Strikes, miracles, and St. Francis in Andhra Pradesh

Photo by Marianna Bartholomew
Fr. Varghese has a special 
devotion to St. Francis.
 May the peace of St. Francis 
permeate Andhra Pradesh.

On this First Friday Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Fr. Varghese Kalapurakudy and his people hand-drew a large map of their state, Andhra Pradesh, with a split down its middle and these words, written in the graceful swoops and swirls of the Telegu language: "Lord, heal our wounds." Faithful hung this large image from the altar, and during Eucharistic adoration, processed, singing adoremus. In Holy Family Church, jammed to capacity that night, people cried as each placed a flower and lit a candle before the Blessed Sacrament, pleading for peace for their troubled state.

The region erupted in violence, and "today and tomorrow a totally violent bandh (strikes and protest) is going on,” reported Fr. Varghese last night, after India’s cabinet announced it would back its ruling Congress party’s July resolution to carve a new state of Telengana from the state of Andhra Pradesh, giving the richly-resourced city of Hyderabad to the new state. Fr. Varghese's Holy Family Mission and its rural outposts lie in the large strip of Andhra Pradesh that will be peeled from Hyderabad, the region’s primary hub of technology and urban development.

Fr. Varghese and his missionary friend Fr. Bhaskar 
snapped this photo on a mission trip some days ago. 
It's a typical sight across India as Telengana 
and other statehood issues erupt. The 
Telengana cause has created a domino effect,
and now other regions are urging claims 
for statehood.

For two months, life in Andhra Pradesh has meant “fights, dhamas…bandhs, picketing, walkouts, power cuts,” wrote Fr. Varghese. (Dhamas are fasts for a cause, a non-violent form of protest.) “People are really struggling because of Telengana issues.” Division cuts deeply, explained Father, because the people have a deep patriotism and love for their nation.

It's a situation more volatile and difficult than the flooding that submerged whole sections of his region and his mission village of Yerravarram, just a week before statehood issues erupted in mid-July, said the missionary.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
In 1956, Andhra Pradesh State was formed
from a merging of Hyderabad and Andhra States.
The new Telengana State peels away from the 
original Andhra, placing the primary hub of urban and 
technological development in the new Telengana.

While most protests to this point have been non-violent, the government’s new announcements on Thursday drew an explosive reaction, with people burning buses and public offices, reported Father. College students “poured petrol on themselves and set themselves ablaze. Three of them died and four are in the hospitals. It is a kind of rejection of the people for the decision from the government.”

Weeks ago, Fr. Varghese answered his Archbishop’s call to go to his see of Visakhapatnam to help organize a rosary rally and march in response to statehood tensions. Schoolchildren, religious and laity took to the streets with their Archbishop Prakash Mallavarapu, praying and pleading for a just resolution to statehood issues. Days later, Fr. Varghese and his faithful marched and prayed the Rosary in Rajamundry, the third-largest city in Andhra Pradesh.

With roads and shops closed, and people unemployed, “really, it is a hell for us,” wrote Fr. Varghese about a week ago. Seeking perspective and Holy Spirit guidance amidst chaos, he walked up the “holy hill” where faithful hope to build a shrine some day, and prayed mysteries of the holy rosary. Later, at his mission compound, he cheered children sent home from closed schools, by joining them in playing chess, cricket and the traditional board game of the East, "carroms."

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
The mission is a gathering point for
children sent home due to school
closings. Shown here is one favorite 
game, "Carroms." 

Food supplies have dwindled, especially for remote villagers, and the missionary has sacrificed his own provisions. His Sunday collection averages just $100 weekly, and he runs five mission outposts with three chapels on these funds. He gave one of his last Sunday collections away, after a local boy was bit by a rabid dog and needed funds to be transported into Kakinada for rabies shots and treatment.

When he lacked rupees to pay water and electrical bills this week, a concerned friend stepped forward to cover the costs.

In a prior miracle two weeks ago, a friend's Facebook friend sent a gift that allowed the missionary and volunteers to distribute to hungry villagers more than 100 pounds of rice and 22 pounds of lentils. But now even people in the larger town of Yeleswaram are going hungry, said Fr. Varghese, who lives 3 kilometers outside of this town. 

Photo by Daniel Bartholomew
With shops closed, transportation down, and
 employment disrupted, people across Andhra
Pradesh are struggling to find basic provisions. 

Please pray for a quick resolution of the Telengana tensions, urges the priest, who also prays that concerned friends will continue to help feed his people. 

(You can send Holy Family Mission donations through the Paypal or credit card buttons at right. It's quick and secure.)

Many weeks ago, when Telengana issues first intensified, Fr. Varghese spoke of his vocation as an "instrument of peace." Let's join with him as he prays in the spirit of St. Francis:

Frs. Varghese and Bhaskar captured this idyllic
image of village life hung in the cathedral in the 
Diocese of Bongaigaon, on a recent mission trip.
May peace prevail across India.

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
Grant that I may seek
Not so much to be consoled,
As to console;
To be understood,
As to understand;
To be loved,
As to love;
For it is in giving
That we receive;
It is in pardoning
That we are pardoned;
It is in dying
That we are born to eternal life."

A missionary trek toward China

Fr. Varghese traveled and shared stories about mission life, 
visiting the Bongaigaon Diocese and far north to China.

Floods and Telengana statehood tensions marked July in Andhra Pradesh, but in August, Fr. Varghese and fellow missionary Fr. Sivvam Bhaskar answered a bishop's call to visit his northeast diocese in Assam. It was hard to arrange the trip, with roads closed and bus transportation to rail stations down due to the "bandh" (strikes) in the region. Two days before the trip, an elderly priest at Fr. Bhaskar's mission in the remote jungle fell and fractured both his wrists. Fr. Bhaskar nearly stayed behind, but once the elder priest was established in the hospital and care arranged, the younger priest continued on his journey, making final arrangements just hours before departure. Fr. Varghese's reflections about their trip are adapted from his post in the blog Faithful Earth and from personal letters:

Photo by Smeet Chowdhury, Creative Commons license/Wikipedia

The missionaries rode the Bangalore-Guwahati
Express northeast to Assam in India. 

We had a very tough journey. Indian railways are the most hopeless in the world. No cleanliness. Our seats were near the lavaratory, and the smell disturbed us. Some three days' journey, no break, heavy rush made us hard on our way. In spite of all our struggle, we reached our destination and walked around 30 kilometers of interior forest mission and gave the love of Christ.

Fruit offered by faithful during the Presentation of the Gifts at
Mass line the altar. Such offerings provide for missionaries
and the needy.

The bishop of northeastern diocese called Bongaigaon, Bishop Thomas Pullopillil, invited me to give witness and narrate my mission experience and how I am bringing up children into Christianity. He had visited one day my parish, and had called me to this event. 

A mural at the Catholic Cathedral of Christ Light
of the World in Bongaigaon Diocese reflects dress and 
customs of local tribal people.

Bongaigaon Diocese was established during the
Jubilee Year 2000.

Bishop Pullopullil's diocese is in the state called Assam, along the border of Bhutan, China and Nepal. I went through villages to learn their culture for my mission work. Each village has different tribes. As we see in America, with blacks and whites, people here divide on the basis of their dress code, food code, language, region, etc. Most of them are illiterate. Generally, they are good people -- very loving, although they can also be very fierce. Most carry knives. Some, in a militant group carry guns. The mission area is called Bodoland. Along with the Bishop we traveled to Bojo and Tin-su-kia. There is a lack of priests all over the world, especially in missions. So I gave orientation talks to boys and girls all over the missions.

Hope for the future. Boys study at Assam Minor Seminary.

At the seminary, a colorful portrayal of salvation history.

All the priests serving across this region are from Kerala. Now they have Assam Minor Seminary and many local boys are learning to become priests.

In Assam State, sometimes floods occur because of heavy rain. So people build houses on pillars and cover with tin sheets.

Statehood protests can make travel tense and difficult.

Along the border of Bhutan, people don't celebrate India's Independence Day because they want to become a separate state. People along the Bhutan border are silent, afraid of groups of violence-makers. After 6 PM, no villagers will come out from the houses. No shops, no buses and other transportation. In Bhutan, the official religion is Buddhism. We are not allowed for public worship, so they worship in rented houses, and priests dress [so as not to be noticed] and go to celebrate Mass. Priests are rare, so when people saw us, they were pleading "Please give one of these priests to us."

Frs. Varghese and Bhaskar needed escorts into 

remote villages to avoid being sacrificed to local deities.

Border crossing into Bhutan.

After Mass in Bhutan we went back to Arunachal Pradesh, along the border of China. The boarding school children here are very poor. Every day they eat rice and a lime piece, and put in salt. They are very hardworking and loving, but there is no local vocation. It [the Faith there] is just fresh. Some places, tribals kill the non-locals and pour the blood for the tribal deity. So we were not allowed to go alone in the villages.

Boarding school children survive largely on 
white rice.

Our journey towards China was very dangerous. We did not enter China due to security reasons. There was tension between Indian and Chinese armies. In spite of that, considering that we are priests, they allowed us to see some places along the India-Chinese border. China has got a very rich culture, tradition and religiosity. We had an opportunity to interact with Chinese children and they were happy to hear from the Indian missions. The famous border of Shin Hui we entered and our Catholic hostel and church was blessed with 68 faithful.

Where the trip began, with Bishop Pullopillil
in Bongaigaon Diocese.

Dancing a special welcome.

At Bongaigaon Diocese cathedral school. Fr. Varghese is 
back row, center right, Fr. Bhaskar is to his left.

In a letter after his return to Holy Family Mission, Fr. Varghese wrote that the Bishop had been kind and attentive, meeting with him personally to discuss ideas to uplift Fr. Varghese's needy. The missionary returned home feeling energized and inspired, and even more courageous to "live and die for Christ."

Thank God for our faithful missionaries and all who encourage them!

Countdown to Confirmations on June 2nd...

Holy Family girls prepare a welcoming dance
for their Archbishop, for when he visits the mission June 2.

Confirmations at Holy Family Mission in Yelleswaram, India, are just 10 days away. Helpers from the Archdiocese of Visakhapatnam have visited to prepare the people spiritually, catechism classes continue, Fr. Varghese and parishioners are still going door-to-door to raise needed funds for the event, and Fr. and his volunteers have been preparing the mission daily. Construction of a sturdy new concrete stage is nearing completion. The stage was also a dream of a previous pastor 12 years ago, who saw the need to have a dignified setting for special Masses and events. The new stage will serve the mission for years to come, as a special extension of the little church. Renting the stage to the surrounding community will generate some income for the struggling mission.

Fr. Varghese led prayers to start out the final day of cement
pouring for Holy Family Mission's new stage.

Because their church is too tiny to hold the some 2,000 people expected for Confirmation day, a rented tent and sound system are also needed. Water and a simple meal will be provided, to keep people well in the 100-plus degree temperatures. An itemized list of needs are outlined in the "Fundly" campaign shown in the box at right. Click on the title to donate or to support the Fundly campaign for free. 

If the stage's new concrete roof is not moistened by 
9 AM each morning, it will crack as it cures.

Drawing water from the mission's bore well.

Watching the progress of a bucket as it's hoisted
up to the roof by a rope.

On May 24th, temperatures reached 116.6-degrees F. around
the Kakinada region. Fr. Varghese and his young
volunteers sifted sand from gravel, preparing for
workers who would arrive later that evening.

Getting a roof on the stage was a grueling process that took a huge team effort in mid-summer heat.

With no fancy construction equipment, workers
have to use ingenuity and determination to
get the job done.

The head becomes a useful carrying tool and a plaintain
leaf shelters a worker from the intense sun.

Little ones are curious about all the activity.

Workers take a welcome chai break.

Manually lifting concrete to the roof and pouring it,
 is tough and time-consuming.

Workers have to watch their step. One fell 15
feet off the stage roof last week and Fr. Varghese
ran to do first aid. 

Parishioners were thrilled to receive the donation
of 10 bags of cement.

Fr. Varghese has been overseeing and working side by side with
his people every day since Easter, to beautify their mission.
Here, he takes a rest near the Marian shrine he and volunteers
constructed out of stones from a nearby river. 

Laying the final cement in a project that will bless
Holy Family Mission for years to come.

Soon to be complete...