UP CLOSE - LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT | KAIROS GLOBAL | NOVEMBER 2019

Author: Joseph Anthraper

Intro: At his ordination in 2016, Fr Das was one of the first two priests incardinated for Jesus Youth in Nagpur Archdiocese, India. Here, he shares his faith journey and how the Lord of providence has guided him, leading him to be a minister of His mercy and sacraments.

1. Please could you tell us a bit about yourself – your family and the impact it had on your faith formation.

I come from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, India. We have been Roman Catholics for the past three generations.  At home I have my mother, elder sister and a younger brother.  My father passed away in 2015 – he was a righteous man, who preferred living his Christian faith by helping people – he was a Trade Union leader. My mother Mrs. Jhansi Rani is a pious woman, who even though she had a protestant upbringing, after marriage started living the Catholic faith. She taught us from childhood the importance of personal prayer and Holy Eucharist and of going to church regularly. My paternal grandmother used to help the Italian and Kerala Missionary priests in my native parish of Pezzonipet, Vijayawada, by cooking for them and teaching them Telugu. As such, my childhood was groomed by experiencing first-hand the witnessing life of my parents, and learning from my grandparents to help people in need, and to be ready to serve others in whatever ways possible, and to pray to God in all situations with thanksgiving. 

2. Could you tell us about your God experience? And how you came into Jesus Youth.

My full name is Gangula Vignan Das – which means servant of wisdom. However, during my childhood I was very poor in studies, so some people use to make fun of me, calling me “Agnan”, meaning ignorant. But after completing VII standard (year 7), I had to join X standard (year 10) immediately, skipping the 2 years in between. By God’s grace and through the prayers of my family members, I cleared X with good percentage in 1997. But when I joined +1(Intermediate) in Andhra Loyola college, I took Maths, Physics and Chemistry as main subjects, and failed miserably in all of them. At that time, I lost all hope in life and tried to end my life by attempting suicide. But somehow after a deep sleep (coma) of more than a day, I got back to my senses, and providentially found myself in good health. This was my first God experience! Even though I deliberately tried to end my life, precisely there I experienced God’s love, mercy and protection. 

After this incident I started pondering about my life – how much wasted it would be if I died without a purpose. Slowly my thoughts went in the direction of entering the Armed forces like my paternal grandfather (who had fought in Burma during Second World War) – serving the nation as a soldier, and if necessary to die for the nation. On that positive note and with the encouragement of my father, I joined in NCC Airwing, doing it along with my Intermediate studies. One of my friends then was Mr. Denny Johnny, who after our +2 in Vijayawada, had gone to study Engineering in Kottayam, Kerala. There he was introduced to Jesus Youth, and shared with me about the movement when he returned for holidays, giving “Sing Halleluiah” books, Rex Band Cassettes, as well as introducing me to the JY website. For three years it went on like this – so during my initial years, I would say I was a virtual JY.

3. When did you seriously start discerning about priesthood and how did you decide on JY priesthood as God's calling?

After my Intermediate, with my Father’s encouragement, I joined for a Bachelor’s degree in Computers (B.C.A). During my second year of studies, I began involving with the Parish Youth activities as a liturgical secretary, leading the Youth choir. When I started singing in my parish from 2001 onwards, many of the elders at the parish suggested that I give the vocation of Priesthood a thought – that’s how the seeds of Priestly Vocation was first planted in me. I started asking myself, which is better – “Serving Nation or Serving God? Dying for Nation for Dying for God”? Naturally I was attracted to the idea of serving God by becoming a Priest. 

But I was not very certain about my vocation at that time. From 2001 till 2004, I was very active in my parish and I was also involved in Telugu Region Catholic Charismatic Renewal programs. This was the time I was introduced to the Jesus Youth movement. After my final M.Sc Information Systems(IS) exams, one fine morning I informed my father about my desire to become a Priest. He asked me to wait for three years and get a job, with not much involvement in parish activities and thus, weigh my motivation for priesthood. With that challenge I reached Hyderabad and within a few days, God blessed me with a good job in a software company. During my stay at Hyderabad from 2004 onwards, I became regular in attending JY prayer meetings, which I was convinced, would help me persevere in my vocation discernment. By mid-2006 I had a mystical God experience – I heard a voice and I was convinced that Jesus was asking me to use all my talents to do something for Jesus Youth. It was a conviction, but without much clarity. After two years, I gently kept aside my father’s challenge, becoming more active with Jesus Youth ministries, taking up different initiatives like teaching Telugu Language to JY leaders. Eventually in the process, I recorded the whole New Testament Telugu bible in audio format to make it easy for them to learn Telugu language. I uploaded the first JY Videos in YouTube in 2006 and was at the forefront of many similar initiatives. 

One day Mr. Prakash, the then JY coordinator of Hyderabad, asked me the question of why I was doing all these things – “why are you running so fast?” My answer was simple, “I am convinced that God is asking me to use my God given talents for Jesus Youth” and I explained my God experience. After listening to me, he proposed another interpretation, “Maybe God is asking you to live a Jesus Youth life style, not just work for JY”, and suggested I look into doing the full-timer training. Although initially I was not very interested in taking commitment, later I applied for the second batch International full-timership training program in Thailand. But as I started the journey to Thailand and during the training, I got a huge conviction within my heart, that God was asking me to resign my job and take up the commitment. Finally, my father agreed for it and I was placed in “India” – as a Central Fulltimer. During that year, along with the 16^th batch fulltimers, I attended many formation programs and prayed intensely for clarity about my vocation and finally by December 2007, God gave me the necessary clarity. 

When I shared with Fr.Cherian, he gave me a new interpretation of my spiritual experiences, especially regarding the mystical God experience I had some years back. Fr. Cherian suggested, “May be God is telling you that, He has given you a lot of talents – why not you get ordained as a priest and work for JY”. But when I informed my Dad about my discernment for priesthood, he asked me to work for a few more years. With the guidance of JY elders I obeyed the words of my father and started working again. The priestly formation for JY candidates started on 19^th June 2009 – on the day of the Inauguration of the year of Priests and I started my Priestly formation for Jesus youth with one year orientation under the direction of Rev. Fr.Jose Parapallil MSFS in SFS Vidhyashram, Aluva, Kerala. After that in 2010, I was sent to Rome to Pontifical Urban College to do Philosophical Studies.

4. Could you recollect a few instances in your life where you have felt the hand of God leading you?

Philosophical studies in Italian language was very difficult for me. I failed a few subjects and I was asked to repeat the exams until I cleared them. By the end of the philosophy course in 2012, I needed to repeat a few exams and resubmit all my paper works. I was under tremendous pressure. Finally at the end of the second year, the Dean of Philosophy department in Urbaniana University gave me an extension of 3 more months to resubmit my assignments and finish the pending oral exams. Immediately after that, I was sent for a monastic experience in Northern Italy for two months as the first phase of my Regency. Those were days of intense prayer, and truly a transformative experience. When I returned from the monastic experience, I stayed in a Parish in Rome for Pastoral Experience with Fr. Chilton Fernandez and also prepared for my exams. To my surprise, I cleared all the exams and I received bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and returned to India to complete the Regency year. Until then I use to introduce myself with my first name “Vignan”, but afterwards, I started using only “Das” as my name and many visible changes happened in my life as God started moulding me according to His will. 

After Regency I got an opportunity to return to same Seminary in Rome to finish my Theological studies in 2013. It was a time of tremendous grace in every area of my life – and in my studies, God blessed me with good marks. Being in Rome, many times I could meet Holy Father Pope Francis personally and interact with many JYs who visited Rome. I also took part in the historical moment of the Pontifical approval of JY movement, as well as in a few World Youth Days. At the completion of theological studies, I received Diaconate ordination at the hands of late Archbishop Abraham Viruthakulangara in Krakow, Poland during the 2016 WYD. After a few months of diaconate ministry in Nagpur Archdiocese, I received priestly ordination on 29^th December 2016. Later I had the joy of working directly under Late Archbishop Abraham Viruthakulangara (of happy memory) for almost a year as his Personal Assistant (Secretary) in Nagpur Archdiocese, India. From October 2018 onwards, I am back at Rome to study Licentiate in Canon Law in Pontifical Urbanina University. For me every moment of my formative years, I could experience the hand of God in my life.

5. What are your dreams going forward as a JY priest?

I am convinced that God wants this new initiative in His Church – that some priests be exclusively available fulltime for the pastoral activities of Jesus Youth movement. I believe God has a great plan and I am confident that He will reveal it and lead us step by step as he promised the pioneers of Jesus Youth movement.

As St John Henry Newman says, “God has created me to do Him some definite service; Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I ask not to see — I ask not to know—I ask simply to be used", this is my prayer too.

Joseph Anthraper lives in Southampton with his wife Mahima and kids Anna-Claire, John-Paul & Samuel, and loves reading, movies and apologetics. He is part of the Kairos Global Editorial Council.