2017 at St. Joseph’sHospital, Ghaziabad. Born of Mr. Mathai and Tresia Mancheril on 30 January1937 in Vazhakulam, fourth in order of seven siblings, hejoined the CMI Congregation after his school education inVazhakulam and made his first profession on 16 May 1957.Though he was asked to discontinue at the first instance inthe medical checkup before joining the novitiate due to hispoor health, Dr. C. L. Jose, when made the check up for thesecond time, gave him an excellent report saying that he canbe “good only for religious life.” He proved it right in hispassionate religious-priestly-missionary life. Towards the evening of his eventful life he was takingrest in Maria Bhavan, Nathewaley, of St. John’s Province,Bijnor. On 28 June after the morning Mass, at breakfasttable, he showed signs of uneasiness. The Director of thecentre Fr. Vijay Payappilly CMI, took him to his room, andby way of comforting him, said: “Father, don’t worry, it isnot that serious, you will be all right soon.” Fr. Raymondfirmly responded: “My time has come, I must go!”Immediately, Fr. Vijay took him to St. Mary’s Hospital,Najibabad. There Fr. Jose Padayatty CMI, a medical doctor,along with the team of doctors found the patient’s conditionrather critical. They, therefore, referred him to St. Joseph’sHospital, Ghaziabad. He was rushed there the same day andwas diagnosed leukemia in its advanced stage. Considering 68

Chakkanatt 69 A ‘Complete’ Missionaryhis age the doctors did not recommend the usual treatmentslike chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant. The onlyoption left was palliative care. Fr. Raymond, in a feeblevoice, repeated: “My time has come; I must go to myFather!” He was very sure that his hour had come to windup his life on earth that he had lived in full in the service ofthe Lord and his people. It was as if St. Paul’s triumphantwords echoed in his soul: “I have fought the good fight tothe end, I have run the race to the finish, I have kept thefaith, all there is to come now is the crown of righteousnessreserved for me” (2 Tim 4:7-8). It seems he saw the Fatherbeckoning him to His kingdom! He reassured thosestanding around him: “God gave me a simple life. I tried mybest to live it in a very ordinary way. Now it is time for meto go!” On 29 June Fr. Biju Vadakkel CMI, the Provincial,administered him the anointing of the sick, and next day at5.30 am he peacefully breathed his last. On 5 July, a fitting farewell was given to Fr. Raymond inthe Provincial House Chapel, Najibabad, which wasconstructed by Fr. Raymond while he was the Provincial.The ceremony was attended by a large number of peopleincluding Bishops, Vicar Generals, Superior Generals,Provincials of men and women congregations, priests,sisters, and the laity. Besides the relatives of Fr. Raymond,there were also many of his friends and beneficiaries cuttingacross castes and creeds. The funeral service was officiatedby Fr. Paul Achandy CMI, Prior General, Bishop Mar JohnVadakel CMI of Bijnor, Bishop Francis Kalist, Bishop ofMeerut, Mar Gratian Mundadan CMI, Bishop Emeritus ofBijnor, Bishop Antony Fernandes, Bishop Emeritus ofBareilly, Fr. Biju Vadakkel CMI, Provincial of Bijnor, Fr.Justin Akkara CMI, Provincial of Bhopal, Fr. JoseThekkemuriyil, Vicar General of Bijnor, and Fr. JoseEdassery, Vicar General of Faridabad. Many religious anddiocesan priests concelebrated. After the Holy Mass and the

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 70 CMIssion July-September 2017touching rituals for the departed, the mortal remains wereinterred in the Provincial House cemetery. For years, fabric manufacturer ‘Raymond Limited’ “haskept its advertising true to its brand statement, ‘TheComplete Man’. Each ad released under this umbrellathought explores a different aspect of a man's personalityand relationships – be it with his elders, romantic partnersor pets. Each ad ends with the brand's signature tune,accompanied by a voiceover saying, ‘The Complete Man’.”A humble attempt in this feature on Fr. Raymond MancherilCMI is made in tune with this commercial ad ‘Raymond theComplete Man’ from the funeral sermons.“Many Things Make a Complete Man; Doing What Is RealIs One of Them”In one of the features of the ad, the ‘Complete Man’ ispictured as the ‘real’ in contrast to the ‘digital’ man in ashort film. The ad informs that there is a danger involved inbeing ‘digital’ at the expense of forgetting the ‘real’.Conceptualized by famous innovations, the new ad shows adoting dad who goes to attend his son’s annual day schoolperformance. While the kids go up on the stage to perform,parents are hooked on to their smartphones to capture themoment, while there is only one dad in the entire audiencewho stands up and claps for them. It immediately lights upthe faces of the young performers. Upon this, everyonestands up and began clapping their hands. The film endswith the voiceover, “Many things make a complete man;doing what is real is one of them.” The ad portrays thequalities of a ‘complete man’ who believes in staying ‘real’and does not allow the ‘digital life’ to overpower his reallife. Anyone who knew Fr. Raymond close at hand wouldapprove that he was less ‘digital’ than ‘real’ in life. He wasalways eager to meet the needs of his fellow humans as it is

Chakkanatt 71 A ‘Complete’ Missionaryrightly said, “The greatest of human needs is to havesomeone who would make you do what you can.” Bishop Gratian highlighted this point in Fr. Raymondand said that he always promoted goodness and goodqualities of anyone who came in contact with his life. Henoted those good qualities and promoted such people to dobetter in their lives. He was very particular to encourageand support the members of the Province, especially, theyounger ones. Thus, he became one of the architects of aCMI Province, which at present attracts the attention of theSuperiors and other Provinces in a special way. Hegenerously encouraged all endeavours, no matter how bigor small projects they were. To his amusement, his confreresused to mimic his facial expressions or gestures ofappreciation! Bishop John Vadakel CMI from his long personalassociation with Fr. Raymond described him as a man ofconviction, dedication, and commitment. Getting thingsdone perfectly and in time was the hallmark of Fr.Raymond. Born and brought up in the atmosphere ofCarmel Monastery, Vazhakualm, he became a truly devotedson of our Mother of Mount Carmel. Anyone knowing himclose would readily admit that he was through and througha committed Carmelite. He used to give scapular to anyoneand everyone who came to him, instructed them to wear itas a pledge of the powerful protection, caring and motherlyconcern, especially, at the time of death, of Blessed Motherof Carmel. Besides being a true devotee of the Mother ofCarmel, he was also a lover and admirer of St. KuriakoseElias Chavara. He openly gave credit to St. Chavara forcuring him from prostate cancer in the year 2008. On histable one could find the pictures of St. Michael theArchangel, Our Lady of Grace, Holy Family, Sacred Heart ofJesus, St. Therese of Child Jesus, St. Thomas the Apostle ofIndia, and St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara. Some pictures of the

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 72 CMIssion July-September 2017members of the CMI family who influenced him like Fr.Francis Sales CMI, Fr. John Berchmans CMI (Senior), Fr.John Chrysostom CMI, and his great grand uncle Fr. JosephAntony Mancheril CMI, are also on his table. Besides allthese pictures on the table he was armed with the rosary,scapular, and a crucifix. Ever since he found readingdifficult he carefully listened to devotional songs andreadings from the Gospels from a DVD player. The onlyhelp he wanted from the Scholastic who assisted him in theroom was reading to him passages from the Gospels.“Many Things Make the Complete Man; Being There IsOne of Them”The Prior General Fr. Paul Achandy CMI compared Fr.Raymond with a diamond, precious and sharp-witted. Hecame first in several instances: he was the first to set foot inthe soil of Bijnor Mission, the deva-bhūmi in 1972, when hewas the Provincial Councillor for Evangelization of theSacred Heart Province, Kalamassery, under the leadershipof Bishop Gratian. He was appointed as the first TerritorialMission Superior of Bijnor in 1978 soon after relinquishinghis office as the founder and first priest-in-charge of SantPaul Sadan and the hospital at Satpuli. He played a big rolein founding the CMI Province of Bijnor in 1991, and skilfullymanaged its development with all the necessaryinfrastructures. He was elected the Provincial Superior fortwo consecutive terms from 1993 to 1999. The beautifulProvincial House Church, the cemetery and the extension ofthe Provincial House with some rooms for the members tostay when they come for meetings are very shiningexamples of the commitment and determination of Fr.Raymond. He always kept a spiritual dimension toeverything he did, in its planning and processing, in itsworking and accomplishment.

Chakkanatt 73 A ‘Complete’ Missionary He wanted the intimacy of St. John the Apostle withJesus as a trademark of the members of the Province and sonamed the province after the ‘beloved disciple’ of Jesus.“’The Complete Man' in Today's Context\"Bishop Francis Kalist qualified Fr. Raymond as a visionaryand missionary in one person. His vision of a missiontheologate, Samanvaya Theology College, for the CMIs innorth India, of which he was the chairperson of its firstadministrative body, is a clear instance of his being avisionary and missionary at once. Bishop Gratian also, whilereferring to his inimitable style of accomplishing things,highlighted the spirit of determination to get his objectivesmaterialized. Fr. Raymond was particular that the social service shouldbe done scientifically with well worked out projects that areexecuted systematically and in time. It was he who, duringhis tenure as the Director of the diocesan department ofsocial apostolate in Bijnor Diocese, got Karuna Social ServiceSociety (KSSS) registered as a charitable society. So, too, asGeneral Councillor for the CMI Department of SocialApostolate, he had Cyriac Elias Voluntary Association(CEVA) registered as a society. His sense of history was sodeep and compelling that he asked the missionaries to writethe history of their lives and works, and he himself tooksteps to bring out the history of Bijnor Mission. Withthorough knowledge of the history and traditions of theCongregation he often used to quote anecdotes and jokesfrom history. One could see Fathers and Brothers flockingaround him to hear the papacy jokes of yesteryears withsprinklings of Latin phrases; invariably, he himself andothers would burst out in relentless laughter.“Feels Like Raymond; Feels Like Heaven”Along with Abraham Lincoln, Fr. Raymond believed that“mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.” His love for

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 74 CMIssion July-September 2017the poor and the marginalized was extraordinary. He wasever a trusted friend and benefactor of the poor villagers.His appointments as the diocesan director of social works inBijnor and general councillor of social apostolate for theCMI congregation are telling examples. Indeed, one’s socialcommitment is not confined to one’s appointment asdirector or councillor or a university degree in social work;it must come from one’s own heart. Does anyone needdegrees or qualifications to do works of charity, spiritual orcorporal? Anyone going to him for some support wouldhave never gone back empty handed. His commitment tothe inhabitants of Ramanwala Village near the ProvincialHouse is a case in point. He was a regular visitor amongthem, looking into their needs, and sharing in their joys andsorrows alike. Spending his time and resources he helpedthem with developmental projects of housing with toiletfacilities, much before Swacch Bharat Abhiyan waspompously launched! It is interesting that his fellow priestsnicknamed the village as Raymondwala, which indeedremained meaningful. Equally he developed friendship with the Muslim villagein front of the Provincial House that villagers, women, andchildren, had easy access to the Provincial House campus.His trusted and long-standing servant Mr. Kavani Singh,who served 38 years in the Bijnor Provincial House, is aliving symbol of his love and concern for the poor. KavaniSingh claims that he was the one who accompanied Fr.Raymond to the village every time. His son Mr. Salekchand,who also serves in the Provincial House, testifies to Fr.Raymond’s love and affection for the poor. Fr. ZachariasMoorkkattil CMI, Fr. Raymond’s close friend andcompanion for years, says: “His love for the people wassomething unique and personal. He loved all from his heart.This type of personality I have not come across in anyoneelse.” His extraordinary affection and love for the aged and

Chakkanatt 75 A ‘Complete’ Missionarysick people were known to all. Because of the soothing careand affection for Fr. Anasthasius CMI at Provincial HouseKalamassery, Fr. Zacharias Moorkkattil testifies that he (Fr.Anasthasius) lived at least five more years! Like Saint Theresa of Kolkata, he believed that “intenselove does not measure, it just gives. It is not how much wegive but how much love we put into giving.”“The Complete Man Knowing When to Let Go”The brand statement of Raymond’s ‘the complete man’,‘letting go’ captures the emotions of a middle aged fathertowards his adolescent daughter. This, depicted in a smallfilm, tries to capture that fateful moment when he is facedwith the reality that someday he has to let go of daddy'slittle girl, who will inevitably be lured into the big badworld by her age-mates. Abhinay Deo, who directed thisshort film, explains that for most Indian fathers \"letting go\"of their daughters is synonymous with marriage. \"Buttoday's 13-14-year old daughters are more independent thanthey used to be, and ‘The Complete Man’ is one whounderstands.\" He adds: \"This film wouldn't have worked 10years ago. It's for today's 'Evolved Complete Man'.\" Fr. Raymond spent the major part of his religious life inadministrative positions such as Territorial MissionSuperior, Regional Mission Superior, Local Superior andProvincial Superior. Even the students experienced this“letting go” with him that they could crack jokes with himeven while he was Superior or Provincial. Now they are allhis best friends. No one could hear Fr. Raymondcommenting on the oft spoken ‘generation gap’ remarks. Hewas seen friendly with the first year aspirants as well aswith the senior priests of the province and the workers.“Being There”‘Being there’ features a young, working couple, who are alsoparents to a little baby. In the ad, the husband volunteers to

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 76 CMIssion July-September 2017stay home and take care of their baby so that his wife canfulfil her professional commitments. About the husband-wife film in particular, Kamble says: \"The unique situationof the husband deciding to stay at home while the wife goesto work, is relevant today and wouldn't work for our oldergeneration.\" Many a time, Fathers have experienced how Fr.Raymond took up the routine works of the mission housewhen he came to canonical visitation so that Fathers couldcomplete some assigned works in the station. Mission seemsto have been the motive of his life. In 1968, as soon as he gotthe news of the Sagar mission being entrusted to the CMICongregation, he opted for this new mission. There heworked hard, meaningfully and fruitfully serving the poorand the marginalized and caring for the pastoral needs ofthe few Catholics in that area. Along with the ExarchClemens Thottungal CMI, he made meticulous plans andexecuted them successfully. Later, when the Sagar missionwas entrusted to Devamatha Province, Thrissur, Fr.Raymond returned to Kerala and was looking forward toyet another opportunity for mission work. In 1972, when themission exarchate of Bijnor was erected he joined it. Hailing from Karukutty where Fr. Raymond was firstappointed as the procurator in Christ King Monastery, Fr.Jose Edassery, Vicar General of Faridabad Diocese, recalledthe enticing smile and captivating laughter of Fr. Raymondthat attracted the young boys of his age who served at thealtar. He reiterated that it was a time when there weresaintly religious priests like Fr. Patrick, Fr. Isaias, Fr.Jeremias and Fr. Amatus in the monastery. Yet, theelectrifying and magnetic personality of Fr. Raymond as ayoung priest attracted them and that was an impetus formost of them to pursue religious and priestly life later.Further, he also recalled that Fr. Raymond was instrumentalin bringing electricity for the first time to the monastery side

Chakkanatt 77 A ‘Complete’ Missionaryof Karukutty; although there were several constraints,particularly the division of the locality by the railway line,he overcame them through his persistence and the ability tonetwork with the local people as well as officials in variousgovernment departments. The last phase of his missionary life began in 2008 when,for health reasons, he started gradually withdrawing fromactive ministry. Finally, during 2016-2017, he underwenttreatment and began to take rest in Kerala. But he longed tocome back to Bijnor as if to die and become part of thismission soil! The superiors obliged him with permission todo so. He reached back Bijnor on 17 March 2017, and died ahappy death on 30 June 2017 with all his heart’s desiresfulfilled! Though Fr. Raymond passed away, he still lives amidstus with his spontaneous smile, laughter, practical wisdom,and sensitivity to the basic needs of the people. That being abeckoning light for us, his role now, I believe, would be tointercede for us that we too pass this terrestrial life afterhaving successfully fought our fight and run our race, infaith, and become worthy of the crown reserved for us (2Tim 4:7-8).Timeline of Fr. Raymond’s Earthly Sojourn1937 Birth (30 January)1957 First Profession (16 May)1963 Priestly Ordination (17 May)1964 Procurator, Christ the King Monastery, Karukutty1965 St. Paul Sadan Thandavapura, Mysore1965-1968 Boys’ Home, Karikkamuri, Ernakulam1968-1971 Sagar Mission (Bina and Vidisha)1972-1975 Provincial Councillor, SH Province, Kalamassery

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 78 CMIssion July-September 20171972 Accompanied the First Batch of Missionaries to Bijnor1975 SH Monastery, Thevara1975-1978 Bijnor Mission (Founder and First Priest-in- Charge, Sant Paul Sadan Satpuli)1978 Higher Studies in Rome1978-1981 Territorial Mission Superior, CMI Bijnor Mission1981-1983 Director, Department of Social Work, Bijnor Diocese, Registration of KSSS (1982)1984-1990 CMI General Councillor for Social Work, Establishment of CEVA1990-1993 Director, Poornodaya Bhopal1993-1999 Provincial, St. John’s Province, Bijnor1999-2002 Director, Nathewaley2002-2005 CSSR Pariyaram2005-2008 Anugrahalaya, Aluva (treatment)2008-2011 Superior, Nagina2011-2013 Priest-in-Charge, Rishikesh2013 Golden Jubilee of Priesthood2013-2015 Carmel Ashram, Chamba2015-2017 Anugrahalaya, Aluva and Thiruvananthapuram (treatment)2017 Death (30 June)May the good Lord, through the intercession of Fr.May the Blessed Soul of Fr. Raymond Rest in Peace!

Celebrating CMI Missionaries 3 A MAN OF THE POOR OF CHANDA Father Joseph Koikara CMI (1932-2017) Fr. Varghese Puthuparampil CMIFr. Joseph Koikara CMI, a veteran missionary priest of theerstwhile Chanda Mission, has gone for his eternal rewardon 14 August 2017, on the eve of the Feast of theAssumption of Our Blessed Mother. Like St. Francis ofAssisi, he too collected a number of stones to build theChurch in the barren land of Chanda which was laterapplauded as “desert blooms.” This little man, though hehas been instrumental in founding a few churches andinstitutions in Chanda, more importantly, he occupies aplace in the hearts of so many people in this mission land aswell as in his homeland Kerala. Tirukural says: “All lampsare not lamps”; but, indeed, Fr. Joseph Koikara was a lampto many. We have witnessed this in the huge gathering athis funeral services at Rajagiri, Kalamassery. Like a river, his life had flown into the lives of numerouspeople, nourishing and nurturing them – as a fountain ofliving water. This river began to flow in 1932, exactly on 19September, as the seventh child of late couple Thresia andOuseph of Koikara, from Kizhakkambalam of ErnakulamDistrict. His elementary education was in St. Antony’sSchool, Kizakkambalam, and he matriculated from AshramEnglish Medium School, Perumbavoor. Responding to thedivine call, he joined the CMI Congregation as an aspirantin 1952 at Mannanam, completed novitiate at Ambazhakadby taking first vows in 1953. His philosophical studies werein Koonammavu and Chethipuzha and he took the finalvows in 1956. After completing his theological studies atDharmaram College, Bangalore, he was ordained a priest on19 May 1960. In 1961, he was ascribed to S.H. Monastery, 79

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 80 CMIssion July-September 2017Thevara, Kochi, where the next two years he worked as thecollege bursar; later, he was transferred to Vazakulammonastery wherefrom he joined Chanda Mission in 1964. During those years, epoch making incidents were takingplace in the history of Syro-Malabar Church, viz., handingover a certain huge area of the Archdiocese of Nagpur bythe Holy See to the CMIs to establish a new mission outsidethe confines of Kerala. The young priest Fr. Joseph wastaken up by the enthusiastic and inspiring call of Fr.Januarius CMI, the then Exarch of the Exarchate of Chanda,to do mission work in this new land. With a great desire towork among the poor people he landed in Chanda on 1October 1964. He was assigned to stay at the headquartersBalharshah and to offer Holy Mass in Chandrapur city, 18kilometres away, where there was no Catholic Church. Hehad to go there by cycle, first, offered Holy Mass in thehouse of a Catholic man and, later, in the Anglican Churchin the city. His weak health and small body stature did notallow him to continue the cycling such a long distance;hence, he had to board train or bus to Chandrapur whichwere neither punctual nor frequent. More than two years ofrendering service at Balharshah and Chandrapur, he wassent to Brahmapuri, to help Fr. Daniel to found a newmission station. In 1968, the Church bought a piece of land at Babupet,near Chandrapur, to start the Regional House for the CMICongregation. Fr. Joseph was appointed the procurator ofthis Regional House. Since then he continued to stay inBabupet, although the Regional House was shifted toBellampalli in 1971. He played the key role in founding theMount Carmel Convent and the English medium school ofCMCs in Chandrapur city. Along with these works, heextended the evangelization activities into many villagessurrounding Chandrapur City. In 1972, at Babupet, hestarted a boarding house for the poor boys who attended the

Puthuparampil 81 A Man of the Poor of Chandanearby Marathi medium schools. In 1979, he purchased aplot of land and constructed the CMI Aspirants’ House atTukum which later turned out to be the most prestigiousschool, namely, Carmel Academy, in the whole ofChandrapur District. His evangelization activities in theperipheries and villages flourished by leaps and bounds; in1981, he founded a mission station in Durgapur village and,in one year, there he started the first Marathi medium schoolof the diocese; later, it was converted into an Englishmedium school. During these years he had beeninstrumental in purchasing many plots of land in differentvillages to start mission stations of the diocese. These are theglossy side of the coin, but, in fact, he had to endure a lot ofsufferings, misunderstandings, isolations, severe and unjustcriticisms, police cases, court cases, etc. These negativeexperiences, as I presume, might have provided him moreblessings of God and courage to withstand all the afflictionsin the life of a missionary. As part of his theologicalupdating, he spent 1982-1983 in Rome doing post-graduation in spiritual theology and after the studiesreturned to Babupet to resume his missionary activities. Since Babupet was an isolated village having no properroads to commute, and located in the outskirts ofChandrapur, Fr. Joseph decided to shift the mission centreto Chandrapur city. In 1990, he shifted the mission station toTukum, Chandrapur, after constructing a chapel andpresbytery; then, he organized his mission activities fromthis centre. His activities primarily concentrated on theuplift of the poor people and he executed a lot of projects forthat purpose. He continued here until he got a transfer in1994 to Wirur, the fist mission station of the Diocese. He reached the remote village Wirur with greatcommitment to the poor and needy. Besides taking care ofthe spiritual needs of the people in the far flung villages, heconducted a lot of pro-poor activities and managed to

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 82 CMIssion July-September 2017construct a few houses for the poor people irrespective oftheir religious affinity. To facilitate the preaching of theGood News, he started a Suvartha Bhavan at Wirur. By nowhe was known as the ‘Father of the poor’ and, indeed, hekept the poor close to his heart too. Seeing Fr. Joseph’s missionary commitment andachievements, Bishop Vijay Ananad CMI appointed him asthe Vicar General of the Diocese in 1999; therefore, hemoved to the Bishop’s House, Balharshah, and alsodischarged the duties of the Cathedral Parish Priest. In andaround Balharshah, he again launched a few pro-pooractivities and inspired the faithful to grow in faith,especially the devotion to the Blessed Mother. Heconstructed a beautiful grotto of our Lady in front of theCathedral Church where every evening prayers areconducted in which even many non-Christians participate. At the request of the CMI Provincial of Chanda, Fr.Joseph was relieved from the obligations of the Diocese, andwas appointed the Rector of the minor seminarians atDattala, Chandrapur, in 2001. His solid lived-missionary-experiences were the basic data in giving formation to a newgeneration of missionaries. He extended his services information as the spiritual father in Dharmaram College,Bangalore (2002-2005), Darsana, Wardha (2005-2007), andAspirant’s House, Dattala (2007-2008). During his tenure asthe Prior of the Carmel Monastery, Tukum (2008-2011), hesurvived a jeep accident with a fracture in hip bone. Doctorssuggested hip bone surgery in Kerala, but Fr. Joseph wasdeadly against going to Kerala to do the surgery, because hethought that the rest of his life will be in bed. Hiscommitment to his missionary call and the love for Chandatriggered him to take the decision to remain here and die inthis mission land. Therefore, the doctors ruled out a surgeryin his advanced age, instead they proposed traction for 60days. For the next long 60 days, lying on the bed in Christ

Puthuparampil 83 A Man of the Poor of ChandaHospital, without any movement, suffering the excruciatingpain, he underwent the traction treatment. During thisperiod we witnessed to the love of the poor people fromvarious mission stations. From his former village parisheslike Durgapur, Wirur, Chandrapur, Balharshah, Visapur,etc., so many poor villagers came, standing around hissickbed crying and praying for his good health. Really, hewas a shepherd having the smell of the sheep. He hadcompleted successfully the 60 days of traction with greatpatience and resumed his duties as the prior of themonastery till the end of the term in 2011. With renewed spirits, for the next few months he servedas the spiritual father of the aspirants at the ProvincialHouse, Bamni. However, his heart’s desire was to be withthe poor; hence, he moved to the new Ashram Kshitij at Jam,which was founded to take care of the mentally ill peoplestraying on the roads. Many times he said: “I am reallyhappy with these people.” Nearly three years he stayed inthe Ashram with these people, nourishing them bothmentally and spiritually and, later, moved to the ProvincialHouse, Bamni, in 2014. Although he was suffering from a few infirmities he wasactively engaged in writing books, hearing confessions at aretreat centre, etc. In 2017, during summer he wasdiagnosed to be suffering from throat cancer, andunderwent radiation in Amala Hospital, Thrissur. In July, hehad a fall at Chanda Bhavan, Aluva, fractured his hip bone,which finally confined him to bed in Rajagiri Hospital,Aluva. This fatal fall at an advanced age drained all hismental courage and it seemed that he had given up all hishope to come back to a normal life in Chanda. He breathedhis last on 14 August 2017 and he was laid to eternal rest inthe Chapel of S.H. Provincial House, Rajagiri, Kochi. This veteran missionary of Chanda, indeed, was a man ofthe poor. He did not know any other philosophy than the

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 84 CMIssion July-September 2017sufferings and the struggles of the poor. He had to undergoa lot of miserable experiences for taking the side of the poor.A man young at heart, Fr. Joseph loved and moved withyoung people; a man of letters, he authored three books anda few poems in Malayalam; he remained very active infollowing national politics with a Congress bend; and, ayoung man at heart, he kept himself abreast with cricket,and remained active in the field of Information Technologyby way of his presence and contributions on Facebook andWhatsApp. His fatherly concern, even today, overshadows all thosewho knew him, as a light lingers, even after the lamp isgone. May the Lord grant Fr. Joseph Koikara eternal bliss!

Feast of Corpus Christi in PeruBaptism of 108 Children in Peru 85

Community Marriage in PeruFeast of Saint Chavara in Peru 86

Visit through the Missions A VISIT TO THE LAND OF ALPACAS AND MACHU PICCHU A Peruvian ‘Missionary Mine’ Thirsting for More Energetic Workers Fr. Sebastian Thekkedathu CMIIt was 2 June 2017 and my first ever visit to the continent ofSouth America. Needless to say, I had the latent excitementand anticipation of a continental visit and a true taste ofglobal missionary life in the antipodes of the world in thesouthern hemisphere. As we landed first in Quito, thecapital city of Ecuador, another missionary country whereeleven of our CMI missionaries were currently working, wehad a few hours to kill at the airport before we boarded theplane to Lima in Peru. The beautiful backdrop of the hillswith their ice-clad crowns, far away from the airport and thegreenery so familiar to us in Kerala were filling our mindsquite refreshingly. Fr. Johny Edapulavan CMI, our GeneralAuditor, and I spent a few hours confined within the air-conditioned holding area for the transit passengers at theairport imbibing the landscape and the culture of the placethrough the deco and the design of the airport. During thefive hour long flight we had from JFK Airport in New Yorkto Quito we had only a breakfast and a layover of aboutanother five hours. It was quite impressive for its ancientlook for an airplane as we boarded the plane at New York;Fr. Johny was not very comfortable with it wonderingwhether this metal bird would fly all those miles to reachQuito. We did not worry so much on the thought leaving itwith God and the engineers who check the airworthiness ofthese flying machines. Except for the precious dollars, thirtyseven to be precise, we had to spend for a modest snack, noteven lunch, at the international airport, for we were fed only 87

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 88 CMIssion July-September 2017a meagre breakfast during our flight. Thinking about theprice we paid, that also got digested too fast! However, itwas quite an enjoyable time till we boarded an eveningflight to Lima, the capital city of Peru. Why I complainabout the money is because, we did not know it was the USdollar that Ecuador has as its currency! Then we spent therest of the time watching the planes landing and taking offand inscribing the lie of the land in our mind lookingthrough the tinted glass windows of the airport. Finally, weflew out of Quito to Lima. It was just for an hour or so; andit was a newer machine to our comfort, for such a shortflight!LimaLima is one of the largest airports in South America and isthe capital city of Peru. I had occasions to listen to themissionaries coming back to India for holidays about thiscountry of Llamas, Guanacos, and Vicuñas, all of camelidaespecies, resembling sheep for us, and the famous MachuPicchu heritage site. Alpaca sweaters are highly priced andmuch sought after world over. The country is situated in thenorthwest part of the South American continent. Aftercompleting the travel formalities like passport control,luggage retrieval, and customs, we were received by a teamof priests, namely, Fr. Joseph Areeplackal, Fr. TomyMoozyhayil, Fr. Siju Vakkuvallil, etc., at the arrival pointand we were ushered into a taxi to reach San Benito, aparish church and currently one of the centres of the CMIsworking in Peru, namely, San Mateo Sub-Region. Thepriests in Lima preferred public transport or taxi for thesimple reason that maintaining a vehicle was more riskywith the threat of robbery all around and they wereconcerned about the vehicle lifted totally or to see it sans thetires or essential parts when returning to it after errands.

Thekkedathu 89 Alpacas and Machu Picchu San Benito is an active parish church entrusted to the careof CMIs after the Benedictine priests handed it over to thediocese; additionally, it has a small hospital attached to it.Fr. Tomy Vandakunnel is the pastor and Fr. JosephThekkevattakkatt and Fr. Siju Vakkuvallil also work there.In the common room itself we could see the pictures ofdeparted veteran missionaries of Peru, Fr. MathewAlphonse Chackamkunnel, the only CMI missionary so farto be buried there, and Fr. Mathew Palithottam who diedquite recently. This capital city, although known world overfor its pollution and smog due to unscientific use of landand soil and the industrial and other types of waste, hasbeen quite impressive with so many aristocratic buildingsand offices for a national capital. Most of the streets andplaces were named after Christian saints. The Spanishinfluence! The public square, plaza, usually has the churchand civic offices side by side or facing each other. En routefrom the airport to the church, as we approached thesuburbs, our first impression about the city and itsprosperity got transformed and we could see the aridmountains and the shanty houses built on the hill lookingalmost like they were a fungal outgrowth wearing anunfinished appearance. 3 June was a Sunday and we joined for a concelebratedMass at San Benito, with no knowledge of Spanishlanguage. However, the people were so welcoming andjovial with gratitude written all over their face for thepastoral assistance the CMI priests were rendering in this faroff land. Their body language was such that we feltourselves among some close relatives of ours and joining inspirit in their prayers and active liturgical participation.Unlike most of our home parishes, the warmth and concernof these people, which was quite expressive, reallyimpressed us. It spoke volumes about the need of more andmore missionaries in those remote lands which face acute

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 90 CMIssion July-September 2017shortage of priests due to historical, political, and societalreasons. After the mass, we had a quick breakfast and set out tosee the city and to visit Santo Domingo de Lima, theMonastery where St. Martin de Porres, St. Rosa de Lima,and St. Juan Macias, three seventeenth century saints, wereburied. St. Rose of Lima was one of my favourite saints asmy mother was named after her and used to mention herpatron saint quite often. The Spanish colonial structureswere quite impressive and the scenic look from above thebelfry was exquisite, offering a panoramic view of the cityand the suburbs. The monastery, with its library, catacombs,etc., preserved for pilgrims, devotees, and tourists,presented to us the glory of the Spanish colonial days andtheir political history and heritage along with the vestiges ofone of the old civilizations of the world, namely, the Incas,sometimes known through a misnomer, Indians. Places likeMachu Pichhu are heritage and tourist centres withmonuments from Inca culture before the Spanish invasion.It is said that about ninety-two Indian tribes are in existenceat present in this country. Although Spanish is the officiallanguage and lingua franca, many of these tribal languagesare in existence too. The native dress resembles inappearance to that of the tribal people in the north-easternstates of India.PiuraIn the evening, we set out on a trip to Piura, the northernregion of Peru. We met Fr. Paul Achandy, our Prior General,at the Lima Airport as he was already in the country directlyfrom Rome after the meeting of the Superior Generals. Hehad visited Arequipa in the southern part of the country andwe were together on our trip to Piura. On reaching Piura weheaded to Parroquia San Silvastre where Fr. Kurian GeorgeVellaringatt is the Pastor assisted by Fr. Sabu

Thekkedathu 91 Alpacas and Machu PicchuNaduvilpurayidam. After the meals at the rectory, we wereaccommodated in a local inn to stay for the night as therectory was too congested. To treat us with the genuinePeruvian culinary experience and gastronomic surprises,they had a hired professional cook during our stay in Piura.After a good night’s sleep we were in for a surprise in themorning around six o’clock. The bed suddenly startedrocking and the people in the inn started hustling out fromtheir rooms. It was an earthquake and the shock was not felttoo severe by us. However, we could read about it in theIndian newspapers through the internet. Volcano eruptionsand earthquakes are quite familiar for the people in thisregion. We found out that Piura region borders withEcuador and it had deserts, seashore, tropical forests, and avery tropical climate. Piura city is known today as a city ofeternal heat with almost hot climate throughout the year.The church was well attended and was full with people ofall ages, young and old, and men and women. Although thename Piura derived from a native word for abundance,today the region is very much backward and many arefisher folk living in the coastal areas. Poor people aregenerally more prone to believe in the providence of Godand we could see that the people were very much in need ofpastoral care; indeed, the area is very fertile for futurevocations. As we visited some of the centers where the verysame priests have additional pastoral responsibilities wereequally well attended by enthusiastic people of God; in fact,they do have other centres to cover for pastoral needs whichthey visit only in emergencies and once in a blue moon asthey were spread far and wide and lacked time. The peoplewere so friendly and warm, though a number of them werein their traditional dress, we did not feel any distance orbarrier with them but for the hurdle of language. Thechurches were full of statues of saints and some of themwere decked in the local dress and adapted images of saints

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 92 CMIssion July-September 2017to suit the cultural setting. Quite a few churches remainedlocked and unused for long as regular service was notpossible in those centres due to lack of priests. In order to help us in our handicap and predicament ofnot knowing the Spanish language, luckily the priestsworking there were fluent in Spanish and good interpretersfor us and the people keenly responded to it when Fr. PriorGeneral addressed them and tested the waters to find outwhether there were possible future vocations to priestly andreligious life. We could feel such a possibility, especially inPiura region, where God willing, in future there could be amine for vocations serving Latin America with CMIinstitutions gradually coming up like in Africa. Now, thesituation is like the times when Jesus was walking around inIsrael, saying, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers arefew” (Lk 10:2). The cultural programmes and civic receptionarranged in a local school was a big surprise with dances –mostly traditional and folk numbers, music and evenprofessional dancers persuading us to take a few steps withthem and giving us memorabilia and gifts. While travellingin Piura, at times you wonder whether you are in one of thevillages in Tamilnadu dotted with lines of coconut trees. Bythe way, coconuts were not very popular here for cooking,except that they were used for making candies. The ricefields and tropical plants and trees, once again make youfeel at home. From Piura we flew back to Lima again for theget-together of the CMIs.Lima: A Second TimeThe get-together, organized by Fr. James Nedumparampil,the Sub-Regional Superior, was mainly to listen to themissionaries working in faraway mission regions of Peruand for supporting them and boosting their spirits tocontinue the good work they were doing. Most of the CMImissionaries in Peru had invested quite a number of years

Thekkedathu 93 Alpacas and Machu Picchuthere and were veterans serving in the mission havingserved in different parishes and stations. The mission withabout four decades of our imprint in Peru, is comparativelyan established mission, but for the shortage of personnel,ready even with a furnished Sub-Regional House, VillaChavara, at Chosica, whenever we are ready with moremembers and formation plans locally to be launched.Currently, it is an unoccupied building which has beenbought with foresight and to be used for scholastics to staywhile they learn language or pursue seminary studies fromthere. Fr. Emmanuel Gnavallil could not participate in theget-together as he was in Kerala. Fr. Scaria Kumara-mangalam, currently in charge of the shrine of Our Lady ofChapi, was also unable to attend as he was en route to India.After the gathering of the CMIs we got some time to visitBishop Norbert Klemens Strotmann Hope MSC and theAuxiliary Bishop Arthur Joseph Colgan CSC of the Dioceseof Chosica. They were very appreciative of the services ofthe CMI priests in the diocese and urged to send scholasticsand young priests to work in the diocese as they would beable to learn the language faster and serve the communitywith the necessary facility for fluent communication. Thecommunity of priests at Parroquia San Luis Maria deMontfort, Nana, made our lunch on that day unforgettablewith a delicious and sumptuous Peruvian dinner,Pachamanca, with dishes cooked using hot stones.AraquipaWe parted ways with Fr. Prior General who was leaving forIndia, as he had already visited the southern region of Peru,namely Araquipa, and had visited the missionaries there. Fr.Jino Sebastian Kanjirathinkal, pastor in Araquipa,accompanied us on our trip. Fr. Binesh Kattackanadayil alsojoined us in the flight on his way back to his parish whichwas in the hills, a few hundred kilometers away. We could

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 94 CMIssion July-September 2017not visit those stations in the hills where Fr. Jose Palackaland Fr. Binesh worked, for paucity of time. In the parish atAraquipa, we could see people who were so understandingand patient, ready to wait any amount of time even whenthe pastor was held up in traffic and late to arrive in time forthe Mass. It was such a typical day on which we went toChapi, the shrine of Virgen de Chapi, managed by Fr. ScariaKumaramangalam on the hills surrounded by desert. Youwould wonder about the stories about the miraculousVirgin there and how could such a shrine come up in themiddle of the desert. Currently, the Government of Peru hasundertaken major constructions there at this Pilgrim Centre.After coming back from the shrine we rushed to thecemetery wherein Fr. Mathew Alphonse Chackamkunnel,the only CMI priest as far as my memory goes, was buriedin a tomb outside India. He was my rector for two yearsduring the initial formation at Mannanam. We visited thetomb briefly and came back to the church almost an hourlate due to the heavy traffic. Fr. Bino was worried and wewere upset about the Masses scheduled at the parish churchwhere he had to say three masses back to back. Although itwould look an unpardonable and atrocious crime in manyplaces, the people were so patient with their pastor and hesaid the Masses in the late evening. That much we penalizedhim for being a good host for us! Our trip to the well-stocked supermarket with Fr. Binowas quite energizing as we saw rows of pig heads and linesof chicken waiting for customers in those shops. In themarket and in the surrounding shops, we could see stufffrom world over. In fact, we took some photographs ofthese interesting dead heads of boars staring at us, andheaps of chicken, making a still parade for us visiting‘dignitaries’ from far away India. The palatial and hugecathedral and the City Square, Plaza de Armas, were quite

Thekkedathu 95 Alpacas and Machu Picchuimpressive and wore the glory of the colonial days in theneon lit ambience at night.Missionary MineThe few days spent in Peru were virtually enriching andchallenging and we literally felt like being in a mine for themissionaries thirsting for more and more energetic workers.It is definitely a possible future full-fledged mission for theCMIs, if groomed properly. It is the ripe time, God willing,to think together and act together. Challenging as it is,especially the needed cultural and linguistic transformationfor those who opt to go over there, it offers the rich andwarm people and a ripe missionary harvest! The spiritualstarvation due to absence of priests really is an SOStransmitted world over for missionaries to Peru. Despite theincidents of dacoity and robbery, God bless all thosemissionaries who work in Peru day in and day out trying tolive an exemplary Christian challenge in a totally differentpolitical and cultural ambience! Once in Peru, you cannotbut be attracted by the people and the land and leave aportion of yourself there!

ACMI Global ACMI IN SOUTH AFRICA Fr. Sibichen Kalarickal CMI South AfricaThe first unit of ‘Associates of the Carmelites of MaryImmaculate’ (ACMI) in South Africa was solemnlyinaugurated on 12 August 2017 at Our Lady of PerpetualHelp, West Park, Pretoria. The programme began with theanthem of ACMI composed by Fr. James Thazhoor CMI andset to music by Fr. Sibichen Kalarickal CMI. It was sung bythe youth of the parish assembled on the day. On the sameday, a day-long seminar on family life with the theme“Amoris Laetitia and Chavarul” was organized. Fr. JamesThazhoor gave an orientation talk for the ACMI members.He focused on the following: (i) Tradition, trends andtransformation as challenges to family, (ii) Trivialities ofculture and religion versus spirituality: dilemma of thesociety, (iii) People who live consecrated life and those whoare committed to family life work hand-in-hand to bringabout holistic wellbeing in families through charismsspringing from the house of discipline (tapasu bhavanam) andthe house of vision (darsana veedu). Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) and the Chavarulauthored by Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara were identifiedas the sources of inspiration and guidelines to the futureapostolic activities of the ACMI members. The joy of love experienced by families is also the joy ofthe Church. Amoris Laetitia identifies four pillars of theCatholic Church and they are: (i) Scripture, (ii) Tradition,(iii) Reason, and (iv) Experience. Pope Francis, whilespeaking on the experience component in his ApostolicExhortation Amoris Laetitia, said: “All happy families arealike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” 96

Kalarickal 97 ACMI in South Africa The experience of love is beyond categories anddefinitions. As Leo Tolstoy, in his famous novel AnnaKarenina says, “Love, the reason I dislike that word is that itmeans too much for me, far more than you can understand.” A questionnaire based on six types of love, developed byJohn A. Lee in his 1973 book Colours of Love, was the startingpoint for the discussions as it helped the participants to getinsight into the type of person each one is in his or her lovelife. According to the theory, different individuals approachlove relationships in different ways. Lee used the followingGreek words to describe the six different styles: (i) Eros(romance), (ii) Ludos (conquest), (iii) Storge (friendship), (iv)Pragma (practicality), (v) Mania (obsession), and (vi) Agape(selfless love). “The Joy of Love” or “Amoris Laetitia” is acelebration of the experience of love among the members ina family. Hence, Pope Francis ends his introductory note inAmoris Laetitia: “Families are not a problem; they are firstand foremost an opportunity.” A detailed discussion was held on certain questions fromAmoris Laetitia during the day by dividing the wholegathering into smaller groups. The questions discussed arethe following, which were based on the Amoris Laetitia, asindicated by the paragraph numbers given in the brackets.1. What uniquely distinguishes a Christian family from a non-Christian family? (11)2. Do the Church doctrines become “dead stones to be hurled at others”? (49)3. How can we rediscover the authentic meaning of the role of the family? (53)4. What are some of the unacceptable customs we have in our society? (54)5. What are those ‘any number of problems’ we see today in our families? (57)6. How can we assimilate the divine pedagogy in our family life today? (78)

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate 98 CMIssion July-September 20177. Can love and attraction between couples last till they die? (164)8. Where are our children? (261)9. How can we become emotionally mature or competent? (279)10. How can we make families domestic churches and a leaven of evangelization in society? (290)11. What is the divine pedagogy of grace versus human condemnation? (296 and 299)12. Do we apply moral laws as stones to throw at people’s lives? Why? (305)13. A person who cannot choose to love for ever can hardly love for even a single day. Do you agree? (319) The participants came to a unanimous resolution to carryout the vision envisaged in the document itself, especially inthe paragraph number 242 of Amoris Laetitia, which is asfollows: “The Synod Fathers noted that ‘special discernmentis indispensable for the pastoral care of those who areseparated, divorced or abandoned. Respect needs to beshown especially for the sufferings of those who haveunjustly endured separation, divorce or abandonment, orthose who have been forced by maltreatment from ahusband or a wife to interrupt their life together. To forgivesuch an injustice that has been suffered is not easy, but gracemakes this journey possible. Pastoral care must necessarilyinclude efforts at reconciliation and mediation, through theestablishment of specialized counselling centres in dioceses.’At the same time, ‘divorced people who have not remarried,and often bear witness to marital fidelity, ought to beencouraged to find in the Eucharist the nourishment theyneed to sustain them in their present state of life. The localcommunity and pastors should accompany these peoplewith solicitude, particularly when children are involved orwhen they are in serious financial difficulty.’ Familybreakdown becomes even more traumatic and painful in the