Leading Family and Church: a Study Among Married Priests of Church of South India in Trivandrum

LEADING FAMILY AND CHURCH: A STUDY AMONG MARRIED PRIESTS OF CHURCH OF SOUTH INDIA IN TRIVANDRUM

A Dissertation Submitted to the University of Kerala in the Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Arts Degree Examination in Sociology

SUBMITTED BY Name : CHRISTBEN D F Exam Code : 56013405 Candidate Code: 56017115003 Subject Code : SO245

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Dr. NISHA JOLLY NELSON

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY LOYOLA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES SREEKARIYAM, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM 2017-2019 i

DECLARATION

I, CHRISTBEN D F do hereby declare that the Dissertation Titled LEADING FAMILY AND CHURCH: A STUDY AMONG MARRIED PRIESTS OF CHURCH OF SOUTH INDIA IN TRIVANDRUM is based on the original work carried out by me and submitted to the University of Kerala during the year 2017-2019 towards partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts Degree Examination in Sociology. It has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, fellowship or other similar title of recognition before any University or anywhere else.

Thiruvananthapuram 23/09/2019 CHRISTBEN D F

CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL

This is to certify that this dissertation entitled LEADING FAMILY AND CHURCH: A STUDY AMONG MARRIED PRIESTS OF CHURCH OF SOUTH INDIA IN TRIVANDRUM is a record of genuine work done by Mr.Christben D F, fourth semester Master of Sociology student of this college under my supervision and guidance and that it is hereby approved for submission.

Dr. Nisha Jolly Nelson Research Guide Department of Sociology Loyola College of Social Sciences Sreekariyam

Recommended for forwarding to the University of Kerala Dr. Nisha Jolly Nelson Head, Department of Sociology Loyola College of Social sciences Sreekariyam

Forwarded to the University of Kerala Dr. Saji P Jacob Principal Loyola College of Social Sciences 23/09/2019 Sreekariyam

iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This dissertation is a result of the right blend of guidance and help received from many individuals which has increased my knowledge dimensions. Therefore, I would like to thank all those who helped me to accomplish this study. I thank the Almighty, for giving me enough strength, patience, perseverance and the right attitude to pursue this study satisfactory. I thank my family, who supported, motivated and enabled me to complete this endeavor.

I am indebted to my research guide and teacher Dr. Nisha Jolly Nelson, Assistant Professor and Head, Department of Sociology, Loyola College of Social Sciences, Trivandrum for her guidance and support without which this study would not have happened. I admire her optimism and the faith she had in me for undertaking this dissertation. I express my sincere gratitude towards her for her timely guidance, useful comments and constant encouragement.

I extent my wholesome gratitude to Dr. Saji P Jacob Principal, Loyola College of Social Sciences and other, faculty of the Department, who have helped me, and for their support, assistance and guidance whenever required during my research.

I am indebted to all the priests and family who have participated in this research.

I also thank my friends who spared their precious time and energy to help take this project to fruition.

I would also thank the Dr. Sunil and Mr. George for providing with the resources in the library and their assistance in finding resources.

I am privileged to be a student of Loyola College for having provided me such a great learning experience and inspiring and giving opportunities to excel in life long learning through field based activities.

CHRISTBEN D F

23/09/2019 MA SOCIOLOGY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTERS TITLE PAGE NUMBER I INTRODUCTION 1-13

II LITERATURE REVIEW 14-21

III METHODOLOGY 22-24

IV DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS 25-51 AND INTERPRETATION

V FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND 52-56 SUGGESTIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY 57-59

APPENDIX-I 60 INTERVIEW GUIDE

ABSTRACT The present study titled LEADING FAMILY AND CHURCH: A STUDY AMONG MARRIED PRIESTS OF CHURCH OF SOUTH INDIA IN TRIVANDRUM was an attempt to understand the life experiences of priest’s with family life. The researcher looks at how does the double status affect their life socially, economically, culturally? And whether it is a challenging one? Church of South India (CSI) is the second largest Christian church in India based on number of members and South Kerala Diocese is one of the largest Diocese of CSI. The researcher focuses on the life experiences of the priests in South Kerala Diocese of the CSI. A qualitative approach was adopted in the study where cases were identified and information was gathered from them.

The study reveals that married priests life is a busy life with lot of unexpected problems and tensions. Transferring system leads to many challenges like children’s education, adaptation to different cultural and social settings. Economically they face the problem of salary pending which leads to income instability. They also face a feeling of “alienation”. They are being alienated from their own land and relatives and work in a new place and among new people. The other important challenge that they face is that of the unity of church. The church politics is a big threat to the everyday functioning of church based activities. While leading church and family at a time, it is needed to be adjusting to family affairs. Conflicts within the church will affect priest’s family life. This is a constrained life that society always monitoring the family life of a priest. “In the social sense, the priesthood is highly regarded as very respectful. The community looks forward to a priest with high expectations. Therefore they are obliged to lead such an exemplary life. Society is always monitoring us”. However, they also reminded that their mission is to tackle of all these problems and doing Godly service, even if there are too many responsibilities with tensions. They can do it by spiritual power.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

Religion changes across the globe. It is a strong social institution. Different parts of the world have different beliefs and rules that maintain their religion. That is the social world consists of a number of religions. Not all religions follow the same practices but there are some similarities between most, if not all, religions. Religions have their own rituals attached to their beliefs. Some rituals across religions (like fasting) are specific to one religion while others are practiced throughout. Religions incorporate myths into how they practice, and why they practice by conveying messages about the supernatural through stories or metaphors. They are used to help express ideas and concepts as well as help the followers achieve spirituality. Religion can help people find peace of mind, give them hope, turn their life around, and change their point of view Religion can be used to justify things and to motivate others. Rituals and ceremonies are practiced to show dedication and faith to a religion.

In the middle ages, there was a definite structure in society. That is the people were born into a class and generally stayed in that class for our entire life. Working hard did not change your status. Our clothing, food, marriage, homes, etc., were determined for us. After the rank of king, the hierarchy was the nobles, the knights, the clergy (religious people), the tradesmen and the peasants.One of the most unifying elements of the middle ages was the Roman Catholic Church. All classes and ranks of people as nobles, peasants and tradesmen that were profoundly affected by the rulings of the church.The clergy were the religious people of the middle ages. Following the pope, in order of rank, there were bishops, priests, monks and nuns. In the latter part of the middle ages, the pope, as head of the church, had much influence over the king and total control of the clergy. So in the middle age society the religion have an important role in the society and also the religious authority was a prominent social class .In the latter part of the middle ages, people were heavily taxed to support the church. In return for their tax money they received the “way to everlasting life” and happiness after leading lives that were often short and hard. Children were taught basic prayers and to go to church every week.The Roman Catholic Church was the single largest unifying organization in medieval Europe. It touched everyone’s life, no matter what their rank or class or where they lived. In that way religion was an important subject matter of sociology from the middle ages. The eminent sociologist like Max Weber, Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx has their own perspective on religion. As above mentioned every

Page 2 of 60 religion have their own authority like bishop monks, priest etc. But the concept of priest is familiar in every religion they are act as the mediator between God and man. So the priests are an important social class and had become a subject matter of sociology in many contexts as the religion. However the theme of priests and priesthood is prominent within the Christian Scriptures. One is first introduced to the concept of a priest in the book of Genesis, and the role lingers until the sacred canon closes. The office of the priest is mentioned some 700 times in the Old Testament, and approximately 80 times in the New Testament. So the Christian priesthood had undergone many sociological studies especially the catholic priesthood.

Who Is a Priest?

A religious leader who is a part of an organized religion is considered as priest. Of course, there are different terms for these individuals and they may have known as rabbis, ministers, pastor, mullahs, imams and the like. These individuals are the keepers of sacred law and tradition. They are found mostly in large scale societies. Priests are authorized by priesthood, or some other religious organization, to perform religious rituals designed to influence the supernatural world and to guide the believers in their religious practices. Priests personally do not have supernatural power at their command. Priest are initiated and ceremonially inducted members of an established religious organization. That is they are members of a priesthood. Their rank and function result from holding a religious office held by others before them. The dictionary definition of a priest is “one especially consecrated to the service of a divinity and through whom worship, prayer, sacrifice or other service is offered to the object of worship and pardon, blessing or deliverance is obtained by the worshipper”(Funk and Wagnall). A priest, in effect, is a mediator who stands between God and man. He offers sacrifice to God on behalf of man and administers other worship obligations that people feel unworthy to offer personally. A priesthood is always established on a stipulation between the worshiper and their God and that is inaugurated by a sacrificial offering (Chrysostom, 2018). He is one who represents the divine being to his subjects and in return from them to their God. He act as an ambassador. According to the biblical view Adam was ordained as the first priest of the earth to represent him and serve him on earth. The nearest thing to a definition found in the Scriptures is probably Hebrews 5:1.“For every high priest, being taken from among men, is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins”. There is the conservative

Page 3 of 60 view, which sees the Church as a kind of feudal society, in which each man has his proper status with corresponding “duties of his state.” On the other hand, there is the progressive view, which models the Church on the democratic society, in which citizens are not differentiated by their status but by their functions(Jackson, 1963). The basic job of the priest is to celebrate Mass and otherwise minister to the faithful. They serves the religious order of which they will be a part. In the Christian tradition priest may be given responsibility for any of a bishop’s works or for parishes under his authority. One of the main things a priest does as the co-worker with his bishop, is to carry out the church’s mission to proclaim, teach and guard the word of God found in scriptures. A priest carries on the priestly ministry in a number of ways in his parish or local area he is looking after. Chiefly he celebrates the Mass (which is the central worship of the church) while acting in the person of God. He will also celebrate some of the other sacraments like baptism, confession (often called reconciliation), marriage, and the sacraments of the sick (anointing and praying for those who are sick). He is also charged with shepherding (caring for and looking after) and giving God’s people in his parish or wherever he is placed by his bishop. The priest, therefore, living in the midst of people, is called to teach sanctify and lead through service. He is called to serve others and will be involved in the many various circumstances of life. In the decree on the priesthood of Vatican II, however, the position is quite otherwise: “Priests, as co-workers with their bishops, have as their primary duty the proclamation of the gospel of God to all men.” It has to be admitted that the same document later on asserts that “Priests fulfill their chief duty in the mystery of the Eucharistic Sacrifice,” but that occurs in a section that seems plainly to have been inserted to satisfy those who wanted to safeguard the practice of daily Mass. The emphasis of the Vatican decree on the priesthood, like the one on bishops, is on the proclamation of the gospel to all, whether Christians or not(Dolan, 2009).

Hindu priesthood has its origins primarily in the Vedic religion, in which the primary focus was the ritual tradition. The Indo-Aryan-speaking invaders of northwestern India in the middle and late second millennium BC were apparently divided into a threefold hierarchy of social classes with religious as well as economic functions, the priestly class being uppermost and distinct from the warrior, and both of these relatively small echelons ranking above the masses, the pastoral, artisan, and agricultural producers. Kings and chieftains were evidently drawn from the warrior tradition, but the function of sovereignty itself involved divine-human relationships perceived as sacrificial exchanges and therefore the sacred work (karman) of an elite priesthood, whose

Page 4 of 60 members came from the priestly social class (brāhmaṇa). t this sacerdotal elite was diversified according to long tradition, being responsible not only for a wide range of cultic functions but also for the composition and preservation of the sacred traditions of oral poetry, is documented from comparative study of the Ṛigveda, the oldest of the Vedic texts, composed in 1200 BC, and the Avesta of ancient Iran. Similarities in the functions not only of Vedic Brahmans and Iranian magi but also of Celtic druids and Roman flamens have led some scholars to discuss a proto- Indo-European priestly tradition. In the absence of interpretable literary records from the Indus Valley, it remains undetermined what contribution a hypothetical Harappan priesthood may have made to subsequent South Asian religions.

The expansion of the priesthood during the period of composition of Rgvedic hymns and subsequent texts has a complicated history. The initial verse of the Ṛgveda identifies Agni, god of fire, as divine priest and hotṛ, or invoking priest, originally the "pourer" of libations (his Avestan counterpart in name and function being the zaotar). Ṛgveda itself came to serve as the handbook of this essential priest, who called the gods to the sacrifices. Ṛgveda honors Agni not only with the hotṛ 's office but also with those of the adhvaryu, or administrative priest, and the brahmán(possibly indicating brāhmaṇācchaṃsin ), potṛ, neṣṭṛ, agnīdh, and praśāstṛ, with the householder, gṛhapati, as eighth priest. In several respects this staff corresponds to ancient Iranian sets of seven or eight priests. But the fully developed Vedic staff for the great soma rituals consisted of four major officiates, or ṛtvij(a number including the udgātṛwith the hotṛ, adhvaryu, and brahmán from the above group), and allowed each to employ three assistants for a total of sixteen, occasionally seventeen if an additional priest was required. Just as the Ṛgveda was the manual from which the hotṛ recited, so the three subsidiary Samhitas eventually came to be specific texts for the other principal ṛtvij and their assistants, the adhvaryu instructing and proclaiming from the Yajurveda, the udgātṛ and his acolytes singing as a quartet from the Sāmaveda, and the brahmán serving as proctor or monitor for the rituals, silently observing and listening for errors in need of expiation, his relationship to the Atharvaveda being only nominal because his training necessarily included coverage of all three primary Vedas. Ṛgveda 10.71.11 alludes to the tasks of the four major priests, that of the brahmán being the relating of knowledge (vidyā), a significant clue to the nature of this important figure who, as transcendent fourth, represents the totality of priesthood.

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The Historical View

The presence of priesthood has been characteristic of virtually every society of cultured man since the beginning of time. It is verifiably the oldest known religious institution and appears to have originated in the Nile region. The ancient Assyrians had priest, as did the Babylonians. It is quite distinct from the other ancient religious office, that of the shaman. Underlying shamanism is the belief that spirits cause imbalance and disharmony in the world. The shaman’s role is to determine which spirits are at work in a given situation and to find ways to appease the spirits. This may or may not involve animal sacrifice. Underlying the priesthood is belief in a single supreme Spirit to whom humans must give an accounting, especially for the shedding of blood. In this view, one Great Spirit (God) holds the world in balance and it is human actions that cause disharmony. The vast assortment of ancient laws governing priestly ceremonies, sacrifices, and cleansing rituals clarifies the role of the priest as one who offers animal sacrifice according to sacred law. The priest was forbidden to consult the spirits of the ancestors as shamans do in trance states. Ordained priests first appear in Israel’s history at Sinai, when Israel constructs its first sanctuary. Israel as a whole is a “kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6), but within Israel Yahweh chooses Aaron and his sons as ministers in his house. They are brought near to “stand and serve” (Deuteronomy 10:8; 18:5) at Yahweh’s altar, around his courts, in his house, in particular as household servants, stewards of the royal house of King Yahweh. All the duties of the Aaronic priests were forms of household service, which is to say, community service. They measure off and establish holy space, and then stand guard at the doorways to prevent unauthorized intruders from trespassing on sacred ground. As the late Torah scholar Jacob Milgrom showed in his Studies in Levitical Terminology, “doing guard duty” is one of the key responsibilities of Levites and priests (Numbers 1:53; 3:5-10; 18:1-7). If anything unclean entered the sanctuary, Yahweh would break out in wrath against Israel, and so priestly guards were essential to the health and safety of the nation. Priests also cleaned house. As Milgrom pointed out many years ago, Israel’s tabernacle was like Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray. In Wilde’s story, a hidden portrait of Gray displays all the wear and tear of his dissolute lifestyle, while the man himself continues young and vibrant. Similarly, all of Israel’s sin and uncleanness “registered” on the sanctuary. Priests cleaned house by performing the sacrificial rites, sprinkling or smearing blood on the furniture of Yahweh’s house, purging the earthly sanctuary with the

Page 6 of 60 blood of bulls and goats. If the house became defiled, Yahweh threatened to leave his house and his people desolate, and so again priests served Israel by serving Yahweh.

Priests are intermediaries between the Creator and the community, not between the spirits and the community. Both offices are intermediary, but their worldviews are quite different. When sickness, sudden death, or a great calamity such as flooding or plague affects the community, the shaman investigates the cause and seeks to balance benevolent and malevolent energies. When the community served by the priest experiences hardship, deprivation and loss, the priest calls the people to repentance and seeks to restore the community to the peace of God. In ancient times, this sometimes meant seeking out the offenders by using the binary system of divination represented by the Urim and Thummim. These represent numerous binary sets. The Urim would have a number of associations which would be assigned the opposite meaning with the Thummim. Using these tools involved more than yes-no questions. It involved deriving meaning from the directional poles, gender, numbers and reversals. The Morehs or ancient prophets apparently used the same approach when rendering counsel such as that given to Abraham by the Moreh at the Oak of Mamre (Gen. 12:6).So priesthood have a large historic background also(Linsley,2011).

Different Views on Christian Priesthood

In Christianity there is mainly two doctrine from the reformation period, that is the orthodox Catholic belief and the Protestant belief. They have different views on the concept priest and priesthood. The main difference is on the basis of celibacy. From its beginnings, the idea of clerical celibacy has been contested in canon courts, in theology, and in religious practices. Celibacy for Roman Catholic priests was not mandated under canon law for the universal church until the Second Lateran Council in 1139. The Council of Elvira in Spain was the first council to call for clerical celibacy. In February 385, Pope Siricius wrote the Directadecretal, which was a long letter to Spanish bishop Himerius of Tarragona, replying to the bishop’s requests on various subjects, which had been sent several months earlier to Pope Damasus I. It was the first of a series of documents published by the Church's magisterium that claimed apostolic origin for clerical celibacy. A Ukrainian Orthodox priest at a St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Orthodox Church (His wedding ring appears on his right handas per Byzantine tradition).Within a century of the Great Schism of 1054, the Churches of the East and West arrived at different disciplines as

Page 7 of 60 to abstaining from sexual contact during marriage. In the East, candidates for the priesthood could be married with permission to have regular sexual relations with their wives, but were required to abstain before celebrating the Eucharist. An unmarried person, once ordained, could not marry. Additionally, the Christian East required that, before becoming a bishop, a priest separate from his wife (she was permitted to object), with her typically becoming a nun. In the East, more normally, bishops are chosen from those priests who are monks and are thus unmarried. In the West, the law of celibacy became mandatory by Pope Gregory VII at the Roman Synod of 1074.This law mandated that, in order to become a candidate for ordination, a man could not be married. The law remains in effect in the Latin Church, although not for those who are priests of the Eastern Catholic Churches, who remain under their own discipline. (These churches either remained in or returned to full communion with Rome after the schism, unlike for example the Eastern Orthodox Church which is now entirely separate). The issue of mandatory celibacy in the Latin Church continues to be debated.

The universal priesthood or the priesthood of all believers is a concept in some branches of Christianity which denies the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox doctrine of the sacrament of Holy Orders. Derived from the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale, it became prominent as a tenet of Protestant Christian doctrine, and the exact meaning of the belief and its implications vary widely among denominations. This weekend, Protestants commemorate Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses on the Wittenberg church door, a call to disputation that marks the symbolic starting point for the Reformation. During the protestant reformation Martin Luther disagreed not only with the selling of indulgences, but also with some of the fundamental tenets of the official church doctrine of the 16th century (McCabe, 2018). According to Luther the Bible is the ultimate authority for doctrine. Well-meaning Christians can read the scriptures and use their reason to interpret the meaning. In the case of celibacy Luther’s perspective was that there is nothing in scripture requiring celibacy. In fact, the Bible wants people to “be fruitful and multiply”. Preachers should be married so they aren’t tempted to sin. Christian should live in the world and practice Christian charity on their neighbors. Living with a spouse and children teaches and builds character in a way denied to monks. This is what most pleases god. As Luther slashed through the corruptions of late medieval Catholicism, “priesthood of all believers” rapidly became one of the great slogans of the Reformation. Every Christian is a cleric, Luther proclaimed in one of his earliest treatises, The Freedom of a Christian , and those who “are now

Page 8 of 60 boastfully called popes, bishops, and lords” are in reality “ministers, servants, and stewards, who are to serve the rest in the ministry of the word” servants of the servants of God. Whether he knew it or not, Luther was ringing the changes on a patristic teaching that had never wholly been lost during the medieval period. Unfortunately, the priesthood of the faithful in both its Protestant and Catholic forms has been corroded by fusion with modern individualism. While no denomination sanctions this fusion, strains in popular Protestantism, especially American Protestantism, have taken “priesthood of believers” to mean that every believer has an absolute right of private judgment about morals and doctrine, the liberty to interpret the Bible with complete autonomy. “Priesthood of believers” means that believers can do very well without attachment to any church. Each believer is a church unto himself. Renouncing Rome’s one Pope, Protestantism has created thousands. This was not Luther’s view. Priestly ministry was ministry within and to the church. To be a priest means to be a priest for someone. “The fact that we are all priests and kings means that each of us Christians may go before God and intercede for the other,” he wrote in a preface to the Psalter. “If I notice that you have no faith or a weak faith, I can ask God to give you a strong faith.” Timothy George captures Luther’s viewpoint in one sentence: “Every Christian is someone else’s priest, and we are all priests to one another”(Leithart,2010).

But for Luther, the priesthood of believers was not an excuse to abandon the church, but rather described the shape of life in communion with the body of Christ and the family of faith. It was not a call to individualism, but summoned individuals to serve God, others, and the common good of the church. It did not free the believer from obedience to authority or leave him free to do as he thought best. Biblical teaching about priesthood fills out the picture, because in the Bible priests are always embedded in liturgical communities and attached to a liturgical center. What they did in Israel for the whole of the people of God, Christians are all“being priests to one another “to do now, embedded like them in our liturgical communities and attached to a liturgical center. So there are different perspectives on the concept of priest and priesthood according to Catholic and Protestant doctrine of Christianity. However the priesthood is a peculiar life experience other than a common individual life. They have more responsibilities and duties.

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Protestants in India are a minority in a predominantly Hindu country, but form majorities in the north-eastern states of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and sizeable minorities in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and various east coast and northern states. Protestants today trace their heritage back through a rich history of Christian and monotheistic faith on the Indian subcontinent.

The History of Protestantism in India

Protestant missionaries began to work throughout India, leading to the growth of different Christian communities. In 1793, William Carey, an English Baptist Minister, came to India as a missionary. He worked in Serampore, Calcutta and other cities founding churches. On the educational front, in addition to starting the Serampore College, he also translated the Bible into Bengali and Sanskrit, continuing with these labors until his death in 1834(Agur,1903). According to the chronicler Otto of Freising, Arnold had studied in Paris under the tutelage of the reformer and philosopher Pierre Abélard. He took to Abélard's philosophy of reform ways. Anthony Norris Groves, Plymouth Brethren missionary came to India in 1833(Eapen,1985). He worked in the Godavari delta area of then Madras Presidency, until his death in 1852(Mundadan,1984).Many Protestant denominations are represented in India, the result of missionary activities throughout the country especially under British rule. The largest Protestant denomination in the country is the Church of South India, since 1947 a union of Presbyterian, Reformed, Congregational, Methodist, and Anglican congregations with approximately 4 million members as of 2014. The broadly similar Church of North India had 1 million members. (Both churches are in full communion with the Anglican Communion.) There were about 1.3 million Lutherans, 473,000 Methodists, and 425,000 Baptists as of 1995(Frykenberg,2003).One of the oldest denominations meanwhile is the Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church.

The influence of British rule, indirect as it was within the princely domains, seems to have also opened the door for specifically British Protestant missionary activity (Thomas,1954). The Protestants in Kerala still commonly refer to themselves as “Anglican Christians” or “C.M.S Christians”, “Congregationalist” or “Basel Mission Christians”. Colonel Colin Macaulay, an ardent Evangelist was appointed the first British Resident. Two companychaplains, Richard Kerr of Madras and Claudius Buchanan of Bengal toured Kerala in 1806(Thekkedath,1982). British Protestant missionaries started arriving in Kerala after 1813. Protestants became very close to Jacobite Christians of Kerala. Colonel Munroe took initiative to bring Jacobite Christians into

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Protestantism and gave many privileges to them. The Protestant missionary activities of the Church Missionary Society (C.M.S) and London Missionary Society (L.M.S) aimed at conversion from the untouchables and the Syrian Christians (Harold, 1993). L.M.S missionaries concentrated their work among the lower castes and C.M.S missionaries did most their missionary work among the Syrian Christians. Both these groups made outstanding contributions in the educational sphere. The Basel Mission started for their work in Malabar in the year 1834. They took the initiative to help the converts to earn their own livelihood by establishing cottage industries, printing presses, etc. (William, 1996). Thus, the three major missions in Cochin and Travancore states and in Malabar district won converts and established churches, supplying them with institutions that were very important for future developments within the Christian communities: schools, hospitals and commercial outlets.

The Syrian Christians who were impressed by the Protestant Christians initiative, wanted to introduce like them the vernacular language in the liturgy. For this purpose they formed a reform Church called "The Marthomite Church," which is a very progressive and prosperous Church today. The Protestant missionaries from Germany and England laid the foundations of western education in Kerala by opening English grammar schools, high schools, and colleges. Some of the early Christian missionaries rendered valuable services for the development of the Malayalam language; the grammatical works and dictionaries prepared by Arnos Patiri (Johann Ernestus Hanxleden), Angelo Francis, Rev. Bailey, Rev. Richard Collins, and Dr. Gundert are invaluable contributions to the study of Malayalam(Hunt,1970). By the time of Indian independence the Protestant church in India had split into two major divisions that is Anglicans and Methodists together known as Protestant Church of South India and the Protestant Church of North India and Pakistan. So the Protestantism in India grown up through the activities of missionaries from Western countries. In the church history of India we can see that the missionaries accomplished their mission in India with a lot of sufferings. A majority of the missionaries in India occupied with their mission along with their family. The life of the great missionary Graham Stains is a best example in Indian church history. So now a days the protestant priesthood follows the missionary tradition, they also are accomplishing their mission along with their family.

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Hence the proposed study focused on the protestant priest, who possess a double status at a time in a community, like priest at the same time man of house.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Religion is an essential institution of society and part of every known cultures in varied form and role. There are many studies about religion in sociology. Emile Durkheim and Max Weber ensured religion has immortal place among the celebrated branches of sociology (Nisbet, 1965). “Religion, which was deemed to have been relegated to the margins of modern society, has every appearance of displaying its capacity to take on new social, political and cultural relevance in the crisis of modernity” (Leger, 2000, p.1). In such a way religion have an inevitable role in society. But there are priests in every religion, who are the chiefly religious functionaries, where their lives are, collocate with their own religion. Though in most religions they perform profane as well as sacred roles. “Though the priest may also be a teacher and scholar, his primarily function is the conduct of worship”(Wach, 1994). In the present scenario, one third of the world population believed in Christianity. This is spread all over the world with different sects, different customs and mode of worship. So that the Christianity had been a subject to sociological studies. There are many sociological studies about Christian priesthood, especially on Catholic priesthood, which shows the ritualistic and non-ritualistic roles of priesthood and their life experiences. But other than that, in this study, the researcher tries to understand the life experience of another category of priests, who leads their life with two status as a priest and at the same time as a man of house. It is a protestant tradition of priesthood, the priests engaged in religious activities with leading a common family life. So how does the double status affect their life socially, economically, culturally? Is it a challenging one? It may be a different experience from which the familiarized celibate mode of priesthood. So they will have a lot of life experiences that can reveal the peculiarities of such type of priesthood. So for this study the researcher identified a protestant church in Thiruvananthapuram. Church of South India (CSI) is the second largest Christian church in and also the largest protestant church in India. The South Kerala Diocese is one of the largest Diocese of CSI among its 24 diocese headquartered at Thiruvananthapuram. The researcher focuses on the life experiences of the priests in South Kerala Diocese of the CSI, to understand the life experiences of priest’s with family life.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It can be seen that the leaders have an important role in any organization or society. They have a lot of responsibilities and roles. It is also applicable in the case of hierarchically constituted bodies such as the Christian churches. So priests are the leaders of Christian churches, they have an important role in their community or in society. According to Pattison “The problem is rather that many of the traditional pastoral roles have been secularized and taken over by public and private specialist in education, health, welfare, psychotherapy, social action and community organization. Thus pastor finds themselves in an ambiguous situation”. So the common notion of priesthood implies that the priest is who confront with sorrows of others. But here in this research try to understand the life of a priest who is confronting with the above mentioned ambiguous situations and besides they leading a family life. So it is a new are of study in sociological perspective. For that the researcher tries to explore the life of priest in South Kerala Diocese of the CSI, a church which follows the tradition of such mode of priesthood. So it must be sociologically significant and capable of forming a new knowledge base in many ways because it is an understudied area of study that it seeks to find the experiences of priest’s with family life. It may help to identify new dimensions of priesthood other than the existing notion of priesthood.So it is academically sound and sociologically rewarding.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

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Introduction

Review of literature is a very significant part of research, especially in social science research. It helps the researcher to gain a wider understanding of the area of the study and the various aspects of the study. In the present review the researcher has done an extensive review on various aspects of priesthood, studies don e among priests and related areas.

Priesthood

Priesthood is a respectful status in society. In every religion priesthood is an important position, but the roles in that status varies according to faith, norms and values of different religion. Christianity is the largest religion in the world, by estimating the global populations one-third of total population are Christian. So there are many sociological and theological studies about Christian priests, especially on catholic priests. But there is another stream of Christianity, derived during the course of Enlightenment, The Protestant church under the leadership of Martin Luther in 1520. This made a huge level of social change in west at that time. Following that the changes also reflected into the east. During the 19th century, different protestant missionary societies came to India and other East Asian countries and they contributed to the upliftment of the people of weaker sections.

Sociological Studies on Priesthood

Since Max Weber, the study of the priesthood by sociologists has been conducted in a theoretical perspective that is not different from that used for the study of the pastor. This amounts to saying that the priest has been placed on an equal footing with the minister of a non – sacerdotal Christian church and that theological and historical differences have been seen as irrelevant from the sociological point of view (McSweeney, 1974). In particular the analytical studies of Wach, James, and Stark, which have served as a reference in countless empirical research on Priests and their problems, and which adopt the hypothesis of the bureaucratization of the priesthood. There are many studies about priesthood in theological and psychological point of view other than sociological dimensions.

Several sociological reasons have been suggested to explain why Weber's view of the priesthood has been ignored in current studies. Weber's interest in the priesthood was only instrumental and

Page 15 of 60 secondary in his main interest in social and economic change (McSweeny, 1974). Since then, his attention has focused more on the institutional than magical aspects of the priesthood. According to Max Weber, the priest is one who uphold the status quo and served as the reinforcement of the stability of societies. He has thus left sociologists with an idea of the priesthood that has been historically distorted and phenomenally inadequate. To remedy this lacuna, a historical and phenomenological approach to the problem of the priesthood as a secular perception of the priest is necessary. From this new starting point which differentiates the priest and the pastor we have (Sharot, 2001). Modern academic sociology began with the analysis of religion in Émile Durkheim's 1897 study of suicide rates among Catholic and Protestant populations, a foundational work of social research which served to distinguish sociology from other disciplines, such as psychology. The works of Karl Marx and Max Weber emphasized the relationship between religion and the economic or social structure of society (Beckford, 1990). Contemporary debates have centered on issues such as secularization, civil religion, and the cohesiveness of religion in the context of globalization and multiculturalism. The present scenario in sociology of religion may also encompass the sociology of irreligion (for instance, in the analysis of secular humanist belief systems).Sociology of religion is distinguished from the philosophy of religion in that it does not set out to assess the validity of religious beliefs. That is it is not concern about theological or psychological validity. Peter L. Berger has described as inherent" methodological atheism" (Porpora, 2006).Whereas the sociology of religion broadly differs from theology in assuming in difference to the supernatural, theorists tend to acknowledge socio-cultural reification of religious practice. One way or another, all problems of church life affect the priests. Such as the administration, leading worship, problem solving and counselling. David Moberg discusses the role of the leaders of different churches. “prevented by social pressure from living as they believe men ought to live, frustrated by an unfulfillable self- image of the minister as one ordained to be holy calling, filled with vocational guilt for spending major portion of time on pointless parish piddling, disillusioned by the politics of professional advancement, embittered by the bureaucracy that make them office managers, committee maneuverers and publicity directors instead of scholars and preachers of God’s word” (Moberg, 1962, p550). In a sense, it is precisely the priests who are in the center of church life. Bishops are far from ordinary people and there are very few of them (in Russia there are 300 bishops).They

Page 16 of 60 are engaged in administrative work and to a less extent communicate with the laity (Beckford, 1990).Even priests do not have constant and easy access to the bishop.

As far as the laity is concerned, there is no objective criteria on which would make it possible to distinguish a regular parishioner from a person baptized as a child and not having any idea about the faith. The only objective distinguishing feature for differentiating parishioners (regular attendants of church services, occasional parishioners, and sporadic visitors) is regular communion. However, this difference cannot be in any way recognized externally, and is in effect, reduced to the extent of communication between the lay person and the priest.

For every religion history and experience alike testify that we must not too easily dismiss the priest. He had the incalculable, his indispensable function in every society (Olson, 1949). But according to Rev. Jean M. James in his thesis ‘The Social Role of the Priest’ has made it apparent that this idea is an understatement, and that for sociologist to dismiss the priest is impossible. It is true that “the sociology of religion will supplement but never replace….history of religion, to say nothing of theology” (Wach, 1948). But in a way science, as Durkheim would say, can help us to find the right orientation for our conduct, and the present study should help in “clearing the channels and the avenues through which grace, in recent times shall be spread through the world and shall cover it” (Mauriac, 1952).

Each individual is related to a variety of institutions and social forces. The school the church, the place of employment, the place of recreation and political structure affects his life just as he in some way shapes the institution of which he is a part. “The formal institutions are continually being influenced by informal forces: prejudice, social fears, and group impulse. The individual is often caught in forces he does not understand and cannot control. These may frustrate the goal of his life, sometimes producing in him am importance that reduce him to a level of brutishness” (Jackson, 1963, p.216). A few centuries before Christ, Plato tried to define the bound and purpose of man’s social existence in The Republic. He sought a social structure that could fulfil the highest aims of group life ant at the same time use the resource of the individual fruitfully. But in his structure he granted freedom to people like himself at the expense of those who worked to support his goal. His plan established the benevolent dictatorship of intellectuals. St. Augustine, a few centuries after Christ, wrote the City of God, concerned with the fulfilment of the innate destinies of men as being worthy of good life, protected by social forces equally

Page 17 of 60 concerned with that good. The basic philosophy was in part incorporated in the structure of the Roman Catholic Churches as the divinity appointed institution concerned with the welfare of men’s soul. But here again, with time the institution became the end, and the men the means towards the end (St. Augustine, 426 AD).

The democratic idea emerged in the world with men’s need to exercise economic freedom in order to exploit natural resources and gain the benefits of industrialization. Freedom to develop resources became in many instance a freedom to exploit the nature and the working class, and the morals of capitalism became enmeshed with the process of democracy. Yet the demands of freedom supplied an inner coercive process that has given democratic development a capacity for change. The blind steps of democracy are the blind spot of humanity. Many of the founding fathers who claimed that all created equal did not relate this to the human slave they owned. When claims of freedom were made, they did not always support the right of minority groups to express their ways of life and thought. But the democratic process keeps injustice from becoming entrenched and guarantees the right of peaceful change when the pressure become intolerable. According to Edger N. Jackson, in his book ‘The Pastor and His People’ stated that, “The Protestant tradition is related to the democratic tradition by common needs and historical accident. Because it has always had a place in the common development, it still works for change it feels will create a social wherein all men can fulfill their destinies. More than we realize, this has granted to the church a place of leadership in social thought, and has placed upon the church an obligation to be socially sensitive. The pastor in any community is in a position to sense social and racial and economic injustice. He is morally obligated to use the resources of spiritual leadership to make men aware of their value, and to upgrade the process by which democracy works out its way of dealing with people and their needs”(Jackson,1963, p.). The social roles the priesthood is an important area of study. The pastor who takes a part in the process of social change is well within the democratic tradition, for democracy at its best is built on the value of man and his right to act individually and selectively for what he believes is right. The pastor can express his concern for people at the point where they make their living. In industrial communities he can help shape opinion as to what are fair labor practices. The negotiations were carried on informally in the pastor’s study with a primary concern for human values and fair dealing all round. That it is more of service oriented and collocated with humanity. The church, as an instrument of group reconciliation, was the historic tradition when it used its influences to

Page 18 of 60 help men understand each other’s problems and arrive at a non-violent and mutually respectful agreement. Often anger and destructive emotions accumulate until it is difficult for the real issue to be kept clearly in focus. The pastor may be the symbol of, and the instrument for, achieving right relations. “For a pastor, the physical mental and emotional dimensions are much the same as they are for every other person, even though, broadly speaking, and certain pastoral personality characteristics that many differentiate those who enter some of the other professions” (Jackson, 1963). However, the pastor has a qualitatively different social dimension than other professionals, because of the way the ordained minister lives with those he or she serves. The social dimension for the pastor includes the laity.

We may assumed that it is precisely the priests who determine the manner of church life and define the vector of influence of the Church in the society as a whole. Their conflicts of conscience, mixed responses from family, parishioners, friends, fellow priests, and their bishops. In the wide‐ranging literature about changing or exiting roles, the men who transfer in to and out of the Catholic priesthood have been little studied. Recently, however, two books have appeared in a single year: Paul Sullins's ‘Keeping the Vow’, which covers, at least in part, men who became Catholic priests after being ordained in another denomination, and the book that is ‘From Celibate Catholic Priest to Married Protestant Minister: Shepherding in Greener Pastures’ by Stephen Fichter, which looks at men who have moved in the opposite direction. “Overall, this is an excellent book. It is well ‐ written and accessible, and would be interesting to a lay audience as well as to sociologists. Dr. Fichter, who is himself a Catholic priest as well as a sociologist, interweaves the personal stories of three Catholic priests who joined the clergy of other denominations—two of them who became Episcopalian priests, and one who currently ministers in the United Church of Christ —with a more scholarly analysis of their initial socialization to priesthood, their subsequent exit from this role, their marriages, and their secondary socialization into their current positions. The chapters that quote Tom, Mike, and Bill put flesh, so to speak, on the more historical and sociological data in the other chapters. Dr. Fichter competently covers a wide range of disciplines and research: from the history and anthropology of religious celibacy (Chapters2and6) and the writing of Sacerdotalis Caelibatus and Humanae Vitae by Pope Paul VI (Chapter6), to the sociology and psychology of role transitions, secondary socialization, and midlife crises (Chapters4, 8, and 12).Chapter16 provides a nice introduction to the concept of generational cohort effects as compared to period and

Page 19 of 60 lifecycle effects. The theoretical discussion of these chapters is supported by Dr. Fichter's own research: in‐depth interviews (and in some cases multiple interviews) with 131 participants from the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist and Congregational denominations” (Wittberg, 2015).

The Birth of Church of South India

The Church Union Movement in South India which eventually resulted in the birth of the Church of South India on 27th September, 1947. At this occasion, by the authority of the General Council of the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (Anglican), the General Assembly of the South India United Church (Congregationalist and Presbyterian) and the South India Provincial Synod of the Methodist Church, the Christians in South India who were under the jurisdiction of these bodies were joined together in one Church. The church of South India has a very democratic constitution. The congregation is the basic unit of the church. A congregation or a group of congregations can form a pastorate under the superintendence of a presbyter. Every pastorate has a pastorate committee consisting of the presbyter and other ordained ministers appointed to assist the presbyter, and lay members elected by the communicant members of the pastorate, in accordance with rules laid down by the Diocesan Council. The Church of South India is the largest protestant church in India and the second largest Christian church in India. It have a number of members of 40 lacks. The supreme authority of the church is Church of South India Synod, headquartered at Chennai. A number of pastorate in a defined geographical area constitute a diocese. It have 24 diocese in different states (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Telungana and Karnataka) and in Sree Lanka (Jafna). Among these 24 diocese the South Kerala diocese is one of the largest diocese, headquartered at Thiruvananthapuram. “The history of the South Kerala Diocese dates backs to the first decade of 19th century, when the first convert in the southern part of Travancore invited William Tobias Ringletaube, a missionary of the London Mission Society (LMS) to this part of India. The mission ‘field’ of LMS was from Kanyakumari in south to Quilon in the north. This was an area of mass Christian movement. The expansion of Christianity was associated with social and economic emancipation of the people” (Glaston, 1997, p.318). In the struggles of the people the missionaries fully participated and gave efficient leadership. Some of the missionaries are remembered in the social history of Kerala as well. John Cox, the first missionary to Thiruvananthapuram, when it was formed in 1838, Samuel Matter,

Page 20 of 60 the great historian and social reformer, Harold Wills, the great educationist were some among the architects of the present South Kerala Diocese. At the time of the inauguration of Church if South India, there was only one diocese in this area known as ‘South Travancore’. In 1959 the diocese was bifurcate into Kanyakumari and South Kerala Dioceses (Jacob, 1990). At that time, Diocese had 219 congregations and a few number of priests. But now the numbers has gone up, having 599 congregations and 377 priests. According to the constitution of South Kerala Diocese of the CSI, Priest or Presbyter is defined as “an ordained person in active service or deputed for other work in Diocese”. So their life is a service oriented and according to the organizational system of this church, there is a transferring system of priest in every 5 years from one congregation to another.

Conclusion

From the review it is found that there are many studies done among the Christian priests especially among the Catholic priesthood .But not much study are done among the protestant priesthood. This study will shed light into the life of priests who are married and are leading the church as well as family responsibilities.

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

The present research is an empirical study conducted among the married priests belonging to Church of South India, South Kerala Diocese in Thiruvananthapuram. The research seeks to understand the life experience of a priest with family life and it has a subjective orientation. Thus the study employed a Qualitative approach considering the nature of the research problem.

TITLE: LEADING FAMILY AND CHURCH: A STUDY AMONG MARRIED PRIESTS OF CHURCH OF SOUTH INDIA IN TRIVANDRUM.

The study seeks to explore the experiences of married priests of Church of South India in Thiruvananthapuram .The challenges of dual role of priest hood and family are described. Clearly, the question asked reflects the subjective logic and approach of the study. So the topic was approached qualitatively, due to its subjective orientation.

According to Creswell (2003), qualitative research seeks to collect an in-depth insight into human behavior and the causes that direct that behavior. Qualitative research has its heredity in social science and is more concerned with finding out why people behave as they do. It is concerned with the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, fears, etc. of people. A qualitative approach to research employs various kinds of designs, but for the particular study the researcher uses case study research design.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

General research question

 What are the different life experiences of priest’s with family life?

Specific research question

 How extensive is the influence of family life on priesthood life?  What are the cultural challenges faced by the married Priests?  What are the socio-economic challenges faced by married Priests  What are the common life experiences shared by married Priests?

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RESEARCH DESIGN

The research aims at an in depth analysis of the life experiences of married priests and to understand the challenges of leading church and family life. Therefore, the researcher used case study research design

SELECTION OF CASES

South Kerala Diocese of Church of South India has its capital at Thiruvananthapuram and has 604 churches 385 priests. And Thiruvananthapuram is selected as the Area of research. Priest and his family is taken as a unit of analysis were the response was collected primarily from the married male priest which was also be supplemented with the responses of other family members. Selections of cases were made purposively to get information pertaining to the study .Hence purposive sampling method was followed in the study. To protect the identity of the respondents the researcher has used pseudonyms instead of names.

TOOL OF DATA COLLECTION

Interview Guide (unstructured) and participant Observation were used as tools for data collection. The researcher himself as a son of a priest has also had the insider’s views in regard to the research problem. The type of participant observation done by researcher is ‘observer as participant’. “Here the researcher is known and recognized by the participants and they knew the research goals of the observer” (Bryman, 2004)

SOURCES OF DATA

Both primary and secondary sources of data were used in the study. Primary data was collected from the respondents by unstructured interview. Secondary data was collected from articles, magazines, journals, books etc.

ANALYTIC STRATEGY

The data was analyzed thematically by identifying different themes and sub themes. It emphasizes pinpointing, examining, and recording patterns (or "themes") within data. Themes are patterns across data sets that are important to the description of a phenomenon and are associated to specific research question

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CHAPTER IV PRESENTATION OF DATA AND INTERPRETATION

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CHAPTER IV PRESENTATION OF DATA AND INTERPRETATION

Case 1

Rev Daniel has been a priest in Church of South India, South Kerala Diocese Thiruvananthapuram and even before becoming a priest a relevant experience in the spiritual field. He began his spiritual service as a volunteer worker since 1990. In 1991 he was appointed as a probationary worker in CSI and in the same year he got married. Later in 1992 he joined Kerala United Theological Seminary for his studies in Theology. Being a member of a nuclear family, suffering financial crisis he managed to do rubber tapping jobs since from the age primary education and till to pre degree. Family consisted of Father, mother and three siblings. The family strongly believed in Christianity and the children also brought up with a higher faith.

While recollecting his old days in Seminary and also hostel life, he shared some bitter experience of not having enough money and the struggle with money increased after getting married. Getting posted as probationer become a small relief for financial problems because of the monthly remunerations. While moving back to seminary the expenses increased and got a stipend of 500 with he has to manage his hostel fee, tuition fee, mess fee and also family expenses including children. After completing his studies he worked as a probationer for one more year. In 5th November 1997, he got ordination as priest and got posted as priest of CSI SKD. Now he has experience of 21 years as a priest along with family life and extended his service in 7 churches.

He said this in light of his experience. It is a life full of challenges that is, it is a difficult situation for a family to look after everything at the same time and oversee all aspects of a church. When it comes to a family, a priest has a responsibility to look after the children's studies, when they are ill, and for the treatment, as well as the administration of the church, and the welfare of the people. In this case, the family will have to compromise on many things that is, a church has a maximum period of five years. After that We have to move to another church at the behest of the High Priest At this time the family needs to move to a new place

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Then they have to change their children's school, buy TC and get admission in the new school. His experience is like that,

“My children completed their higher secondary education from five schools. And when my younger son was studying for a degree, some circumstances made my transfer twice that next year. That is, during the three years it took to complete the degrees, and lived in three places. Those alternate delays have affected his learning. Similarly when my elder son is in higher secondary education I was moved to another church. He then moved on to the same school to complete his second year of education. At that time he had traveled over 50 kilometers to study. Similarly, children's education often runs into many problems”.

The priest of the church is in charge of all affairs of that church during his tenure. Church administration, worship, welfare of the people, care of church properties, developmental activities, church unity etc. are the responsibility of a priest. When talking about the unity of the church, in a church there can be so many people of different caste, races, and people with different economic background and so on. A community which treat them all alike and treat them well. For a priest, this is a challenging task. It can only be done by impartially.

Similarly, this church operates in a democratic order according to the constitution of Diocese. It is therefore customary to choose a committee to assist the priest in the administration of the church and it is the duty of the priest to lead it. In some cases, this process may be simplified in some churches. But in some cases, this is a very challenging activity. Sometimes it leads to disputes and conflicts. In these occasions, a Priest acts like an election commissioner. His experience in this regard is as follows.

''Six years ago, when I was ministering to a congregation, it was time for election. According to the order of the Diocese (Great Parish), no church related construction work should be conducted after the election is declared. But at that time construction work on the parish hall was underway there. Then I asked the committee to stop constructions but they refused. And then I legally approached the Diocese and stayed the constructions. This incident caused the committee to turn against me. They threatened to label me as "anti-developmental" and said that they would not accept the election. The election process is always very tense. This is a very frightening period for the family. In many cases, this election process can result in conflicts.

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On many occasions it hurts the family. Following that incident, I was transferred from that church to another church that same year. I served only three years in that congregation''.

Similarly, another major challenge is the protection of the property of a church. In every church, it is the responsibility of the priest that taking care of all the properties of the church during the service period of the particular church. In some places this can be a challenge as there is no proper compound wall, gate etc. His experience in this regard is as follows.

''While I was ministering in a church, some anti-socialists entered the church compound and got drunk. Some of the young people in the church who saw this argued with them and eventually got to conflict. Eventually it became a police case. Police came. They took everyone, including youths from the church, to the police station. Finally, I went with the committee members to the police station to settle the case. I finally returned home late in the night. My wife and children were very much in fear''.

Such unexpected events can greatly affect their lives.

Another type of challenge is regarding the change of place from place to place occasionally. A priest has a maximum of five years in a church. But, there are chances too to have changes in between. He says that when you move from one church to a new church, it is very difficult to get adapted with the new culture, social settings, customs, climate, strange people, strange place etc. However, they need to become a part of this ministry.

When it does, it can be very challenging in the early years in a new church. It mean that when they move to a new place, they are unfamiliar with that new particular social settings. So you have to get acquainted with new people and get acquainted with new places. So as a Priest, they have all the difficulties of moving to a new place. At a point we have become part of a new culture. When comes to a new places, things are needed to learn newly and some of our cultural aspects have been forced to abandon. His experience in this regard is as follows.

“Where I worked, it was part of the culture of the church to include peoples from other religious communities in their celebrations as well. This was something they took pride in. It was a new experience for me at first time.”

Soon it became very difficult to accept it.

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Similarly, when living in a community where there are many people of other religions around the church, it can be challenging to establish good relations with them, respect their religion, and maintain good relations with them. They should not cause a pain with our words or actions. Therefore, the priest and his family are very alert to all involvement in the community.

Another challenge a priest faces in this life is the inability to attend many family functions. The first priority is to organize the affairs of the church. Only after that he can participate in family- related programs. Because of this, he cannot able to participate many functions related to the family. A priest is responsible for every functions like wedding, funeral, house warming, birthday prayer and also any customary practices associated with each family in the church when ministering in that particular church. Often, church programs and family-related programs come together.

On these occasions, family-related programs should be avoided. When that happens, relatives sometimes have some complaints to him. He says that there was a time when he could not even participate his father's memorial prayer. That means they miss a lot of their family friends and relatives in this life. According to him, sometimes it comes to the strong feeling that we are an alien or a foreigner. This type of experience is more likely to occur when they are isolated due to some problems in the church. In his words,

‘‘On these circumstances there may be a feeling that we are living away from our own home, relatives and village.”

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Another challenge in this life is financial hardship. In his early years as a priest, he had been struggling financially. But today, that situation has changed. Now they have the fixed salary system with accordance their year of service. But he said that there are some difficulties at sometimes. Although the salary is fixed the Diocese, the salary can only been get based on the income of the church. In some months, a decrease in the church's income will become a salary pending. When that happens, it will affect the family budget. His experience in this regard is as follows.

Rev Stephen

He has been a priest for 18 years. In 1970, he was born into an ordinary family, his parents consists of three siblings. He belonged to a very poor family. However, he continued his studies until post-graduation. He continued to preach the gospel since he was 26 years old. He got married in 1992. Then he went for his theological studies at Kerala United Theological Seminary, Kannanmmoola. He completed his studies in 2000 and was appointed as Priest of CSI SKD (Church Of South India, South Kerala Diocese) in 2001. He has served in eight churches so far. The family consists of wife, daughter and son. His son works at a company after his studies. The daughter is a student. His wife is also working under Diocese.

He said that he was in a very difficult time when he started his ministry. The salary of the parish at that time was Rs. 250. However, this was never received monthly and got only Rs.100 or 500. It was not able to meet the expenses of the family. The church members and relatives helped the family at that time. In the early days, there was no accommodation with the church, and he served the church by leaving his own family and children at home. His home and church were

Page 30 of 60 about 22 kilometers away at the time. When there were no vehicles, he used to travel by bicycle for the long distance. At this time he had a difficult time keeping the family and the church together. His children were very small and he was struggling financially during that time. But his father and mother looked after and cared their family with a lot of sufferings.

Later, while staying in the congregation, the family improved financially. But his life was challenging, both socially and culturally. He says that according to the order of the parish, the transfer system has greatly affected children's studies. According to the rules of the church ,the period given to a priest to serve a church is about five years, but under certain circumstances, he got a transfer within two or three years. He was transferred 8 times in the course of 18 years of his ministry. It also affected the studies of children.

He shared his experience as, he admitted his son to first standard in English medium. When his son was in fourth grade, he received a transfer to a church far from the church where he previously worked. There were no English medium in the new school and he was admitted to the 5th standard in the Malayalam medium. Transfer got again after three years. Since there was an English medium school next to the new church, the child was put back into English medium from the eighth grade. He could no longer pursue excellence as he had at first. With each church and school moving, children were changing their friends and teachers, and this was affecting their education. Later they rented a house for a period of time for their children's studies and stability. But during this period it was very difficult to get the church and family together. He had to travel a long distance to reach the church. Often this was a problem.

One day he was at home, he received a phone call that someone in the church had died. He went to church by his bike for the funeral service. But due to traffic block he was not able to reach in time. That issue created discomfort among the church people. When there is accommodation in church, there was a question about why the priest renting the house. Eventually, that small problem gradually led to bigger problems. He was unable to function properly in that church. Eventually, he forced to ask for a voluntary transfer and moved to another church. When the affairs of the church and the family were taken together, many matters of the family had to be put aside and he was unable to attend many family functions. He often has to make decisions that will hurt his family. At times, he feels isolated within the family. He shared an experience related to this is:

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“I went to the hospital with my father in law when he was ill and I had a program in the church. There was a good rush in hospital at that time. Somehow we saw the doctor and the doctor asked me to do some tests. We did the test and they told us to wait for the result. But I have to go to the program and no one was with me to accompany. I told the nurses that I should go, but they refused. Finally, after giving the prescriptions to my uncle, I went to church without telling anyone. Later, after the program, I was brought my uncle back and it was a bad experience and this has caused problems in the family”.

Another challenge is to adapt to the new ways of life when they are transferred to a new church. Every church has its own set of practices and principles. In one place there were people with good standard of living who were well-educated government workers. If we don't keep the same standards, it will be difficult to work there. So we go through a challenging process, like switching to their methods, telling them if there were wrong practices in that ministry, and getting rid of them.

When they newly appointed to a church, it will take about a year to understand everything about their culture and practices. Only then, it could service in a full-fledged manner. In some churches there were very poor, unskilled people. It is very difficult to minister in such places where people with little education, poor living conditions and unhygienic. They cannot tell the Word of God or the Gospel to those people who living in poverty at first. It is only after they have been brought up from their lives. When it comes to that, a priest is also a social worker. Salary is very low. Sometimes we don't even get paid. We have to help them out of this. All this can pose a huge financial burden for a priest living with his family. While visiting homes as a result of such discussions, there were many different experiences.

His experience is as follows:

“When I working in a church I visited a poor farmer's house, with a cow shed and dung pit in front of the house, and the bathroom on the other side, ultimately there was a dirty atmosphere. A dirty smell, a sore condition. I went there and asked about their lives and prayed. So when I started to get out of there, his mother came with a cup of tea. But it was not feel good to me that drinking a tea on that unhygienic environment. But I thought that, what would they think if I did

Page 32 of 60 not drink tea? It would be a problem that priest eat anything from the house of the poor and I'm worried of it. Finally, if with a short of hesitation I drank half a cup of tea”.

There are so many different kinds of experiences out there, but it is a challenge to make all the right decisions. While getting an opportunity, it is the duty of the priest to teach them about cleanliness and the need to live in clean surroundings.

Another challenge is to keep the church united according to the structure of the church, which is a democratic. There were equal importance for everyone and for every church there will be a church committee. The members of the committee are elected by a pure democratic process. According to the present order of the church, elections are held once in every three years. Therefore, in many churches, there are many kinds of internal politics and also conflicts. There is a lot of tension at this time as well as there will be a tendency among the people of church to make their family problems as church problems. Often when we deal with such issues, the church people come together and isolate the priest. At these times they feel that they are aliens, they think like that for what they have to leave their own home and land after that suffering these difficulties. His experience is as follows:

“Once a student came to buy a community certificate for his studies but the student's family did not cooperate with the church for long. Therefore, certificates could only be issued according to committee’s decision. So I present the issue in committee. After that it is decided to issue the certificate. After that a group of people within church complained about this and went to the great parish and enquiry made by the diocese. When the enquiry was launched, it was reported that the committee was unaware of it and that the certificate was issued by only the interest of mine. That is, the political extremes in the church became one and I was isolated. Eventually, I got a transfer and my promotion was cut. After that I got punishment transfer to a lower grade church. There have been times when it has caused so much embarrassment”.

So like this there is a lot of unexpected problems will be happened. However, he also reminded that their mission is to tackle of all these problems, even if there are too many responsibilities with tensions.

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Case 3

Rev. Antony

He was a clergyman in CSI SKD for nine years. He was born into a priestly family in 1975. His father is a priest in CSI. His family consisted of mother and two siblings. After graduation, he began evangelism in 1997. He was ordained as a CSI priest after completing his priestly studies from 2004 to 2009 and received the ordination in 2010. He served in six congregations so far. Born into a clergy family, he had many experiences from an early age. He completed his schooling in 4 schools. He had gone through a lot of restrictions when he was young. As a son of a clergyman he did not have as much freedom like the other children. He was not allowed to wear modern clothes or go to the cinemas. His father used to say that, “We need to be role models for others. So our actions must be very good in the way we dress, and the interactions of others”.

Having grown up in such a situation, he says, now it is possible to carry on with this challenging life. And he shared an incident that

“When my father was ministering in a church and I was in ninth standard. There was a dispute between two factions of the church at that time. This eventually led to a great confrontation, and my father, who went to resolve the dispute, was assaulted by some. As a 14-year-old boy, I had a natural feeling in my heart when I saw my father was beaten by someone in front of me. I told my mother that, I will beat the people who had beaten my father. My mother comforted me by saying that this is part of our lives and this is all about ministry life. It was very hard to me to understand it at the time, but then I realized it”.

He grew up with such a wide range of experiences and had another experience during his school years that he shared like this.

“The day I entered to 5th standard during my school years. The teacher asked the children in the class to come up and introduce them one by one. The children had come up and told their name, place, and father’s job. In my turn, I went in front of them and introduced me and said that my father is a priest, suddenly everyone in the class burst into laughter. Then the teacher

Page 34 of 60 asked me that how could a priest marry? I tried to convince the teacher, as I knew then; that I was a questions people asks me often”.

He says there were times having many challenges. Likewise, he and his siblings did not enjoy any freedom i.e. social freedom like other children in the society. The society would always observe a priest and his family and having stereotyping on priest’s life. If it turns out they are not questions the priest rather than the family. Therefore, it is the children's duty to save their own father in society. So his father and mother would advise him to bear all this. When he became a priest today, he remembers how much his father suffered for the family and for the ministry.

He shares his experience that even in today's ever-evolving world of technology, there are many challenges in life. In his 9 years of ministry, he has served in 6 congregations. According to him, it is very difficult to lead the church and the family at the same time. Although the position of priest is highly respected in society, in order to maintain that respect, a priest must live in accordance with certain stereotypes made by the society and his family. Priest has to sacrifice some of the joys and the fortunes in life and have to guide his family within certain frameworks.

The community always observes a priest and his family. A priest has lot of tension associated with the maintenance of the church. While ministering in a congregation, there were different types of duties to be carried out. For example, as an administrator, a social worker and election officer, etc., as well as a family head. Therefore, he is of the opinion that this very risky. More often, a priest is responsible for maintaining the unity of the church. The church can be a very diverse community, with many people of different races, different political belief and groups within the church, and people with different economic status.

The church that he is ministering now includes people from five castes having very little cooperation. When one sect is works very sincerely in the church, the other factions stand apart. It is very difficult to keep everyone under one umbrella under these circumstances. There will always be a variety of programs, such as solving family problems in the church, giving counselling to those in need, providing community certificate etc. It is a very busy life and it is the duty of the priest to lead all the functions in the church and family together. This can lead to

Page 35 of 60 less time spent with the family and the priest feels isolated within his own family. It is not possible to take his family to a movie or shopping and the family had to adjust those things.

Then he shared another experience like this,

“A few months ago, my whole family got together to celebrate my brother's son’s first birthday. But I was unable to attend the birthday party that day because I had 3 programs in the church that day and it made by brother upset. Similarly, when the functions of the church and family come together they will have to travel long distances and some physical difficulties”.

“Another big challenge is the difficulties of moving .The education of the children are the most important. My son is currently in the fourth grade. This kind of switching can affect learning.Another difficulty with this is house shifting. We only know about the transfer before a month and pack the household goods within a month. And when we move to a new residence, we have to re-arrange it. Similarly, first two months will be a very busy time as we need to buy TC of children and took admission in a new school. Generally, transfer will be in May according to the principal of the Church. In April and May, the whole will be busy with matters related to it”.

Similarly, moving from one church to another, it is the responsibility of the priest to administer all kinds of accounts. The various funds and all other accounts of the church and the organizations in connection with the church should be adjusted and handed over to the superiors. These are often financially difficult. Another challenge is to adapt to new practices when moving to new churches. In each type of social setting, for example, there is much difference between the social structure of an urban area and the social structure of a particular city. In each type of social setting, for example, there is much difference between the social structure of an urban area and the social structure of a particular city. His experience is as follows:

“The time I worked in a small church in the city, there were people with very well educated government jobs and very good quality of life. My wife used to wear saris in her church when she first arrived. But most of the people there used to wear clothes like churidar and they made fun on my wife. And there was a different situation when I was ministering to a rural congregation. There were so many poor people and they could not accept the priest's wife wearing churidar. And we have to adapt to their life style. At first there will have some difficulties but then we adapt all those things”.

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In connection with his family, he shared an experience that was very painful. That is, when his eldest daughter was 13 years old, who had just come home from school in the afternoon after examination, suffered a sudden chest pain and she died on the way to the hospital. That incident severely affected his priestly life, a man who was mentally exhausted and who comforts others in their distress had to stay away from the ministry for six months. After two years he returned to the ministry, his wife is still recovering from the shock. But there is a question as to why a priest who comforts the community is so exhausted of having an experience in his own family and he says that.

“I am not only a priest, but also the father of the children, husband to wife, son to my parents and also a human being with all emotions and feelings”.

Society holds certain views about a priest. The community will not accept a priest who cannot go on with his life. This is a very challenging life. While choosing this life, a priest must be convinced the mission and duties, only then they can move forward in priestly life with a spiritual power.

Case 4:

Rev. Stanley

He has been a priest at CSI for 21 years. He was born into a priestly family in 1966 and his father was a priest. His family consisted of mother and a brother, and his mother was sick. He recalls that they had no land or home at that time, and he says that they had suffered a lot during those times.

“In the earlier times, the clergy had no big salary at all, but with the help of the common people they were able to advance their lives. The community would not accept a priest doing another kind of work. The family's financial status has been devastated by the illness of the mother, but the church and dioceses have been very helpful in those times. With their help, I was able to study to till degree in such crisis. The power that I believe had given strength to me and led me forward .Therefore, I have chosen my Father's Way and have begun evangelizing since 1987”.

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During that time, he worked as a volunteer worker in both the CSI's own churches. He says of that period. I was not even known as a son of a priest to preach or worship properly. But I was determined that this was my life. At first, I was in a lot of trouble.

He then completed his theological education from KUTS Kannammoola in 1992-96. In 1997 he received Ordinance and appointed as a Priest of CSI SKD. He has served in 7 churches so far and was married in 1996. His family consisted of wife and a son. His wife is a school teacher and son is pursuing a degree. In his experience, this priestly life is full of tension and tension. It takes a lot of patience and caution to overcome all this.

His words are:

“We cannot predict anything like this. In that case, it is a challenge to handle the affairs of the church and the family at the same time. When ministering in a church, all the responsibilities of that church are with the priest. When it comes to a priest, there are certain responsibilities. All this has to be done with precision and without any delay. There are times when we have to put the same emphasis on the two, but sometimes you have to keep aside the family sometimes. I will not be able to concentrate properly on my child's studies. And I can’t spend time with my family. Relatives, family friends, and even parents have to wait a long time to see me”.

One of the biggest challenges in a ministry is the transferring system. According to the rules of the church, a period of ministering is of maximum of five years. Then we have to move to another church. Five years is a structural figure, but in the meantime there may be a change. This can be caused by a variety of reasons, sometimes by promotion, or sometimes by the transfer based on the church's interests. One of the most challenging aspects of transfer is the education of children.

He says his son finished schooling in four schools and when each school moves, there were new teachers and friends. It took several days to adapt to the new atmosphere. Studies will be greatly affected. Another problem with the transfer system is this: There are priests whose wives having jobs. And they have a hard time because of transfer.

His experience is as follows:

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“Once I was transferred to a congregation in a hill village in the southern part of Thiruvananthapuram and my wife was in a city school that was about 60 kilometers from the Church to wife's workplace. The church was in a place where not much of transportation facilities. So it was very difficult to come back from the work place. She would get up early in the morning for the first few days and get things done at home. To get to work, she have to board four bus. If she was unable to leave the house on time, she will lose the bus. Then I had to ride the bike for eight kilometers to get to the bus stand. It was very difficult. When my son comes home from school, nobody will be there at home sometimes. It will be late when the wife arrives. By that time he is alone. I ministered that church for a year and finally applied for a voluntary transfer during the next general transfer but didn't get it. Eventually the bestowed Church House was closed and a house was rented but later it became difficult to carry the affairs of the church and the family. The home and church were about 26 miles away. Traveling this long distance is physically very difficult and will only work for another year. Finally I bought the transfer and moved away”.

While in the ministry with your family, there are many challenges. He said that one of them is the economic challenge. We would not get the salary properly. According to the diocese system, each clergy has a service-specific salary scale. But the pay for this scale is not from the diocese but from the respective churches. In that case, all the expenses of the churches will be paid only in salaries, i.e. we have to minister church with low incomes, for several months.

He shared that

“12 years back my wife didn’t have a job, I too had similar difficulties”.

Another crisis is that the priest have to manage the church's budget and affairs properly and have to submit it to the diocese. This is a matter of great concern because the priest is accountable for all the affairs of a church and if there were any loss is caused to the church by negligence of the priest, it is the priest who has to manage it. So it is a stressful task.

He shared an experience in relation to the financial affairs of the church.

“When I was ministering in a church, it was a project worth about a half-billion rupees. For that I needed to buy some plot for that church. It was very difficult to raise that big amount according

Page 39 of 60 to the income of the church. However, the committee decided to buy the land, as it would be very beneficial to the church in the future if it was purchased. Someway an amount was made. But the amount was not enough and the committee members came to me. I sent them away back by saying that I would find a way. But I did not have the money they asked for. Finally, I pledged some gold of my wife and gave the money to them on the condition that they would pay the interest correctly. So they paid the interest in the first three months of buying the place. Later, they were unable to pay the interest, but I decided to pay the interest, thinking that it would be a problem to me if the interest was not paid properly. Finally, after one year, they did not paid even 10 per cent of the outstanding amount. That became a huge burden on me, as a priest. As a priest, I was legally unable to do anything. Because if I do something like that, they'll be hostile to me. It can lead to more problems later”.

The mission of a priest is probably to solve the problems. According to him,

“Perhaps if I said a no to them, when those people came to me and asked for money, there were no problem I wouldn't have had a crisis. But if it does, it can be interpreted in many other ways in the church and among the community. If I couldn't buy the land, it would come down to me. Many such crises occur in financial transactions. When problems arises, it affects the family. The family budget might be unstable”.

Similarly, another challenge in this life is the problems of the administration in Church. In many churches, there are two factions of church politics, so that when a priest takes a legal stand in a dispute, there is a situation where one faction accepts and the other opposes. That would later lead to the accusation that the priest was biased. Sometimes, some people have anger and resentment toward the priest, but the priest cannot. For the priest it is hi responsibility to unite the church. In that case, the priest may find it very difficult. When these kinds of problems occur, some people will act badly towards the priest. If the priest treats the person in the same way, the gap between the priest and the people will be eliminated. Therefore, the priest has to explain things to the person and keep them in the church. Similarly, when such problems arise, the accusations are directed not only at the clergy but against his family.

As a priestly family, there is only so much that can be done. Therefore, on these occasions, a priest must strive for the unity of the church and at the same time do everything to support and

Page 40 of 60 comfort the family. So this is a big challenge. When they be in their service they have to move away from their home land, home and relatives, into new place, with new people and with a new culture. Such as when move from one church to another, this often affects their family life and often causes some kind of anxiety while leaving from some churches. This means that sometimes, some families have a very close personal relationship with the priest's family. Back then, the priestly family would have worked in that church, maintaining that relationship. If the priest get a transfer and would have to change the church there will be an emotional separation and it would be long lasting. He said that it is the characteristic of this life to leave many relationships behind and to establish new relationships. He says that

“Although they face many challenges in different areas, the Spiritual Power that they believe enables them to overcome those challenges”.

Case 5:

Rev Mathews

He has been a priest of CSI SKD (Church of South India, South Kerala diocese) for 25 years. He was born in 1965 to a common family. His father was a post office employee. They taught all children very well, though there were many difficulties. After completing his studies until his MA Since 1987, evangelistic work has begun. He completed his Theological studies from 1990- 94. He was ordained in 1994 and became a priest of the CSI SKD (Church of South India, South Kerala diocese). His family consists of his wife and two daughters. Both his children are students and wife has a government job. During five years of his ministry, he has served in seven churches. He has been able to complete the period of service assigned by the Diocese in most churches. During his period of service, he found time to pursue his studies and earn his doctorate degree.

According to him, the priestly ministry with the family is a challenging one. The most important thing in this field is that to lead the church and the family together. Often it is not possible to attend many family matters. Sometimes they cannot give proper attention and care to children's studies. The early experiences of his ministry were as follows. When my children were very young, my wife wasted two or three opportunities to get a job. This means that I am often busy with church affairs. Then if the wife too goes to a job, there will be no one to care of children. So

Page 41 of 60 she deliberately wasted two or three chances to get a job. Finally, after the children have grown up she got a job at age of thirty-six. In this way, the family, together with the ministry, needs to be adjusted in many ways.

Another major challenge is the academics of children. The maximum period of service is five years in each church. After that, they will have to go to another church as per the directions of the Diocese. In that situation, the children will have to be transferred to another school. His experience is as follows,

''My eldest daughter completed her school level education from four schools and the younger one, she is now studying in tenth standard, it is her fifth school also. The change of school can greatly affect their academics. In such circumstances, it takes twice as much effort to achieve excellence in learning. When they are new to a new school, they have to make it some difficulties and this difficulties sustain for some more months. New teachers, friends and surroundings will be new to them. It is the time to focus more on their affairs. If they are not given adequate attention at this time, it will greatly affect their learning''.

Similarly, another challenge associated with this transferring system is the shifting of house. Packing all the appliances a family needs, from one place to another and arranging everything in new house is a very difficult task. Often, during such shifts, many items are damaged and lost. The preparations for it will begin one month before the transfer. Similarly, it will take about a month to rearrange everything in the new house. Similarly, it faces some difficulties to adapt to new situation when moving from one church to another church. It is another challenge related to this transferring system. There are two types of challenges at this time. One is social based and the other is cultural based. There will be differences in the social structure and cultural orientation of each place. In such a way, it can be very challenging to adapt and deal with them.

Another challenge they face is maintaining the unity of the church. A priest has a lot of responsibilities there. It is a big challenge to look after them properly and take care of his family. Many problems in the church affect not only the priest but also his family. Often, there are different types of disputes and conflicts happen in the church. It is the duty of a priest to resolve disputes and lead the church in good faith. Thus, when dealing with such problems, it also becomes a problem for the priest's family. This means that when there is a problem in the church,

Page 42 of 60 there are different opinions from the family. It was not right to do so, it is much better to do another way. Sometimes the family suffers a lot of tension when they have some problems in church. Sometimes, some people have bad behavior towards family other than against priest. His experience is as follows,

''An excursion was organized from a church where I once served. During that trip, some youngsters had some disputes. It felt annoying to the rest of the persons who came with family. I talked to the troubling youths and tried to make them peace. However, they were having trouble again. Eventually the others got involved and the problem got worse. So throughout that journey, I had to walk around to solve problems. I couldn't spend the time with my family and enjoy the journey. It made my wife and children very sad''.

When the responsibilities of the church are fulfilled, there are many problems that affect not only the priest but also his family.

Similarly, another thing is that when serving in a church, a priest carries out all kinds of needs, including marriage, death, and so on. Then it is the duty of a priest to arrive at events on time. If the priest does not follow the time, it is a big problem. When that happens, the priests may not care about many things in their family. In such a situation, it is essential that the priest's wife is more concerned about the family responsibilities. Some days there will be five or six programs. On such days, they may arrive home very tired and late. Then the wife will be left alone to take care of the entire day's affairs. It is a very comforting thing. Similarly, when they see their wife and children waiting so late, they can forget all the weariness of that day. That is his experience too.

Another major concern is that the priest and his family have always been closely watched by society. Their actions and lifestyle will be looked after by society. In that way, the priest's family is responsible for lead an exemplary life in society. A priest has the responsibility of preparing the family for it. While ministering in a congregation, there may be many problems, but the priest and his family must learn to cope with them. Similarly, we need to be very cautious when dealing with the society. A priest should be able to see all the people of different religions in a loving and caring. He also said something regrettable that racial differences still exist within the church. He shared the experience of a priest of his friend.

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''A priest as well as friend of mine belongs to a Dalit community. He was once transferred from a church in the name of caste. He told me this very sadly. It was very embarrassing for me too. It was a church with people with good education and traditions. But since they knew that the priest belonged to a Dalit community, there was disagreement among the people of the church. Eventually, he was transferred to another church. It amazes me that in spite of all such education and tradition, such tendencies still exist in our church''.

He also reminded us that some of these isolated incidents are part of the ministry.

There may also be financial challenges to be a part of this ministry. First of all, the authority of all kinds of accounts is the priest of that church. According to the law of the church, all the accounts are arranged through bank accounting system. Similarly, auditing should be done every year. All of these are the responsibility of a priest. If there is any error in the account, it is the priest who has to answer. Therefore, church accounting is one area that needs to be treated very carefully. Another is that according to the order of the CSI SKD (Church of South India, South Kerala diocese), the churches are divided into 70 districts. There are, on average, ten congregations in each district.

The priests who lead such a district are called the district chairman. Reaching this position is based on seniority. He has also been a District Chairman for last seven years. This is a huge responsibility. A District Chairman will be responsible for the affairs of all the churches on that district. This means that the accounts of all the churches should be reach out to the Diocese, lead ministries in churches where there are no priests, lead other district development programs, Deliver the instructions and announcements of the diocese to other churches in a timely manner, involve them in all activities of the diocese etc. are the main responsibilities. A priest who serves in such a manner may challenge more than other priests.

Another economic problem is pending of salary He spoke about it accordingly,

''Although the salaries of each of the priests are fixed according to seniority, the salary is only calculated after all the expenses of the church have been paid. When that happens, we may not be able to get a proper salary every month. In some churches, when salary panting is increased, they will cut allowances such as current bill, water bill, phone bill etc. But it is not possible to complain about it, as it is the decision of each church committee. These kinds of situations can

Page 44 of 60 also cause financial hardship. But despite the difficulties of this kind, for me, since my wife has a job, I have been able to overcome it all''.

So the priestly ministry with the family is such a challenging life.

DATA INTERPRETATION

The researcher had interviewed the respondents and acquired the experience of the respondents of them in detail. Respondents had given their different experience regarding managing the family life and church administration together. The data was analyzed thematically based on certain similarities and common patterns and also based on peculiar experiences. Some of the major themes emerges are interpreted below

Transferring System

According to particular rules of the church, there is a system of general transfer in every five years. This term is the maximum period to serve in a particular church. But on some special occasions, transfer may be 1 – 4 years. It is not pre-determined thing. Usually they get the information about transfer only one month before. In the case of general transfer it does not make a big problem. But in the case of special transfer, it makes things difficult. In these situations, it must be a challenge to them to order the church affairs, home affairs, children’s education, house shifting etc. According to Rev Daniel

“…Following that incident, I was transferred from a church to another church within the same year. It was more difficult to me. I served only three years in that congregation''. Another problem with the transfer system is this: There are priests whose wives having jobs. And they have a hard time because of transfer. Relating to this problem one of the respondent, Rev. Stanley shared his experience as follows:

“Once I was transferred to a congregation in a hilly village in the southern part of Thiruvananthapuram and my wife was in a city school that was about 60 kilometers from the Church to wife's workplace”.

So they experienced more difficulties in the case of unexpected transfer other than general

Page 45 of 60 transfer. In the time of general transfer they experienced fewer difficulties because they have information about it, so they can prepare for it. For example they can pack their properties, order the church accounts and other responsibilities etc.

Shifting of House

Another major challenge of priesthood is shifting of house at the time of transfer. In this study, one of the respondent Rev. S Stephen shared his experience. He has served in eight churches during 18 years of his service. From this statement it is understood that, in his service of 18 years he got transfer 8 times. So he along with family shifted to 8 houses in 8 different place in these 18 years of time. Relating to this problem one of the respondent, Rev. Mathews shared his experience as follows:

“The shifting of house is a challenge in a way that packing all the appliances a family needs, from one place to another and arranging everything in new house is a very difficult task. Often, during such shifts, many items are damaged and lost. The preparations for it will begin one month before the transfer. Similarly, it will take about a month to rearrange everything in the new house. Similarly, it faces some difficulties to adapt to new situation when moving from one church to another church. It is another challenge related to this transferring system”.

So in this ways they are suffering a lot in the situations of house shift.

Education of Children

In our society, proper education of children is inevitable. So it is the responsibility of parents too. In the life of married priests it is another challenge. It is also related to transferring system. According to the transferring of priest their children are also transferred from school to schools. This greatly affects the education of the children. One of the respondent, Rev. Mathews shared his experience is as follows: ''My eldest daughter completed her school level education from four schools and the younger one, she is now studying in tenth standard, it is her fifth school also. The change of school can greatly affect their academics. In such circumstances, it takes twice as much effort to achieve excellence in learning. When they are new to a new school, they have to make it some difficulties and this difficulty sustain for some more months. New teachers, friends

Page 46 of 60 and surroundings will be new to them. It is the time to focus more on their affairs. If they are not given adequate attention at this time, it will greatly affect their learning''.

So this is a challenge in their life that father’s responsibility to educate his children is challenged and the children are suffering a lot. Another respondent, Rev Stephen shared his experience as follows:

He was transferred 8 times in 18 years of his ministry. It also affected the studies of children. He admitted his son to first standard in English medium. When his child was in fourth grade, he received a transfer to a church far from the church where he was previously working. There were no English medium in the new school and he was admitted to the 5th standard in the Malayalam medium. He got transfer again after three years. Since there was an English medium school next to the new church, the child was put back into English medium from the eighth grade. He could no longer pursue excellence as he had in the beginning.

Adaptation to new Social settings

In the life of a married priest, they are prone to lead family life as part of different cultures, situations, social systems, customs etc. So that it is a must to adapt into different social situations. They need to be a part of different settings. It is also related to transferring system. When they transferred from one place to another place, the social situations also change. So that when they move to a new place they want to become a member of that particular community. It is essential in their ministering life to accomplish their service properly. As a married priest, they become a member of family in that community or particular social setting. All family members of priest’s family want to adapt new social settings. One of the respondent, Rev. P Daniel (not correct name) shared his experience in this regard as follows:

In each type of social setting, for example, there is much difference between the social structure of an urban area and the social structure of a particular city. One of the respondent, Rev. Antony shared his experience is as follows:

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Church Politics

Church politics is a big problem mostly relating to the structure of this institution. Politics and the power structures are the part of an institution. It is essential and at the same time threat to the existence of institution. On this occasion, the role of a priest is to maintain the solidarity in church. So it is a challenging task to priest. It is some time leading to some complicated problems. For example, the issues related to committee elections. These issues not only affect priest but also his family. One of the respondent, Rev Daniel shred his experience in this regard as follows:

''Six years ago, when I was ministering in a congregation, it was time for election. According to the order of the Diocese (Great Parish), no church related construction work should be conducted after the election is declared once. But at that time construction work on the parish hall was underway there. Then I asked the committee to stop constructions, they refused. And then I legally approached the Diocese and stayed the constructions. This incident caused the committee to turn against me. They threatened to label me as" anti-developmental" and said that they would not accept the election. The election process is always very tense. This is a very frightening period for the family”.

Dual Status and Multiple Roles (Role set and Status set)

Robert K. Merton’s Theory of role set and status set, is evidently seen in the life of a married priest. A married priest is one who possesses two statuses at a time that is as priest and man of house. The challenge they faced in their life is that to perform these two statuses equally. Sometimes we can seen an unbalance in the performance that most of the respondents opined

Page 48 of 60 they cannot take proper care of family affairs due to most of the time they were busy with church affairs. One of the respondent, Rev Mathews shared his experience is as follows:

“Some days there will be five or six programs. On such days, we may arrive home very tired and late. Then the wife will be left alone to take care of the entire day's affairs”.

The status of priest is associated with many roles like, president of the church committee, as a celebrant, preacher, worship conductor, a social worker, election officer, administrator, councilor, accountant etc. such as in the status of man of house he plays the other roles like father, husband, son etc. so that sometimes these roles are overlapping each other and become difficult to manage.

Economic Instability

A regular income is essential to leads a proper family life. It is the responsibility of man of house to satisfy the families’ need. So a stable income is inevitable. In a family there are many expenditures like children’s education, food, clothing etc. In the case of married priest’s family it is also applicable. But according to the church system where this study is conducted, the salary is fixed by the Diocese according to the service of each priest, but the salary can only been get based on the income of the church. In some months, a decrease in the church's income will become a salary pending. When that happens, it will affect the family budget. One of the respondent, Rev Daniel shared his experience in this regard is as follows:

“When he was working in a church, he had gone through debt every month because of the lack of income in that church. At the end of one year, the total salary debt had increased to eighty thousand rupees. In the end, the diocese intervened and paid Rs. 40,000 and the rest was not paid. Diocese transferred him to another church, where he continued to remain in that church, the salary was not up to par. He says there are still some problems with this kind of financial issues and that there may be times when he has to keep things in the family without getting a regular salary”. So it is a huge problem in their life. Those priests who have wife with a job can balance their family budget in a line. One of the respondent, Rev Stanley says that, “But despite the difficulties of this kind, for me, since my wife has a job, I have been able to overcome it all''.

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Societal Monitoring

In the social sense, the priesthood is highly regarded as very respectful. The community looks forward to a priest with high expectations. Therefore they are obliged to lead such an exemplary life. A priest is obliged to show the example not only as an individual but also as the head of family. When a priest preaches in church about family life and its various aspects, his family should be a good model to church. Even a small mistake from someone in the priest's family (wife or children) would be considered a very big mistake by society. Society is always monitoring them. Then it is the duty of a priest to bring the family together to lead exemplary life in front of them. According to the society's view, a priest who cannot lead such an exemplary life, he has no ethical right to be a priest. In other words priest and his family have always been closely watched by society. Their actions and lifestyle will be looked after by society. In that way, the priest's family is responsible for lead an exemplary life in society. A priest has the responsibility of preparing the family for it. While ministering in a congregation, there may be many problems, but the priest and his family must learn to cope with them. Similarly, we need to be very cautious when dealing with the society. A priest should be able to see all the people of different religions in a loving and caring. He also said something regrettable that racial differences still exist within the church. Therefore, it can be a challenge in the priestly ministry with the family.

Discriminations

Caste based discrimination is a social reality which is still rampant in our society. These discriminations exist in two ways that is among the people of the church and people with their priest. Both situations are a threat to the proper ministering in a congregation. The unit of the church is one of the main responsibilities of a priest. So that, the existing discrimination with in the church affects the church unity. Here priest has the crucial role to regain the unity. One of the respondent, Rev. Antony shared his experience is as follows:

“The church that I is ministering now includes people from five castes having very little cooperation. When one sect is works very sincerely in the church, the other factions stand apart. It is very difficult to keep everyone under one umbrella under these circumstances”.

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The second is something personal to priest and his family, personal hurt. In some churches, the people prefer priest belongs to their dominant caste. It is a societal behavior that we say as we are civilized society. One of the respondent, Rev. Mathews shared a priest of his friend’s experience is as follows:

Alien Feeling

“Alienation” is the concept put forward by the classical sociologist Karl Marx. Here in the life of a married priest, the experience is more subjective. The priest is alienated from their own land, own village where they born, own relatives and even parents. So their life is apart from many intimate factors. But the feeling is prominent in the situation when they are sequester due to some issues in churches and are unable to attend many family functions. The first priority is to organize the affairs of the church. Only after that he can be in the family- related programs. Because of this, he is unable to participate many functions related to the family.

A priest is responsible for every functions like wedding, funeral, house warming, birthday prayer and also any customary practices associated with each family in the church when ministering in that particular church. Often, church programs and family-related programs come together. On these occasions, family-related programs should be avoided. When that happens, relatives sometimes have some complaints to him. There was a time when they could not even attend his father's memorial prayer. That means they miss a lot of their family friends and relatives in this life. According to him, sometimes it comes to the strong feeling that we are an alien or a foreigner. This type of experience is more likely to occur when they are isolated due to some problems in the church. In Rev Daniel’s words,

“…..on these circumstances there may be a feeling that we are living away from our own home, relatives and village”

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CHAPTER V

FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

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CHAPTER V

FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

The present study was an attempt to understand the life experiences of priest’s with family life. The researcher looks at how does the double status affect their life socially, economically, culturally? And whether Is it a challenging one? Church of South India (CSI) is the second largest Christian church in India based on number of members and South Kerala Diocese is one of the largest Diocese of CSI. The researcher focuses on the life experiences of the priests in South Kerala Diocese of the CSI. A qualitative approach was adopted in the study where cases were identified and information was gathered from them.

MAJOR FINDINGS

Priesthood is a respectful status in society. In every religion, priesthood is an important position, but the roles in that status varies according to faith, norms and values of different religion. There are many sociological and theological studies about Christian priests, especially on catholic priests. But there is another stream of Christianity, derived during the course of Enlightenment, The Protestant church under the leadership of Martin Luther in 1520. Not many studies are done among this set of Priests and hence the proposed study.

Findings revealed that married priests life is a busy life with lot of unexpected problems and tensions. That is in their life they have a lot of responsibilities related to their profession. So as priest and man of house, there is many roles associated to both status. The status of priest is associated with many roles like, president of the church committee, as a celebrant, preacher, worship conductor, a social worker, election officer, administrator, councilor and accountant. And as the man of the house he plays the roles of father, husband, son and son in law. So that sometimes these roles are overlapping each other and become difficult to manage and made life busy and challenging

Transferring system leads to many challenges like children’s education, wifes job, shifting homes, and adaptation to different social settings. According to the transferring of priest their children are also transferred from school to schools. It greatly affects their education. This is a life where they are forced to lead family life as part of different cultures, situations, social

Page 53 of 60 systems, customs etc. So that it is a must to adapt into different social situations. They need to be a part of different settings. It is also related to transferring system. When they are transferred from one place to another place, the social situations also change. So that when they move to a new place they want to become a member of that particular community. It is essential in their ministering life to accomplish their service properly.

Economically they face the problem of salary pending which leads to income instability. According to the church system where this study is conducted, the salary is fixed by the Diocese according to the service of each priest, but the salary can only been get based on the income of the church. In some months, a decrease in the church's income will become a salary pending. It leads to income instability. This also leads to borrowing money from other sources for day today existence.

They also face a feeling of “alienation”. They are alienated from their own land and immediate relatives and have to work in a new place and among new people. The life of a married priest, and their experiences are more subjective in terms of alienation i.e.,from their own land, own village where they born, own relatives and even parents. So their life is apart from many intimate relations. But the feeling is prominent in the situation when they are sequester due to some issues in churches.

The other important challenge that they face is that of the unity of church. The church politics is a big threat to the everyday functioning of church based activities. On this occasion, the role of a priest is to maintain the solidarity in church. So it is a challenging task to priest. It sometimes leads to some complicated problems. For example, the issues related to committee elections. These issues are not only affecting priest but also his family.

While leading church and family at a time, it is needed to be adjusting to family affairs. They are unable to attend many family functions as the first priority is to organize the affairs of the church. Only after that he can attend the family- related programs. A priest is responsible for every functions like wedding, funeral, house warming, birthday prayer and also any customary practices associated with each family in the church when ministering in that particular church. Often, church programs and family-related programs come together. On these occasions, family- related programs are avoided. This also creates tensions within the family.

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Priesthood is a constrained life that society always monitor the family life of a priest. The community looks forward to a priest with high expectations. Therefore they are obliged to lead such an exemplary life. A priest is obliged to show the example not only as an individual but also as the head of family. When a priest preaches in church about family life and its various aspects, his family should be a good model to church. Even a small mistake from someone in the priest's family (wife or children) would be considered a very big mistake by society. Society is always monitoring them.

The study also found that there are caste based discrimination in the church. A lower caste priest is considered as an unwanted figure in the church by high caste or so called pure Christians. So in those places they face severe discriminations. The discrimination exists in two ways that is among the people of the church and people with their priest. Both situations are a threat to the proper ministering in a congregation. The unity of the church is one of the main responsibility of a priest. The second is something personal to priest and his family, personal hurt. In some churches, the people prefer priest belongs to their dominant caste. It is a societal behavior and this is prevalent among Christians also.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion we can say that the challenges faced by the married priests revolve around economic limitation, problems with their co-priests and leaders, and relational isolation brought about by social and geographic distance, Politics in the church, alienation and educational and occupational challenges of spouse and children. However, they also reminded that their mission is to tackle of all these problems and doing Godly service, even if there are too many responsibilities with tensions. They can do it by spiritual power.

SUGGESTIONS

From the study following suggestions are put forwarded:

 Set up a salary system under direct control of diocese. It can overcome the salary pending problem thereby the economic challenges can be rectified to an extent.  Increasing the duration of working years in a church. It can overcome problems related to children’s education and house shifting.

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 Regulating the church politics by Diocese can avoid problems related to unity of church at a level.  Take necessary steps by Diocese to prevent the discriminations related caste.  Transfer the responsibility of the maintenance of church accounts from priest to new system.

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APPENDIX I

INTERVIEW GUIDE

Socio-demographic details

Influence of family life on priesthood life

Cultural challenges faced by the married Priests

Socio-economic challenges faced by married Priests

Common life experiences shared by married Priests

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