KERALA LATIN CATHOLIC COMMUNITY ITALY
Early history of the community in Rome
(till the appointment of its first chaplain Fr Antony Pattaparambil)
Gervasis J. Mulakara
January 2010
The present ecclesial organization of the Kerala Latin Catholic Community in Italymay trace back its beginnings to the occasional gatherings held by some members of the Cochin Diocese starting from the late 1980s. Initially these gatherings were associated with birthdays of some members or with death remembrance of members of their families. Later on “Non-Cochinites” too were invited to these gatherings and Masses were celebrated not only on those occasions but also on important Feast days.
With the promulgation of a new and revolutionary immigration lawin 1987 the Italian government paved the way for a radical change in the attitude towards the immigrants: the change was from negative toleration to positive assistance. The new dispositions encouraged the immigrants to get organized legally and to form national /ethnic groups or associations of their own on the basis of language, culture and traditions. It was the Latin community that gave lead to form the first (registered) Kerala Association in Italy under the pet name “ALIK” (Associazione Lavoratori Indiani del Kerala). This is clear from the fact that the first four important office members elected by the newly formed Association werefrom the Latin community: they were namely President (Gervasis J. Mulakara), Vice President (Joy Karively), Secretary (Johnson Kandathiparambil) and Treasurer (Raphael Chalappally). On major feasts like Easter, Christmas etc. ALIK took the initiative in organizing gatherings of the Keralites, most often preceded by liturgical services and these services were, obviously, in the Latin Rite as the main officer-bearers were of this Rite. These celebrations were held in different places, usually in the chapel of the Oblates of St Joseph in Via Boccea or in the chapel St Lauro in Via Pisana.
Concurring to the changes brought in by the civil administration, the ItalianChurch came forward to encourage, more than earlier, ethnic gatherings of national groups for their spiritual needs. In fact this was only an implementation of the Second Vatican Council’s exhortationthat no immigrant should feel stranger in the Church and that catholic immigrants, wherever they happen to be, must be taken care of by the local churches in affording facilities for fulfilling their Christian duties. Pope John Paul II did not spare words in reminding the Pastors (Bishops and Priests) of this duty through his annual messages for the Day of Migrants.
It was in this background that the ethnic groups began their liturgical celebrations in their own languages and national traditions.Major groups of immigrants in Italy took no time in getting organized themselves and their initiatives were encouraged by the Italian Bishops Conference, through its office of Migrantesby allotting churches and places of worship exclusively for the ethnic groups. Following the other groups the Kerala Latin Catholics began to regularize their already existing occasional gatherings by organizing the community members and by holding frequent liturgical celebrations. Unofficially the Palm Sunday observance became a regular yearly function.Another step in this regard was the conduct ofAnnual Retreats of 1997 and 1998, held in preparation for the Christmas celebration.It was the Kerala Latin Priests Association that took the initiative in arranging these retreats.
The Annual retreat inDecember 1999, in preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000,was a memorable event. Held at St Paul’s College it was organized and conducted by Rev.Frs Johnson Chirammel, Suprianose Alunkal O.C.D., Gregory Arby, Jacob Prasad, Thamby Arackal O.C.D., Cletus Kathirparambil and Jacob Kizhakeveettil under the guidance of that year’s Priests Association’s President Fr Denis Kuruppassery and Secretary Fr Marian Arackal. Sixty members registered for the retreat by paying 10,000 Lire each towards the lunch expenses. At the conclusion of this retreat it was decided to celebrate regular Sunday Mass at least once a month.
During the year 2000 Masses were celebrated in different places but finding a fixed place for the celebration was not easy. Many meetings were held to discuss about the place. Several proposals came in including that of Malagrotta. Infact, Fr Marian Arackal and the parish priest of Malagrotta, Don Domenico Giannandrea, jointly prepared and signed a notice, dated November 10, 200 fixing St Roch’s church at Malagrotta as the venue of celebration. But after further discussions this attempt was abandoned as the place not easily accessible for the majority of the members..
The meeting of Priests, Brothers, Sisters and laymen held on March 18, 2001 discussed for long hours possible solutions regarding the place of celebration. The final proposal was to try to get a place along Via Bravetta. This search led to the parishChurch of St Girolamo a Corviale in Via dei Bonvisi (Casetta Mattei) and the availability of this became possible through the efforts of Fr Jacob Kizhakeveettil and Mr Peter Vaduthalaparambil. Thus Mass began to be celebrated there from March 25, 2001 at 4 p.m. on the last Sunday of every month.
On one of those Sundays the then Head of the Kerala Latin Hierarchy, Most Rev Dr Daniel Acharuparambil, who happened to be in Romeon other official matters, visited the place and officiated at the community Mass. In his exhortation the Archbishop stressed the importance of gathering all the members of all the Kerala Latin Dioceses and holding regular Sunday Mass with the active participation of all. He also advised to organize the members in Italyand work as a branch of the KRLCC (Kerala Regional Latin Catholic Community) which would become a bridge between the Kerala Latin Church and its community in Italy..
Celebration of Mass once a month and that too in the afternoon proved to be a failure: many members could not attend the Mass mainly for three reasons: (1) because the last Sunday was easy to be forgotten;(2) because in the afternoon other unexpected engagements could come up and (3) the place of celebration was not easily reachable especially for those who did not have vehicles of their own. In spite of these difficulties the celebration continued, not without interruptions.Though many discussions took place the problems remained unsolved for quite a long time.
Memorable was the retreat in December 2002 organized and conducted by Rev.Frs. Stephen Alathara, Antony Pattaparambil, Xavier Raj Hilary O.C.D., Benjamin O.C.D., Jerome Chinganthara and Sebastian Jacobi O.S.J.The venue of the retreat was St Peter’s College. Sixty eight members attended the retreat. The participants contributed € 5/- each towards the lunch expenses.A general assembly on that occasion unanimously decided to celebrate Mass on every Sunday. In order to implement this decision an organizing committee of diocesan representatives was formed. The members of this committee elected by the assembly were for the dioceses of: Alleppey: Fr Joy, Sr Shalet & Peter Vaduthalaparambil; Calicut: Fr Jerome Chinganthara; Cochin: Fr Antony Ponvely O.C.D., Sr Jessy, Gervasis J. Mulakara & Vaccachen Kallarakkal; Kannur: Fr Benny Kuzhiveli; Kottappuram: Fr Shibu Pullayil & Diana Pulikkathara; Neyyattinkara: Fr Raj Das; Punalur: Bro Joemon Varghese; Quilon: Fr German Shaji & Sr Suja; Trivandrum: Fr Augustine, Sr Magy & Markose Fernandez; Verapoly: Fr Stephen Alathara, Sr Nirmala & Tito Joseph Kizhavana; Vijayapuram: Fr Antony Pattaparambil & Mathew Manaparambil.The committee nominated Fr Raja Das, that year’s President of the Kerala Latin Priests and Mr Gervasis J. Mulakara to act as executives on behalf of the committee.
The first taskof the organizing committee was to find a suitable place for the celebration of regular Sunday Mass: a place where, if not all, at least the majority of our members could reach without much transportation difficulty.The problem found an immediate solution when the Superiors of Scuola Pio IX, an institute not far from the Vatican (Via dei Cavalieri del S.Sepolcro n° 1), volunteered to offer their chapel for our Sunday Mass[1]. The great interest taken in this by Fr Suprianose Alunkal, O.C.D. who resided in that institute at that time is to be specially recorded. The second problem of the time of Mass was tackled by the committee, in spite of objections from some members, by fixing it as 11 a.m. on every Sunday.Finding celebrants for every Sunday would have become another problem if the priests’ association had not come forward to distribute this as duties to individual priests. The association’s yearly elected officers deserve special thanksfor arranging the celebrants.Thus from January 2003 Sunday Mass became regular.
Starting regular Sunday Mass was a turning point of the community in Rome. Those who had adopted a negative attitude towards this move changed their minds and came forward to collaborate. Members of the 11 Latin Dioceses of Kerala scattered over in various parts of the big city and suburbs of Rome got a chance to meet together and to get to know each other. Regular attendance at Mass created increased interest in the members and they began to ask for more occasions of spiritual and social gatherings. They wanted facilities also for the celebration of other sacraments as baptism, confirmation, marriage, etc. They felt the need of a priest in charge of the community to administer the sacraments and to guide them in their activities.
Hence on April 6, 2003 on behalf of the organizing committee a letter was sent to all the 11 Latin Bishops of Kerala giving them a detailed report of the community’s growth until then. The signatories of this letter were: Fr Raja Das (Neyyattinkara), Fr Joy Puthenveetil (Alleppey), Mr Peter Vaduthalaparambil (Alleppey), Mr Gervasis J. Mulakara (Cochin), Mr Vaccachen Kallarakkal (Cochin), Bro. Benny Kuzhiveli (Kannur), Mr Francis Pulikkathara (Kottappuram), Bro. Joemon Varghese (Punalur), Mr Mathew Manayil (Quilon), Mr Markose Fernandez (Trivandrum), Mr Tito Joseph Kizhavana (Verapoly) and Mr Mathew Manaparambil (Vijayapuram). Together with the letter was sent also a complete list of the priests, sisters and laity of the Kerala Latin Community present in Rome and known to the organizers at that time: Diocese-wise number of members of this nominal list was: Alleppey 33, Calicut 3, Cochin 72, Kannur 1, Kottappuram 19, Neyyattinkara 4, Punalur 2, Quilon 3, Trivandrum 12, Verapoly 21 and Vijayapuram 5. After informing the Bishops of the then situation of the community the signatories of the letter made an appeal to the Kerala Regional Bishops’ Council to propose a priest to be appointed our chaplain by the Italian Bishops’ Conference.
On June 1, 2003, on the occasion of their Ad Limina Apostolic Visit to Rome all the Latin Bishops concelebrated Mass in the chapel of Scuola Pio IX, shared lunch with our members and presided over the assembly which elected a three-member committee to guide and organize the future activities of the community. These three members were Mr Gervasis J. Mulakara (President), Mr Vaccachen Kallarakkal (Secretary) and Mr Tito Joseph Kizhavana (Treasurer). In the afternoon of the same day the Head of the Hierarchy, Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil, and the Bishop in charge of immigrants Bishop Francis Kallararakal met Fr Bruno Mioli, Head of the Immigration Department of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. Their discussions lead to a primary understanding as to the appointment of a chaplain for our community.
As a first step to prepare the ground for the appointment of a chaplain a formal request from the part of the community, signed by the President Mr Gervasis J. Mulakara and the Priests’ Coordinator, Fr Raja Das, was sent on June 15, 2003 to Msgr Pietro Sigurani, the Roman Diocesan Director of Migrantes, with copies to the local parish priest, Fr Alberto and to Fr Mioli.
A committee held on November 11, 2003, attended by Fr Augustine Kadeparambil, Fr Jacob Roldan, Fr Jerome Chinganthara, Mr Gervasis J. Mulakara and Mr Vaccachen Kallarakkal, decided, among other matters, that the financial aspect of the Annual Retreat in future should be looked after by the laity, relieving thereby the Priests’ association that had voluntarily taken up this burden in the previous years.
The retreat in December 2003 was conducted by Rev. Frs. Sunil Seshatima, O.F.M.Cap., Joshy Mayyattil, Xavier Jayaraj, O.C.D.; the organizational side being guided by the Priests’ Association’s officers Frs Rolden Jacob, Thomas Ollattupuram and Augustine Kadeparambil who were assisted by the three member committee of the laity. Towards the lunch expense the participants contributed € 5 each.
The retreat in December 2004 was organized by Rev. Frs Fernandez Kakkasseril, Ambrose Puthenveettil, Antony Pattaparambil, Joy Puthenveettil, William Sarling, Benedict Kanakappally, Daison Yesudas and the three member laity committee.
Regular Mass continued. The Rev Fathers voluntarily accepted it as duty when assigned by the yearly elected office bearers. Though never an office bearer Fr Vincent Arackal quite often came forward to substitute others.
The delay in appointing a priest chaplain was the topic of discussions and meetings during the years 2004 and 2005. Representatives of priests and laity several times met the officials of the Roman Diocese and the Italian Bishops’ Conference, especially Msgr Pietro Sigurani, Fr Pierpaolo Felicolo and Fr Bruno Mioli. His Grace Archbishop Soosa Pakiam who presided over our community Mass in December 2004 witnessed the impatience of the community and promised that he would soon remind Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil to speed up the formalities for appointing a chaplain.
Finally, on November 11, 2005 His Grace Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil wrote a letter to His Eminence CamilloCardinal Ruini, Vicar of the Pope for the Diocese of Rome, proposing Fr Antony Pattaparambil as chaplain and the Cardinal,without any further delay, appointed Fr Antony through his order dated December 14, 2005. Fr Antony took charge of our community on February 26, 2006.
------
1
[1] It is to be noted with gratitude that the presence of our community in their institute, the active participation at Mass, mostly by youngsters, may have encouraged and influenced the Superiors of Scuola Pio IX to go to Kerala and start a house and seminary of their Congregation in the Diocese of Neyyattinkara.