Little Flower Congregation CST Fathers
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DIRECTORY - 2016 Little Flower Congregation CST Fathers Little Flower Generalate CST Fathers, Thrikkakara P.O., P.B.No.1, Kochi - 682021, Kerala, India Tel. 0484 2425226, E-mail:[email protected], [email protected] www.cstfathersindia.org Contents I Little Flower Congregation 3 a) A Brief History of the Congregation 3 b) Congregation at a Glance 6 c) Administrative Body 9 i) General Administration 2015-2021 9 ii) Provincial Administrations 2015-2018 10 d) Milestones: Life of Fr. Founder 12 e) Through Many Stages: Our Congregation 13 f) Through Many Hands: Former General Admins 15 II Catholic Church: General Information 17 a) Catholic Church in General 17 b) The Syro-Malabar Church –Curia 18 c) The Syro-Malabar Hierarchy 21 i) Eparchies Outside The Proper Territory 25 ii) Retired Bishops 27 d) Syro-Malankara Hierarchy 29 e) Latin Hierarchy 30 III CST Fathers in Mission 33 a) Dioceses in India 33 b) Dioceses outside India 35 c) Our Bishops (CST Fathers) 38 IV Priest Data 39 Priest Data – St. Joseph’s Province 39 Priest Data – St. Thomas Province 54 Priest Data – Khrist Jyoti Province 72 Priest Data – Little Flower Province 83 V Ashram Directory 93 a) Common Houses - Under Generalate 93 b) St. Joseph’s Province 96 c) St. Thomas Province 105 d) Khrist Jyoti Province 118 e) Little Flower Province 129 VI Seminarian Roster 136 St. Joseph’s Province 136 St. Thomas Province 140 Khrist Jyoti Province 144 Little Flower Province 147 VII Obituary Annals 150 I Little Flower Congregation a) A Brief History of the Congregation The Little Flower Congregation has its origin on 19th March 1931 at Mookkannur, a village 7 kilometres North-East of Angamaly, in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam, Kerala. It was started,as a Society of Brothers under the name ‘Little Flower Brotherhood’ admitting two candidates – Joseph Kachira (Bro. Benedict) and Joseph Nedumpuram (Bro.Arsenius) by late Rev. Fr. Thomas Panat, a priest from the Archdiocese of Ernakulam, who was later known as Fr. Basilius CST. He started the Brotherhood with the permission of Mar Augustine Kandathil the then Archbishop of Ernakulam. As the founder, Rev. Fr. Basilius was all in all of this community. In spite of his whole-hearted, selfless and strenuous efforts and prayers for 15 years, he could not find a steady growth of this community. Therefore, in 1945 with the consent of the members who were all Brothers, Fr. Basilius sought the permission from the Archbishop to reorganize the Congregation by admitting candidates also for priesthood. On 27 December 1945 Archbishop Mar Augustine Kandathil gave permission to admit students for priesthood for better realization of the aim of the Congregation, especially the Missionary and Social Apostolate (cf. Ernakulam Missam January 1946). In June 1946 the First Batch of students for priesthood was admitted. The Constitution of the reorganized Religious Institute (thereafter called Little Flower Congregation) was written by Rev. Fr. Basilius and was approved by Archbishop Mar Augustine Kandathil on 8 October 1947. With the reorganization there emerged a new enthusiasm and vigour in the life and activities of the Congregation. New houses were established and members embarked on several new projects in accordance with the charism of the Congregation. A Petit Seminary was started at Mookkannur on 1 June 1948. The First Ordination to priesthood in our Congregation took place on 1 June 1956. Very Rev. Fr. Basilius was appointed in 1955 as the first Superior General of the Congregation by the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. He was then asked to revise the Constitution according to the New Oriental Code of Canon Law. The Constitution was revised accordingly and it was approved by Archbishop Mar Joseph Parecattil (later Cardinal) on 18 April 1963. A few years later on the basis of the desire expressed by the Brothers for greater autonomy, the Oriental Congregation directed His Eminence late Joseph Cardinal Parecattil to appoint a special Commission to study the question and to report to Rome its findings. In the light of the findings of this Commission and the information gathered from the two sections viz. Priests and Brothers by holding discussions with them, His Eminence Mar Joseph Cardinal Parecattil sent a report to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches on 15 September 1977 recommending the division of the Congregation into two autonomous bodies: Clerical and Lay. Accepting this recommendation, the Oriental Congregation appointed Very Rev. Fr. Cyril, the then Superior General of the Order of the Imitation of Christ (later Major Archbishop of the Syo-Malankara Church) its delegate to pave the way for the smooth division of the Congregation. On the basis of the report submitted by him to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, the Sacred Congregation directed His Eminence Mar Joseph Cardinal Parecattil by decree Prot. N. 512/ 68, dated 9 November 1978 to issue two decrees for the erection of two distinct Congregations iuris eparchialis. Hence by virtue of this decree His Eminence Mar Joseph Cardinal Parecattil officially and canonically erected the community of the Fathers as a Clerical Congregation iuris eparchialis on the 8 December 1978 and named it the Little Flower Congregation alias CST Fathers. As per the instruction issued by His Eminence Mar Joseph Cardinal Parecattil along with the Decree of Erection, a General Synaxis was convoked in 1979 for revising the Constitution and Statutes. The Constitution and Statutes thus revised and finalized in the General Synaxis was approved by His Eminence Mar Joseph Cardinal Parecattil on 1 April 1981. The Legislative Texts were translated into English and submitted to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches together with an application to grant Pontifical Status to our Congregation. The Congregation for the Oriental Churches after careful study and thorough examination of the texts made certain observations and asked the Superior General to revise the Constitution and Statutes in accordance with the guide lines given. The Constitution and Directory revised following these guide lines, were approved by His Grace late Mar Antony Padiyara, the then Archbishop of Ernakulam (later Major Archbishop) on 14 February 1986. On 19 June 1984 the Holy See erected the new Diocese of Gorakhpur, bifurcating the Diocese of Varanasi and Rev. Fr. Dominic Kokkat CST, who headed the Congregation’s missionary activities in the Diocese of Jalandhar, Punjab, was nominated its first Bishop. His Eminence late Mar Joseph Cardinal Parecattil ordained him Bishop at St. Mary’s Basilica Ernakulam on 4 October 1984. The Installation Ceremony took place on the 14th of the same month at St. Joseph’s Cathedral Church, Gorakhpur. Considering the further growth and development of our Congregation and taking into account the increase of the number of members and Ashrams and the wide 2016 expansion of the area of our apostolic activities, the IX Ordinary General Synaxis, Directory 4 1991 of our Congregation, re-organized the Administration of our Congregation into two Regions with delegated powers to the Regional Superiors. Thus two Regions were erected – St. Joseph’s and St. Thomas in our Congregation on 15 February 1992. The same General Synaxis of 1991 in its fourth Session, in accordance with Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium (Canon 508 § 2) and our Constitution Art. No.194, unanimously decided on 29 November 1991, to erect these two Regions into Provinces and to make the Punjab – Rajasthan Mission and Gorakhpur – Nepal Mission into Regions with effect from 19 March 1994. As per the decision of the Ordinary General Synaxis of 1991, St. Joseph’s Province and St. Thomas Province were erected in our Congregation on 19 March 1994 and on 10th June 1994 Punjab-Rajasthan Region with the name Khrist Jyoti Region under St. Joseph’s Province and Gorakhpur-Nepal Region with the name Little Flower Region under St. Thomas Province were erected. Marking another milestone in the history of the Little Flower Congregation, His Holiness Pope St. John Paul II raised our Congregation to the Status of a Religious Institute of Pontifical Right on 21 December 1995 and the Decree declaring the elevation of our Congregation to the Pontifical Status was officially signed on 2 February 1996 by His Eminence Achille Cardinal Silvestrini, the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Churches. And the Papal Decree was personally handed over to our Superior General on 10 February 1996 at St. Thomas Mount, Kakkanad, the Major Archiepiscopal Curia of the Syro-Malabar Church when His Eminence Achille Cardinal Silvestrini came to Ernakulam for the centenary celebration of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam. The public declaration of the Decree and the celebrations connected with it took place in our Generalate on 16 March 1996 in the presence of His Beatitude late Mar Antony Cardinal Padiyara, the then Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church. It is a matter of great joy and edification for the entire Church and for the Little Flower Congregation in particular that our Patroness the ST. Little Flower was proclaimed Doctor of the Church in Rome on 19 October 1997 by His Holiness Pope St. John Paul II. The late Rev. Fr. Felix CST, the then Superior General took part in the ceremony. As a new venture, our Congregation started mission works in the Diocese of Musoma, in Africa. The first 2 pioneer missionaries were sent on 5th August 1999. Now our priests do missionary apostolate in the Archdiocese of Songea. In recognition of the missionary activities and heralding the further growth of our Congregation the X Ordinary General Synaxis of the Little Flower Congregation held at Little Flower Generalate, Thrikkakara in its second Session from 9 - 20 June 1997 in accordance with CCEO c. 508 §2 and our Constitution Art 193 and Directory Art. No.