By Ittoop Panikulam

Mumbai, Sept 17, 2020: Father Felix Eckerman, a Divine Word missionary who spent 50 years in India died on September 13 at the age of 100. The American missionary was my novice master. I have fond memories of that great soul.

I lost my father to cancer in August 1975, four months after I was ordained a priest. I was still grieving when I left home after the last rites. I was on my way to Panckhui, my mission station near Jabhua and about 150 km from Indore.

After reaching Indore, I decided not to go to our provincial house there, although I knew that Father Felix, as we called him, was there. He had booked his ticket to Pune the same night. I proceeded to my mission station and stayed at Jhabua for the night rest. About midnight I heard a knock at the door.

When I opened the door, there he was Father. Felix with open arms. I could not believe my eyes. He had cancelled his ticket to Pune and took a bus in the evening to reach Jhabua. He had a book in his hand which he gave me to read later. The name of the book was, “The Father is Very Fond of Me,” which was published January 1, 1975. The title of the book became flesh and blood to me in Father Felix, during that late night encounter.

I happened to be a participant of the first novice-masters course at National Vocation Service Centre, Pune. At that time, he was the spiritual director of Divine Word seminary. He was invited by the director to share his personal experiences and reflections with the participants. Remember; he had 12 years of experience as the novice master.

Humble as he was, one of the first things he shared with us was, “looking back to my time as novice master, I can beat my chest and say ‘mea culpa; mea culpa’ many times. When I think of the way I behaved sometimes with my novices, I still feel embarrassed; although I thought at that time I was doing the right things.”

The insights of Vatican II changed him, almost completely. He decided to be truly himself and live the only commandment Jesus brought home to us, “love as I love.” He became someone, looking at whom; many young SVDs would be able to reciprocate, “The Father is fond of me.” He had a big warm heart that could accept lay persons, men and women, sisters, priests, however vulnerable, weak and limited they were, and make them feel they are valuable and precious.

As a preparation to be a formator, I had a few months of training at Christian Counselling Centre, Vellore. There, one of the women trainers fell in love with me and I found her a likable person. Being not a Catholic herself, she was praying those days for the death of John Paul 2, thinking that, once that happens I would be free to get married.

I wrote to Father Felix who was at Pune those days, about my priestly crisis. He gave me no advice, except, he wrote: “I know you and you know I trust you. Be true to yourself. Give quality extra time for personal prayer. You will be shown the way; have the courage, wisdom and humility to follow what will be shown to you. You are being watched in love from above, as I am doing it from here.”

What a trust and assurance in me, in himself and in God that only what is good and proper will happen to me. I heard the call again in one of the best possible ways. I admired the quality of his inner freedom and total trust.

There would be many more divine word missionaries to share their personal stories with their life-sized-memories of their experiences with Father Felix Eckerman. He was a simple human who went about doing good lovingly. He was a man of the heart that maintained most of the time the same season of kindness and compassion.

He knew how to generously pass on to us his younger brothers, acceptance, appreciation, affirmation and affection. How blessed and fortunate for any congregation to have formators like Father Felix Eckerman, a thorough gentle man, a good human being, an attentive listener, an authentic and transparent friend; a missionary at heart, with an international spirit, who can make you feel, “I am there for you.”

(Father Ittoop Panikulam is a member of the Divine Word Society, based at Dhyan Kutir, Gyan Ashram, Andheri-East, Mumbai.)