A Sari Road for Palm Sunday

Saris, the traditional robes of Indian women, stretched as far as the eye could see, as Holy Family faithful laid a sari carpet through Yeleswaram for their Palm Sunday procession. 

Just as crowds laid their cloaks in the
road for Jesus,  his people
welcomed Christ by laying
their garments in the road, explained
Fr. Varghese.

Walking three miles from Holy Family Mission to the town of Yeleswaram, and then winding their way through the busy streets, the people held palms, prayed and sang, proclaiming their love of Christ to others in this only 3% Christian region.

Altar boys led the walk along
the sari carpet.

Proclaiming the Gospel via rickshaw
sound system. Fr. Varghese walks
behind as "Persona Christi" -- another
Christ.

Besides the procession, Fr. Varghese celebrated Mass at Holy Family Mission and at Our Lady of Help Mission in the village of Yerravarram. Before he left for Mass in the village, he found his motorcycle tire punctured by a nail. He ran to find a parishioner who could loan him a motorbike to take him to his next mission.

Varghese means "George" and St. George is traditionally depicted slaying a "dragon." Palm Sunday took on a whole new dimension for Fr. Varghese when he had to slay a serpent -- a cobra -- on his mission compound (photos below).

Palm Sunday Mass at Holy Family
Mission.

He says he has killed around 50 poisonous snakes in his lifetime! A girl at the mission saw this ten-foot one (below) slithering into the mission's plantain grove. Fr. went searching for it and parishioners came to help, but found no snake. They finally discovered him in a storage room at the mission.

"I saw the foldings of him under a pot," explains the priest, who positioned villagers with sticks around the room, since there was no telling what the snake might do if provoked. When the pot was removed  the snake was very agressive, "bussing and weaving," says Fr. Varghese. He finally dispatched the creature with a blow to the head.

All in the day of a missionary priest!

The ten-foot cobra Fr. had to battle on his
mission compound.

A Grotto for Yerraverram?

Fr. Varghese showed villagers a couple sample
 grottos for inspiration.

As storm clouds gathered and winds increased during the 2013 monsoon season, villagers at Fr. Varghese Kalapurakudy's mission outpost in Yerraverram gathered outside the windows of their little church to look through and pray to Our Lady of Help to save them. The church is kept locked when not in use to protect it from vandals and thieves.

After some homes were damaged and destroyed by monsoons but lives spared, the faithful asked Fr. Varghese to help them build a grotto to honor the Blessed Mother. He encouraged them, and they began a door-to-door campaign to raise funds for the grotto structure, and gathered sand and river rock to construct its base. A family in America provided funds for the statue, so Fr. Varghese suggested choosing Our Lady of Guadalupe for the grotto, to honor the help and prayers that come from what Fr. Varghese calls his "friendly circle" in the U.S.

River rock helps provide a solid foundation.

Village life as seen from Our Lady of Help Mission
in Yerraverram.

Such makeshift homes in Yerraverram provide little
shelter from monsoons.

In front of the mission compound,
saris dry in the sun.

Some kutcha huts are roofed with dried
 coconut leaves.

A new feature like a Marian grotto is a big improvement
 at a mission that struggles with basic upkeep.
Seen here is Our Lady of Help's front entry step
into the compound.

Volunteers gather to begin work on their new grotto.

Prayer with Fr. Varghese launches
the grotto project.

Praise Him with Song and Dance

"Sing to the Lord a new song...Let them praise his name in the festive dance, let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp. For the Lord loves his people, and he adorns the lowly with victory." Ps. 149:1-4

Holy Family Mission became a hub of singing and dancing to the Lord in mid-January. From the 13-15th each year, Hindus in nearly 97% Hindu India celebrate a harvest feast tied in with the zodiac and honoring their sun god. Businesses close, buses and trains overflow with travelers returning to families.

At Holy Family, those three days off of school and work provided a great opportunity this year to gather youth for a special camp. 

A group of 35 young people joined Fr. Varghese in going door to door and collecting rice and dal (lentils) so meals could be served during the camp.

"We collected 35 kg of rice and 12 kg dal," enthused Fr. Varghese. " But when that amount fell short of what was needed, the missionary sent out a final appeal for vegetables. "Villagers brought their own cultivation."

As opening day approached, the young people were "very energetic and enthusiastic," said the priest. 

Never before had youth in this community of Dalits (Untouchables) attended anything like it -- a chance to worship God together through song, dance and drama as taught by masters of Kolatam and Bharatanatyam from the Archdiocese of Rajamundry and town of Yeleswaram. 

A teacher leading his little class.

Holy Family became the first parish in the Diocese of Visakhapatnam where children would learn Kolatam, a traditional form of dance performed in villages with percussive instruments, and Bharatanatyam, classical Indian dance. Whereas many popular forms of dance in the West are secular and far from spiritual, these Indian forms of dance praise and worship God through both rhythm and graceful, stylized motions. Learning these art forms would allow the young people to use song, dance and drama to express their love of God at village festivals and processions, and at parish events. 

The three days of camp with its theme of "Go, Grow and Glow," were a breath of fresh air for mission children, whose families toil as day-laborers just to survive.

Dance class at the mission door.

The opening of the camp was delayed by what people jokingly call "Indian time." In India, over-jammed public transportation often causes delays. 

"I expected the trainers to be here but they were not able to get the train because of the heavy rush," explained Fr. Varghese. "People are traveling like anything from Hyderabad to Vizag (Visakhapatnam)....so we missed the first session."

The trainers arrived by midnight and officially opened the camp next morning, for more than 100 children. Fr. Varghese began the camp with prayer, and gave talks about living the Faith throughout the sessions.

Salesian nuns who run an English Medium school in Yeleswaram also attended. Their school serves a student body that is 10% Catholic, with the rest of the students Hindu, Muslim and other faiths.

Boys and girls of all ages learned to dance and make
rhythms with the folk instrument called the Kanchara.

The Kanchara can be tricky to learn, but Fr. 
Varghese said a number of the children
picked it up very well.

Preparing "plates" for a meal...

Mealtime drew many hungry to the mission. "We cooked for 230 yesterday," said Fr. Varghese, "but by meal time many hungry stepped inside the compound so again we cooked. "

Cooking a meal outside Fr. Varghese's presbytery.

A team of helpers kept camp-goers fed.

Washing up at the mission bore well.

Some showed real talent with the kanchara.

Faith lessons made the camp a well-rounded
experience.

At camp's end, certain children showed real interest and ability in expressing their faith through these reverential arts. A group began meeting at the mission daily before school to practice Kolatam. They praised God in dance for their mission before Eucharistic Adoration began for First Friday in February.

"I am happy at least three days my children will be happy and they will be in the hands of the Lord," Fr. Varghese wrote before the camp began.

These children have had much to bear over this past year, with cyclones bringing 90% crop loss to the area and political tensions over statehood issues continuing to cause strikes, unemployment, power outages and unrest. Friends who helped meet camp costs such as renting the tent can rejoice. This first-ever enterprise was a success. Many dozens of children gathered and ushered in their new year by singing and dancing for the Lord.

A graceful finale to the camp.

Racing a Cyclone to Bring Bibles Home

Fr. Varghese distributes mission-edition
Telegu language Bibles, a gift from friends
of his mission to celebrate the end of the
liturgical "Year of Faith."

Racing cyclone winds home with a shipment of 300 mission Bibles in the Telegu language, Fr. Varghese and fellow missionary Fr. Baskhar reached their destination just hours before Cyclone Helen made landfall. The week before the Feast of Christ the King and the last Sunday of the liturgical Year of Faith, the two missionaries had helped host a youth gathering in Vizianagaram. Attendance was lower due to the approaching cyclone, although Fr. Varghese said it was a blessed gathering. The young people prayed and discussed faith issues. Fr. Varghese preached and Fr. Baskhar led music with a choir.

Within hours of cyclone rains ceasing, villagers
gathered at Holy Family Mission to celebrate the
Feast of Christ the King. Children enacted scenes
from Scripture. Shown here is Abraham.

On the way home the priests stopped in Visakhapatnam to pick up crates of Bibles, but buses were already shut down due to torrential rains from Cyclone Helen. The two hitched a ride on a truck with their Bibles, and were dropped at Yerraverram, the village worst-hit this monsoon season by floods. Fr. Varghese called villagers in Yeleswaram, who came with bicycles to transport the crates of Bibles to Holy Family Mission. Thus, a trip from Visakhapatnam that would usually take five hours, took 10, and kept the missionaries up all night. 

Fr. Varghese slept three hours but then arose to emergency reief efforts, since floods were already rising in villagers' homes.

When the worst of the storms hit, everyone sought shelter indoors. At one point, Fr. Varghese texted a friend: "We got little power and net work. We are safe. It is heavily raining and strong wind. Two of my coconut tress fell down. I don't know exactly what is happening outside."

Abraham, Isaac and a beast of burden.

On Sunday, weather had calmed, although many villagers were still in government-built shelters due to flood damage to their homes. Villagers still celebrated the Feast of Christ the King by having children enact scenes from salvation history. They gave up plans to share a celebration meal, giving meal packets to villagers in Yerraverram, instead, since those bore the brunt of Cyclone Helen. 

The Blessed Virgin agrees to bear God's Son.

Fr. Varghese spent that Sunday night in his mission church in flood-ravaged Yerraverram, and spent the next days in flood-relief efforts. He and volunteers distributed needed clothing collected by parishioners, and cooked rice and sambar (veggie stew) to serve near the church. As many as 200 villagers were fed twice daily for several days until supplies ran out. Fr. Varghese gave away all his rice and was surviving on radishes and tapioca by the time a friend sent funds for needed provisions.

Within days, a new cyclone that appeared even worse then Helen brewed over the Bay of Bengal. People were so terrified they were crying out in the night, making it impossible to sleep, reported Fr. Varghese. By a miracle, cyclone winds dissipated and what the government had warned could be the worst cyclone yet, never developed. 

But after-effects of this monsoon season will be long lasting for Fr.'s region, since 90% of the crops have been destroyed by floods. Farmers have been taking their lives, seeing their livelihoods disappear in front of their eyes. 

In this season of Christ's light and joy, please hold the suffering people of Andhra Pradesh in prayer.

Planning for a New Year of Inspiration

Stairs up the mission hill, a Marian grotto, church repairs, a stage for events like First Communions and Confirmations -- Holy Family faithful have gathered to construct these projects by hand over the last four years. Each project is shown in a new parish calendar that will also highlight saints and liturgical readings of the year. Fr. Varghese encourages parishioners to keep the calendar on or near a little home shrine (a little table with Bible, holy water, etc.) and to use it for daily prayer. A friend of Holy Family Mission gave her entire Christmas allowance so Fr. can provide for his people what so many Catholics receive each year and take for granted -- a parish calendar.

Designing the calendar had its challenges, since statehood tensions brought store closures the day Fr. Varghese went to the printer's. He "went to the computer lab, half of the downloading is over, then came the rally, anti-Telangana people shouting slogans and closing all the shops," wrote Fr. Varghese. The shops that did not close, protesters were hitting with stones.

"Buses are stopped. Another devil incarnated in AP in the form of strikes, and so on. So today's adoration is again on peace and serenity in my state."

And just as the mother of Jesus is shown embracing his parishioners on the calendar, says Fr. Varghese, "In the heart of Mother Mary, we are."

Please join this missionary and all his people in praying for peace in Andhra Pradesh.

Queen of the Holy Rosary, Pray for Us!

Young helpers gather with Fr. Varghese to help
prepare for the special Mass honoring Mary on the
last Sunday in October, the Month of the
Holy Rosary.

As flood recovery efforts continued across Andhra Pradesh and his missions, Fr. Varghese took a break from rebuilding people's homes to plan a Mass honoring the Blessed Mother on the last Sunday of October.

Young volunteers gathered at the mission's
shrine to the Blessed Mother, constructed
with local stones.

The missionary translated into the Telegu language messages from approved Marian apparition sites. Young volunteers helped him assign the name of a parish family to each slip, so each family at Mass would receive a message to guide it and the name of another family to keep in prayer in daily rosaries.

Fr. Varghese and his people are deeply devoted to the Blessed Mother. A couple years ago, they gathered local stones and constructed a special shrine to Our Lady on Holy Family grounds. This October, the Month of the Holy Rosary, the missionary met with his faithful  every evening to pray the Rosary. Because power outages were frequent, they often gathered in the light of kerosene lamps.

Around 320 people came to the October 27th Mass concelebrated by another missionary, Fr. Jacob. The readings and homily focused on the Blessed Mother. The people received their prayer slips, and a collection of yellow rice packets and tea was blessed by Fr. Jacob, and distributed after the Mass. People were grateful, since food post-cyclone has been scarce.

These young men prepared a special niche for the
Queen of Heaven, decorated with stars and a moon. 

Over the weekend, Fr. Varghese also met with local officials who proposed using the mission hill for government helicopters to drop tents and supplies for flood victims. But on Sunday, the rain stopped. People thanked God as the region started to dry up, and no choppers landed on the mission hill.

Light piercing the darkness has special
significance in an area where power
outages are a daily fact of life.

The most solemn moment of the Mass, when daily
worries shrink and the Lord becomes All.

Around 320 villagers from all five outposts
attended this special Mass.   

Receiving the Eucharist, what beloved
Pope John Paul II referred to as
the "source and summit of life."  

Fr. Jacob blessed packets of yellow rice,
distributed to faithful after the Mass.

Rosary beads lead from the Blessed Mother's niche...
and up toward heaven. (See below, right.)

Faithful crowd in to receive their prayer slips

Rice is a precious staple to a people
who eat it three times daily. Supplies
post-cyclone have been limited.

Blessed by the gift of rice.

Mary, Queen of the
Holy Rosary, pray for us!