By Matters India reporter

Cherthala: A Catholic priest in Kerala has refused to shift to the newly built presbytery until his parishioners build toilets for poor families.

Father Isaac Damian Painunkal, pastor of St Thomas Church in Kokkamangalam, made this demand on April 23 as the parish was preparing to celebrate its principal feast, “Puthu Njayar” (New Sunday), the Sunday after Easter.

The church is believed to be one the places of worship that St Thomas the Apostle erected in Kerala in the first century.

The parish had recently blessed its renovated church. The parishioners had also built a presbytery with all modern facilities that was blessed on April 2, reports “Mangalam,” a Malayalam newspaper.

However, Father Painunkal has pledged that he would shift to the new residence only after constructing toilets for at least ten families in the parish, irrespective of their religion.

The 78-year-old priest continues to stay in a room adjacent to an old auditorium. He plans to build toilets costing 50,000 rupees.

He had made another demand three years ago when the parish began renovating the church. He insisted constructing a house for the poorest homeless family in parish starting the church renovation. He had also threatened to use the money collected for the church renovation to build the house if the parishioners failed to cooperate with his suggestion.

The parishioners followed his suggestion and built a decent house for the family, Mangalam reported.

Father Painunkal is one of the seniormost priests of Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese. He has spent several decades in pastoral works in India and overseas.

He was born on February 1, 1939, at Infant Jesuit Parish in Kadanad. He was ordained a priest on November 4, 1977 by late Jesuit Bishop George Saupin of Bhagalpur. He studied theology from Vidyajyoti, a Jesuit theologate in Delhi.

St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Kokkamangalam holds a midway position among the seven churches founded by St. Thomas. A portrait of St. Thomas is venerated in the church. It was brought from the Carmelite Monastery Mannanam in 1897. This portrait is mounted in a decorated waft.

St. Thomas sailed to Kokkamangalam where he preached the gospel for about a year. At least 1,600 people converted to Christianity through him according to the narration in “Rampan Pattu”, an ancient form of Christian folk-song prevalent in Kerala.

The apostle formed a Christian community at Kokkamangalam and erected a cross there. Someone cut the cross and threw it into the Lake Vembanad. It floated to Pallippuram, where it is enshrined now.

The church also holds a relic of the saint brought from Ortona in Italy by Pope John Paul II in November 1999.

A seven storied Kerala lamp in front of the relic denotes the integration of seven Christian communities founded by the Apostle. Pouring coconut oil in this lamp is a sacred practice here. The archives of Kokkamangalam also attract historians, pilgrims and tourists.

Thousands of people irrespective of caste and creed participate in the principal feast that fell on April 23 this year.