By Lissy Maruthanakuzhy
Pravithanam, May 11, 2025: Archbishop Emeritus Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati, a Salesian missionary for 75 years in northeastern India, has warned the Indian Church that it could face the fate of its European counterpart unless it fights internal conflicts and indifference to people’s voices.
“Thousands of missionaries came from European countries and built communities in various parts of India through educational and health institutions. But today we see a decrease in faith and the faithful in those countries,” the archbishop told a “Missionary Mahasangamam” (Grand Missionaries Meet), organized by the diocese of Palai in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
More than 3,000 brothers, nuns and priests from Palai serving as missionaries in various parts of the world attended the May 10 event the diocese organized at St Augustine’s Church in Pravithanam, as part of its platinum jubilee celebrations.
The prelate, who joined the Salesians five months after the Palai diocese was erected, warned that the fate of the European Churches could befall India.
“Our family life can become weak. Faith can decrease. This has happened in Europe. It is happening in a small way among our youth,” Archbishop Menamparampil said.
He said secularization may not reach northeastern India but it could gradually come to Kerala, which is abreast with global events,
The 89-year-old prelate said conflicts within, hostility to changes, indifference and rejection of people’s voices will affect the faithful and hinder the Church’s mission.
He said many people within and outside criticize the Church in public and private. “We have not given an ear to them. We need to listen to them,” he added.
The prelate, who began his missionary life working among the youth of northeastern India, stressed the need for addressing the concerns of the modern youth. “We have to understand their mentality – their objections and their life experience,” he explained.
The Palai native, who has won several awards for his peace mission in the conflict-ridden region, urged the missionaries gathered and their host diocese to become humble in success.
“We have to be humble when people praise us for our missionary contributions at different levels in society and the Church,” said the prelate who advocated the theory of “whispering to the soul of Asia” as a means of evangelization in the continent with multi religions and thousands of ethnic communities.
The Palai diocese is considered the cradle of missionary vocations in India as its more than 10,000 missionaries work across the globe. It has so far provided 39 bishops to various dioceses in India and overseas.
“How many missions and congregations have you helped,” he asked the gathering while commending the Palai diocese for producing so many missionary vocations.
“Today I have come to thank my family, parish and diocese,” he said.
According to Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt of Palai, the diocese has more than 320,000 faithful, 449 diocesan priests and 163 seminarians.
Taking pride in the “number” is okay to some extent. But the “quality of life” is very crucial. Do we bear true witness to Jesus? Are we exercising our prophetic ministry? Do we live like the “salt” of the earth and the “light” of the world? Gandhiji once said, “I like Christ but not Christians”. This statement is valid even today. It is time to introspect.
I think the bishop is wrong. The Church in Europe declined not because the family has declined, but because of the rise of welfare state. The minority churches like the Syrian- Malabar’s church is going strong as their members are unable to join the mainstream of the society. The people here have realised what they have to do is fight for their rights here and now, that is, for the welfare state rather than escape to the church and take up the rosary and pray. Unfortunately, the bishop is interpreting it as decline of families. The bishop is far away from the real world.