PASTORAL

Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), the first indigenous religious congregation within the Catholic Church of India, was founded by three priests of the Syro-Malabar Church of apostolic origin, Thomas Palackal, Thomas Porukara and Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara. They had the challenging vision: “Seeing that a lot of good has not been done due to the absence of a ‘Thapasubhavanam’(House of Discipline) in Kerala even for priests, it was desired, by all means, to start a ‘Darsanaveedu’ (House of Vision) at least for priests”. 

They started the first religious house at Mannanam hillock 11May 1831 with St. Joseph as its patron and called it Beth Rauma (House above). During the 180 years of its existence the CMI congregation has involved in varied apostolates in pastoral, missionary, educational, medical, social, communication media, inter religious dialogue and cultural fields. With a membership of about 3000 and spread over 15 provinces, one region and 6 sub regions, the CMIs have extended their services to all the continents of the world. Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara also founded the first indigenous religious Congregation for women in India in 1866 named the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (CMC), which has a membership of abut 6500, having various apostolates in different parts of the world.

The CMI community, from its very inception, had been a missionary congregation. Here is a bird’s eye view of the various missionary initiatives and endeavours of the Congregation. 

(1) RETREAT PREACHING

The main apostolate of the CMI priests from the beginning was conducting liturgical services, catechizing children and preaching sermons and retreats. They were going in groups of two or three and were moving from one parish to another even without returning to the monastery for some months as it had been specially granted by their constitution in view of effective pastoral ministry. In 1849 the Apostolic Vicar of Verapoly, Bishop Luduevicos sent a circular letter to all parishes of the vicariate instructing the parish priests to invite the religious priests of Mannanam ashram for conducting retreats in their parishes. Ashrams of Mannanam, Elthuruth etc., became venues for the annual retreats of priests. Retreats for priests or laity were not in practice in Kerala Church until that time. Along with their pastoral ministry the CMIs took up also educational and charitable activities and the apostolate of the press. 

(2) SEMINARY FORMATION

The formation of clerics in the Syro-Malabar Church was done through the Malpanate system in which only a few candidates were selected at a time in the seminary (malpanate) attached to certain parish churches. Fathers Palackal, Porukara, and Chavara were instrumental in starting the first common seminary of the Syro-Malabar Church in 1831 at Mannanam. This seminary could accommodate about 150 seminarians at a time. This common seminary was functioning upto 1894 and then amalgamated with the major seminary at Puthenpally. There were seminaries at Vazhakulam (1866), Elthuruth (1868) and Pulincunnu (1872) attached to monasteries. The priests trained in the CMI seminaries could withstand the Roccosian and Melusian schisms and they worked hard for the unity of the Catholic Church. 

(3) FAITH FORMATION

Blessed Chavara and his community started working among the dalits and opened the first catechumnate of the Syro-Malabar Church at Mannanam in 1853. Later Chavara started similar centres at Edathua, Kainakary and Pulincunnu. From the records of Mannanam Monastery it is seen that as many as hundred baptisms were administered daily in Mannanam alone. Fr. Chavara writes in the chronicle: “Dalits like Pulayas and Parayas used to come from distant place like Punnathura and spend time studying catechism at Mannanam even upto 5’O clock in the evening . So arrangements were made to give them food for two times, and collected rice and money from the churches of Vechoor, Muttam and Pallipuram for this purpose by sending request letters”. A member of the community was appointed to take care of the dalits and to conduct Catechism and moral classes for the new converts on Sundays. Even now there are about 400 families in the nearby places of Mannanam who consider Blessed Chavara as their father in faith. Even now the monastery chapel of Mannanam remains as their parish church.

The Early monasteries like Elthuruth, Vazahkulam, Pulincunnu, Ampazhakad, Mutholy, Kurianad, Ayroor, Puthupally, Poonjar etc followed the example of Mannanam and started Catechumnates attached to them. The chronicles of the above mentioned monasteries and the documents in the central archieves of the CMI Generalate testify that about 48700 baptisms were administred during the period between 1853 and 1860 by the CMI fathers.

(4) DEFENDERS OF CATHOLIC FAITH 

The CMI priests were in the forefront to fight the schisms of Bishop Roccos (1861) and Bishop Melus (18740). The CMIs worked their level best to defend the Catholic faith and keep the unity of the Church. When Blessed Chavara was the Vicar General of the Syro-Malabar Church the Syrian Parishes were divided into zones and entrusted to the CMI members as deputies to supervise and co-ordinate the pastoral services, functioning of Sunday schools, renewal programmes etc., in the parishes. At the same time the CMIs were well conscious of the identity of the Syro Malabar Church which was still under Latin domination. They wrote letters to Rome pleading for indigenous bishops and freedon in liturgical worship. Expulsion of seven members from the congregation was one of the unpleasant consequences. The only reason was that they wrote a letter to Pope asking for a separate bishop for the Syrians, without the knowledge of the vicar apostolic of Verapoly. Providentially one of the seven, Louis Pazhaparampil, became the first bishop of the vicariate of Ernakulam in 1896. The CMIs were always in the forefront for the cause of Catholic unity. 

HONOUR FROM THE POPE

Most of the first members of the congregation were good preachers and very attentive to the pastoral needs of the parishes. The contributions of Fr. Alexander Kattakayam(Sr) in this regard are remarkable. He was a missionary in its core. It was Fr. Alexander who introduced the primordial form of the present day first communion service in our parishes a century ago. The prophesy of bishop Charles Levinjnue who said, “Fr. Chandy will die while preaching” was fulfilled at the death of Fr. Alexander. While preaching the retreat at Thidanad church he became sick and died soon. Considering his great services in the renewal of Kerala Church, Pope Leo XIII honoured him with the title MISSIONARY APASTOLIC in 1892. Another award was given to him with the title CROCE DI BENEMERENZA in 1903 by the same Pope. 

(7) REUNION MOVEMENT

Blessed Chavara and the early members of the congregation were very enthusiastic to bring Jacobites, the separated St. Thomas Christians, to Catholic communion. In 1869 Chavara wrote to Holy See recommending separate bishops for Syrians and Latins. There he had suggested that this would be very helpful for the re-union of Jacobites with the Catholic church. During the first Vatican Council of 1869-1870, Chavara wrote a letter to the Jacobite priests recommending that their bishops should attend the council as the pope encouraged the same. We also find in history the efforts of Fr. Mathai Mariam Palakunnel in the re-union movement. In the beginning of the 2oth century the CMIs were very much involved in this movement. They worked among the Jacobites in Kollam, Kottar, Pandalam, Kottarakara, Adoor, Chenganur etc., and established Ashrams at Ayroor and Puthupally which were prominent Jacobite centers. The role played by Chettipuzha major seminary in this regard needs special mention. Fathers Stephan Thayil, Hyacinth Kunnumkal, Gregory Neerakal, Ignatius Puthanpurackal and so on were the pioneers of the 20th century re-union movement. Fr. Placid Podipara’s role in the re-union of Mar Ivanios and Mar Teophilos and in the establishment of the Syro-Malankara Church is praiseworthy. 

Pastoral: 

The very first activity the founding fathers was in the field of pastoral ministry. They assisted the Church authorities for a radical renewal of the Church. They became the pioneers in the Church of Kerala in initiating various practical steps for imparting life and vibrancy to the laity and the clergy alike. They went around all the Churches and triggered an intense movement of the faith-formation of the people. The pioneering steps they introduced were: retreats to the laity and the clergy, systematizing the celebration of the Holy Mass and the Divine Office, inspiring the Clergy for personal sanctification, re-vitalization of the sacramental life of the laity by instructing them through personal visits to their families, introducing Sunday homilies, and adopting from the global Church devotional practices like the Rosary, Way of the Cross and the Eucharistic Devotion. Their intense activity in this field brought about marvelous results in the 19-century-old Kerala Church within a short span of time. The Syro-Malabar Church became so active and vibrant that, for the first time in its history, it was able to produce, within a span of one century, 5 Blesseds and 5 Servants of God. It is to be specially observed that incidentally Blessed Chavara himself became the first among those spiritual blossoms. The above 5 Beatifications took place with in a span of 20 years from 1986 to 2006. It is also to be noted that the pastoral activities resulted also in the promotion of vocations and initiating a great increase in the number of priests and religious in the Church. Today, among all priests and religious in the Indian Church, working even in the Latin dioceses in North India, 60% of them hail from the Syro-Malabar Church. Today, 311 CMI Priests are engaged in pastoral activities in 22 Countries around the globe apart from those working in India.

Evangelization: 

The CMI founding fathers were pioneers in the field of evangelization in the Syro-Malabar Church. Their intense spiritual experience animated them to share their vibrant faith-experience with others too. They gave great priority to propagate the message of Jesus especially to the lower strata of the society. They established Catechumenates attached to all the then existed Monasteries. Within a few years’ time, thousands of people joined the Church.

Today, about 400 of its members are engaged in the works of evangelization especially in North India. The new enthusiasm started in the year 1962 when the historic event of commissioning the Chanda Mission to the care of the CMI Congregation by the Holy See. This was also the first ecclesiastical territory of the Syro-Malabar Church outside Kerala. Now, there are 5 Mission Provinces for the Congregation and 5 dioceses headed by CMI Bishops. The CMIs are engaged in the works of evangelization in Africa and South America. There are 42 priests serving the African missions and 14 in South America.