Priest’s barefoot sacrifice renovates church, wins over parishioners

By Lissy Maruthanakuzhy

Neyyanttinkara: An altar girl presented her parish priest with a pair of sandals after Bishop Vincent Samuel of Neyyanttinkara blessed their renovated church on India’s Independence Day.

Parishioners and others in the church watched with moist eyes as Father Aneesh Albert slipped his feet into the sandals. He was wearing footwear after 23 months.

“He made a lot of sacrifices to complete this church,” Vinaya Wilfred, the girl, told Matters India.

She said priests before Father Aneesh, as she is popularly called, had collected the funds for the church renovation, but did not start anything.

Father Aneesh came to the Vellanad mission of St Mary’s Church, in Changa under the diocese of Neyyanttinkara in February 2019, two years after his ordination.

He was shocked when he visited Mitraniketan, Mannamvila, the parish’s substation where a 91-year-old church was in total disrepair. During monsoon, rainwater fell on the altar when he offered the Eucharist.

The parish has only 33 Dalit Catholic families, 28 of them daily wagers and three widows. Two remaining families had members with good jobs. Since they were Christians they did not get any government benefits meant for Dalit communities.

A month after his arrival, Fr Aneesh took a vow; “I shall rebuild the church. I shall go barefoot until the church is renovated.”

The church was built by a Belgian missionary in 1930, and Father Aneesh decided to walk barefoot to complete the parishioners’ dream of having a new church where they could sit quietly and pray.

He explained to Matters India his decision to go barefoot.

“While attending a retreat I heard the priest saying, ‘Many priests build churches with much self-sacrifice. He narrated the examples of priests going barefoot. On that day, sitting before Jesus, I made a decision, If I am rebuilding this church I ought to make sacrifices. So, I took the decision that only when the church is completed, I will wear footwear.”

The resolution was not easy to keep. He had to travel a lot in the past 23 months.

“During a journey, when we were in Bangalore (Bengaluru), many people told me to take care of my health because the day was very hot and night cold there. It was a challenge for me to go through such circumstances. When they forced me to wear slippers I used to tell them I was doing it for a particular intention and I will keep it up until it is completed.”

He said many had asked him how he would change the gear of his bike. “It was indeed difficult. In the beginning my feet were wounded, then they got burned. I kept away the footwear in the heat of summer, actually. When I went for the retreat in Kozhikode, I found the road burning. My team members told me to take care. It was so unbearable I ran to the railway station because I could not walk on the hot tarred street in that heat. Many times thorns have pierced my foot.”

The priest says during those moments, he felt his pains were nothing compared to what Jesus suffered. “So I never regretted my decision. During the seminary formation we take resolutions to make penance. I am very fond of Francis of Assisi. My sacrifice is nothing compared to his.”

Father Aneesh says he is greatly indebted to God’s blessings and the prayers of many for his normal health now.

During his third year theology Father Aneesh was sick with tuberculosis and meningitis. He was in a coma for two weeks. He believes, “I came out normal and healthy because of the prayers of many people.

He is still taking medicine. As a result, he has put on a lot of weight.

He was hospitalized before the church blessing. “With a special request I was discharged for the church blessing,” he said.

The church now has a parish hall, room for the priest, and sacristy.

The priest had to do a lot of adjustments to renovate the church.

“Since most parishioners are daily wagers, we get to see them only after 5 in the evening. But they were ready to work for the church. So the work on the renovation continued throughout the night,” Father Aneesh said. He praised some parishioners who did the electrical work for the church at night after a day’s work.

The parish had collected only 300,000 rupees for the renovation and the total expense came to 4.8 million rupees. “I visited different churches in Kollam, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram to seek help to rebuild the church. The Neyyattinkara diocese also helped too.”

Father Aneesh said his family members and relatives too pitched in. “My two brothers cut the wood for the church. My parents gave10 percent of their earnings and would call me to collect it,” he added.

The priest says people of all faiths come to the church to pray. “The people around here have strong devotion to the Blessed Mother. Many share their testimonies of healing and favors received after praying in the church. They used to light candles in front of the church’s main door. So, I built a cross in front of the church where they could light candles and pray,” he explained.

Franco, the catechist, says the parishioners can never forget the priest, who felt he ought to make sacrifice to complete the divine plan for the church

Varghese, another parishioner, said they do not know how to express their gratitude to the priest. “His sacrifice has given us a beautiful church,” he told Matters India.

Vinaya said many parishioners had planned to give the priest footwear after the blessing.

‘I wanted to give him this gift on my own after seeing the sacrifice he made to complete the church,” said the teenager, who plans to become a doctor in future.