By Sumon Corraya
Dhaka, March 15, 2020: Father John Chinnappan, an Indian Jesuit priest, has been working in priestly formation and preaching of retreats in Bangladesh for the past ten years.
The native of Thandavasamuthiram village in Tamil Nadu, southern India, shares his missionary life experience in Bangladesh.
“When I came to Dhaka, I had observed a hunger for spiritual food among people,” he told Matters India in early March.
Father Chinnappan is among around 20 Indian priests serving various dioceses in Bangladesh.
He came to Bangladesh to study doctorate on ‘baul’ (mystic) life, but he could not pursue his dream.
Baul, popular in West Bengal of India and Bangladesh, is a folk song tradition with philosophical overtones.
“If I had one gone my PhD, I might have ended up in an educational institute. I now provide spiritual care that is better for faithful. I enjoy it very much,” the 51-years-old priest says.
According to him, the people of God in Bangladesh are great demand for spiritual care.
“I noticed they have loneliness. It is possible to change them by the care and it is taking place greatly,” says the priest who conductd a day-long retreat every month at Navojyoti Niketan, a retreat house and formation center. Around 300 Catholics participate in it.
Navojyoti Niketan is situated in Kuchilabari in Gazipur, near Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
“In the beginning, I conducted retreats for priests, nuns and religious brothers. Later I observed, laypeople, do not have an option to do retreat. So I started a retreat for the laity.”
In retreats for lay people, Father Chinnappan teaches from the Bible and the Spiritual Exercise of Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of Society of Jesus.
He also teaches philosophy at the Holy Spirit Major Seminary in Banani of Dhaka. The national seminary in Bangladesh has some 85 seminarians.
He is also a visiting staff of Morning Star Seminary in Kolkata, India.
He says he enjoys working with seminarians. “They are like clay. By proper formation, we can transform them into what we want them to be. I love to teach, accompany and guide seminarians to make them dedicated and holy priests for the church,” he adds.
He also works for a Jesuit formation center.
He loves Bengali, the national language of Bangladesh. He learned it when he was in Kolkata.
“I love Bangladeshi people. They are emotional and simple-minded. If we control emotion and use it proper and logical ways, we can bring the best result, we can bring success,” he says.
Sometimes he comes across Catholics who are not interested in religion and stay away from the Mass.
He deals differently and carefully with such people.
He convinces them the need for attending the Mass and receiving the Eucharist. He encourages them to go to confession.
“This is how they understand the importance of faith and we do not lose them,” claims the priest, who considers spirituality as more important than religiosity.
Talking about himself, Father Chinnappan says he is the seventh among eight children of his parents, who were farmers.
What about his future? Chinnappan says he would work as long as his authorities keep him in Bangladesh.
“I love to work in Bangladesh with these ministries (seminary teaching and retreat preaching), he says.
(Sumon Corraya, is a guest writer from Bangladesh. He edits www.dcnewsbd.com, an online newspaper of The Christian Co-operative Credit Union Ltd. Dhaka where covers news on Christian community, cooperatives sectors of Bangladesh.)