From Kerala: A Galaxy of Priests

The Indian province of Kerala is producing a great supply of priests. Lucy Moll spoke to two of them who are currently serving as missionaries in South Africa.

There is a saying in India that having a priest in the family is much like owning an elephant — all expenses and no income. Yet this has not deterred a small province in southern India from producing more priests — over 9000 are currently in formation — than Bollywood stars.

“It is an honour for a Catholic family to have produced a priest,” said Fr Thomas Vanderkullen MSFS, superior of the Missionaries of St Francis de Sales in Southern Africa and priest-in-charge at St John Fisher parish in Lynnwood, Pretoria.

His confrere, Fr Joseph Puliyilakat of the nearby Maria Regina parish in Lyttelton, agreed. It is deeply ingrained in Catholic Indian families, he explained: “Prayer, praying with the family, and Mass every day.”

Fr Thomas is the youngest of ten children, two of whom became priests and three religious Sisters. “By the time I arrived, the money had run out!” he said. When his eldest brother decided to become a priest, his studies were funded by their parents (sadly, he died of Covid in 2020 after 35 years of priesthood). When it was Fr Thomas’ turn to study for the priesthood, he was supported by the missionaries.

“The studies were tough. It has been about 25 years since my time of studies, but the formation process in India is particularly strict; for instance, no writing home to parents to say you want to leave,” he recalled. Of the 37 who began training with him, only 13 passed and were ordained. Fr Thomas admitted he missed home greatly. “You enter the seminary at 15 and complete your matriculation while under formation. My mother’s words were, ‘The Lord will keep you’ — and so far, he has.”

Having been ordained in January 2001, Fr Thomas said the priesthood has mostly been a joyful journey.

The Apostle of India

Fr Thomas was named after the apostle who demanded to see proof of Christ’s resurrection. With that incontrovertible proof, St Thomas journeyed to India in 52 AD and was martyred there 20 years later — but not before evangelising, especially in what is now Kerala province.

Kerala is the most Christianised area in India. According to the country’s 2011 census, Christians constitute about 18% of Kerala’s population (some 7 million, with 2,3 million of them Catholics). That figure is significantly higher than in other provinces, though there are substantial Christian communities also in Goa, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram.

It is in Kerala that Fr Thomas was born and raised. “The way I was brought up, wealth wasn’t something to be attained. Wealth, to a traditional Indian Catholic family, is having a son in the priesthood — an honour. Catholic Indians are very devout, and I suppose, in that way, I just adopted certain practices that brought me nearer to the Lord Jesus and eventually a desire to serve in all nations.”

That desire has been fulfilled in the Missionaries of St Francis de Sales, a congregation founded in Annecy, France, on October 24, 1838, by Fr Peter Mermier. Its first missionary destination was India, in 1848.

Mission in South Africa

The Fransalians, as its members are known, first came to Southern Africa in 1998, at the invitation of Bishops John Minder of Keimoes-Upington and Antonio Chiminello of Keetmanshoop, Namibia, both members of the similarly named Oblates of St Francis de Sales.

The Fransalians’ pioneer priests in Southern Africa were Frs Babychan Arackathara, Joseph Kunjaparambil and Philip Mangat. Today, priests of the congregation serve parishes in Pretoria, Cape Town, and Keimoes-Upington, as well as in Namibia.

Fr Thomas first served  in a place called Shillong in northern India, on the border with Bhutan. When asked, “Who will go to Namibia?” — a place of which neither he nor most of his confreres had ever heard — he volunteered. In Southern Africa, he was first stationed at the small outpost of Ongha, about 725 km north of Windhoek.

His six years at Ongha are an experience Fr Thomas will never forget. There he served at the church of St Theresa of the Child Jesus, which runs a pre-primary school, a feeding scheme, and Bible studies. It also serves rural outstations.

Fr Thomas often ministered from the back of a bakkie or under a tree. Sometimes, he travelled more than 250km in one day to reach the outstations. “Initially, we had only three stations, but it developed to 20,” he said.

The missionary journey is not without its difficulties, he noted. “Missionary work does have a few culture shocks,” he smiled. “Missionary work is also very practical, and you need to learn to cook for yourself, too.”

Highveld culture shock?

Fr Thomas moved to Lynnwood parish fairly recently. It is a very different experience from Ongha. In Pretoria, there are coffee shops, covered parking, and plenty of running water and electricity (loadshedding permitting). But the Highveld is a far cry from the coastal humidity of Kerala. Is that also a culture shock? “Well, I firmly believe in the words, ‘Bloom where you are planted’,” he replied.

In South Africa, the Indian priest’s mind sometimes turns to the great Mahatma Gandhi, who led India to independence from Britain. Gandhi, a Hindu lawyer, lived in South Africa in his younger days. Travelling from Durban to Johannesburg one day, he was ejected from a train for being an Indian in the wrong carriage. That ordeal was the beginning of Gandhi’s social activism.

“I think if Gandhi had been Catholic, he would now be a saint,” Fr Thomas said. He likes Gandhi’s famous quote: “I like your Christ, but not your Christians.” It’s a reminder for Christians to always strive to emulate Jesus.

Fr Joseph Puliyilakat agreed that the dedication and sincere effort of any one person can change society for the good. His most difficult missionary stint had been at the northern Indian border with Bangladesh, with the Garo people. The language was very challenging, Fr Joseph recalled, and he needed an interpreter for his homilies. “That was more of a culture shock than coming to South Africa in 2011,” said Fr Joseph, who has served as headmaster in several schools of his congregation.

Both missionary priests seek to convey Christ’s message of hope. “Where there is fresh air,” Fr Thomas said, “there is hope.”

Published in the October 2024 issue of The Southern Cross magazine