A VISIONARY MENTOR WHO ACCOMPANIES YOUNG PEOPLE | KAIROS GLOBAL | AUGUST 2020

Author: Dr. Joby Cyriac

Intro: Palliachan is a household name for many families across the globe. Dr. Joby Cyriac talks to this ever young priest, who has the intrinsic courage to face challenges and the vision to break new paths.

“Availability is the sign of a Christian” - when Rev. Fr. Abraham Pallivathukkal makes that statement, you know that it comes from a person who has lived it all through. Fondly called Palliachan, he is a priest who walks with the youth to enable them to grow in holiness in their unique way. A mentor who readily listens to the young people and interprets their life in the light of the scriptures and enables them to mature and grow. When the person gets inducted to his unique mission, the mentor silently retreats to watch in joy another vine branch blooming and bearing fruit as a Jesus Youth.

In his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation ‘Christus Vivit’ Pope Francis speaks about the priests and the leaders who are called upon to help the youth discern their path in life. For such people, what is uppermost is the ability to listen, which calls for three distinct and complementary kinds of sensitivity: to the individual, to discernment, and finally to perceive the other person. Fr. Pallivathukkal radiates this level of sensitivity which makes him a warm guiding presence for hundreds of youngsters. He has relentlessly striven to imitate Christ by always being ready like Jesus, even for the ultimate of sacrifices for the sake of his wards.

Palliachan recalls the days of his formation in the Jesuit order as a process of becoming an influencer of people, particularly of youngsters. The Jesuit formation was a gradual mentoring and guidance in spiritual growth, learning to forget self and to live for the Lord and His people. It is the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius that showed him the way to the transformation of self and others. “The Lord has called us not to live for ourselves, but to live for others,” Palliachan clarifies.  For him, option for the poor is a conviction articulated in deeds, a commitment which runs through his whole life. “We are called to wipe the tears of others and to reduce their burden. This conviction I got during my formation and it is this option for the poor that I have tried to bring into the Jesus Youth formation.”

Palliachan is enthusiastic when he voices his convictions; Jesus did not come and give an ideology. Instead, he lived what he taught. He shed even the last drop of His blood for us and every Holy Mass we celebrate is a call for the ongoing renewal of the person. Here, a revolution happens through the death and resurrection of the individual Self. This internal transformation is what is expected from every Christian. The Priests, religious and Jesus youth need to become role models. That is the purpose of all formation- to live with fortitude, without falling into self-indulgence, to live with a mission “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2-3). We are called to lead by example.

Father jubilantly walks down the memory lane to relate his edifying experiences of interaction with  Sr. Petra Moennigmann (Servant of God Mother Petra Dinadasi) the foundress of the religious Congregation ‘The Servants of the Poor,’ and with St. Mother Teresa during the years of his formation for priesthood. Such experiences helped confirm in him the importance of ‘reaching out to people’. On one occasion, a group of students from Calcutta University came to Mother’s old age home at Kalighat seeking an opportunity to do social service. Mother gave brooms and buckets and asked them to sweep and clean the lavatories. Soon they returned unable to bear the filth and the stench. With her disarming smile, Mother took over, tucked in her blue-bordered saree, and washed the first toilet clean. And the youth followed suit! Palliachan pauses for a moment and remarks, “It is high time we responded to Pope Francis’ call to ‘Walk the Talk’.” 

It is more than what meets the eye, when you are with Palliachan. You start contemplating the meaning of life and spirituality as you listen to him: “God gave His only Son who died for us. Perpetuating the life of Christ in the world is the task of the Christian. The risen Christ is not a ‘there and then experience’ far removed from our lives. But he is with us 24 hours a day.  As a Christian and as a priest, I have received his commissioning - go and live for the other. Once we try to understand the paschal mystery deeply, we will be transformed. We will move away from self-centeredness to the other-centred living.” Father sums up quoting St. Paul: “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another” (Gal 5:13). 

Palliachan has with him the remedy to the modern day maladies of callous self-seeking. “It is not the survival of the self that needs to be focused – psychological models many a time speak only about the survival of the self. They stop there and do not go beyond. But what is needed is a wider perspective of life. Every Christian leader, every Jesus Youth, should be able to clarify the meaning of life for others. They should be able to interpret the life, death and resurrection of Christ in the context of human lives. This is the life-line the Lord has shown us. But many drift away from this life-line and get trapped in the self and fall into bondages of different types.”

“We are called to freedom.  This freedom of the spirit leads us to imitate Christ, to follow Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, by living for the other. This does not mean that everyone becomes perfect,” Palliachan cautions, “but it is the direction of our growth, the lifeline of our true and spiritual existence.  But the ‘good life’ I teach and the ‘not so good life’ I lead - the difference between these two is painful. ‘Walking the Talk’ is easily said than done!”

Father also shares his vision of youth formation which he tried to put in to practice from the early days of his priestly mission. “The church needs to read the signs of the times and challenges which today’s youth face, and plan interventions in anticipation. We need contemporary answers for contemporary questions, not yesterday’s answers.” The young people of today should get a chance to experience Christian faith in the way St. Oscar Romero describes:  “Christianity is not a collection of truths to be believed, rules to be followed, or some prohibitions. Seen that way, it puts us off. Christianity is a person who loved me immensely, who demands and claims my love. Christianity is Christ.”  In Jesus Youth formation, this personal touch and accompanying experience were incorporated from the very beginning. The formation of a Jesus Youth has this contemporary touch and an understanding of the realities of today’s world. 

Palliachan also observes that the lay people seem to have lost the awareness that they are an integral part of the Church. Creating a sense of belongingness to the Church is the need of the hour. The clergy and the leaders of the Church need to take up this challenge with a full understanding of their vulnerabilities. They should move forward without losing credibility and trustworthiness. The laity who form almost 98 percent of the faithful should be taken into confidence and proportionately resources; finances and personnel - should be channelized according to the needs of the laity. The realisation that priesthood is for service and not for authority is what will make the key difference. The Church needs to go beyond just formation of the laity and embrace collaboration with the laity at all levels. 

The visionary zeal in Palliachan reveals itself when he looks into the future of the Church and the involvement of the laity. He asserts: Instilling the sense of belongingness in the laity can happen only if they come to understand the meaning of life by comprehending the paschal mission of Christ. In the history of the Church, we meet several lay theologians from the very beginning (e.g. Tertullian, Pascal, Justin etc.) - enlightened and discerning lay leaders, who could guide and enrich the laity and the clergy alike. In the true spirit of collaboration, the laity should be involved in seminary formation also. There are several ‘accomplished and informed’ lay people in our midst. There are instances in the Church when some insightful Bishops have asked retired lay people who are experts in their fields to take charge of the finance, agriculture etc. of their diocese. Why can’t we do this in other contexts too?  If such creative steps are taken the distancing of the clergy from the laity can be checked. This requires an all-round radical change in the Church. The perspectives have to change and a new way of thinking and collaborative leadership needs to emerge. 

For many people in Kuttanadu, Kerala, where most of the cultivation is done below sea level in the land created by draining delta swamps in saline waters, the means of livelihood still is a gambling in the monsoon and floods. Palliachan, who hails from among those who brave the vagaries of nature in Kuttanadu, no doubt, has the intrinsic courage to face challenges and the vision to break new paths.

Dr. Joby Cyriac is a professor in Marian college, Kuttikkanam, Kerala, India