By Jose Kavi
New Delhi, May 18, 2024: It is not very pleasant to wake up to the sad news about a friend’s passing away. What is worse is to know that the person had died almost a year ago.
May 17 is the birthday of Philip Mathew, my friend and colleague for nearly a quarter century. When my phone calls and email messages to wish him went unheeded, I went to his Facebook page. It has the usual “Happy Birthday Philip” from several of his friends. As I scrolled down further, a note from Thomas Vinod, shook me.
“R.I.P dear Philip Mathew, Aniyan. He was a gentle and beautiful person, a talented singer and writer, a world traveler, and a wonderful friend to so many who came to know him. Aniyan’s life was marked by a deep concern for people and society, especially the less fortunate among us. He carried forward his caring for people in his ecumenical work. Our heartfelt condolences to Jaisy and Michael, Aniyan’s mother, Titus and Asha–and thankfulness for his precious and loving life.”
I could not believe the post. So, I messaged Vinod Thomas on his Facebook and he told me that Philip Mathew, his childhood friend, died toward the end of May 2023. I cannot describe my feelings – guilt and a great sense of loss. Guilt that I did not collect the contact numbers of his wife Jessy or son when Philip was alive. I did tell some of our common friends that I had not heard from Philip for some time. But I could have done more asking around. Philip used to be silent for a long time, so, I did not find anything amiss.
I first met Philip in 1990 in Bangalore when he was the managing editor of People’s Reporter, an ecumenical paper. He also edited Asia Pacific Ecumenical News. Earlier, he served as a staff of the Christian Conference of Asia.in Hong Kong that helped nurture his ecumenical and interreligious spirit. He was also deeply concerned about the plight of the poor and social injustices in India and elsewhere.
His ecumenical spirit and social concern led him to support the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN), Asia’s leading Church news agency that used to focus on all those issues that were dear to his heart, after our 1990 meeting. I was UCAN’s India bureau chief for 25 years until December 2012 and one of my tasks was to set up a network of grassroots reporters in India as part of the agency’s policy of letting Asians tell the Asian stories to the world. Philip with his long years of experience in journalism proved a big asset for UCAN, helping the agency organize several training programs in Bangalore.
Philip also joined a group of former UCAN reporters to launch Matters India news portal in March 2013. Besides sending regular reports, he occasionally edited Matters India stories. He also wrote for the US-based Global Sisters Report, Matters India collaborator.
All of us in Matters India will miss genial Philip, a wonderful and jovial friend. I have lost a close friend and a mentor.
It is hard to believe Philip is no more. May his soul rest in peace. Sorry for the delay.
RIP Philip Mathew.