The ordination of Bishop Earl Fernandes as spiritual shepherd of the Diocese of Columbus was of special interest to diocesan parishioners who have their ethnic roots in India, for he is the first Indian-American to become a Roman Catholic bishop in the United States.
“I’m extremely happy with the news, and I know members of the Indian Catholic community throughout the diocese feel the same way,” said Maria Arockiaraj Pushparaj, who periodically hosts visiting Indian priests from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis for Sunday Masses.
“It’s a marvelous thing to see, and from what I’ve learned of Bishop Fernandes, he is going to provide a powerful witness to the strength of the Church in this diocese, as well as being an example of the long tradition and the endurance of the Church in India, which goes back to St. Thomas the Apostle,” he said.
“Perhaps he will provide an example for one of my children or someone from our community to become a priest.”
“It’s a thrill to have Bishop Fernandes here,” said Dr. Rama Mallampalli, chairman of the department of internal medicine at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “From what I’ve learned of him, he impresses me as a visionary and a holy man.
“He appears to be someone who will be able to explain in a powerful way the substantive challenges facing the Catholic Church because of the priest shortage and the changes which this will necessitate.”
“The new bishop has given an impression of being a dynamic person, and I look forward to hearing more from him,” said Frank Xavier, a member of Westerville St. Paul Church for 16 years who is on its parish council. “India is such a diverse nation, with 28 states, each of which has its own language or language variation, and Bishop Fernandes himself is an example of that.”
The bishop’s father has his family roots in the city of Mangaluru, familiarly known as Mangalore, a port on the Arabian Sea in western India. His mother’s family is from Goa, which was a Portuguese colony until 1961, when it became an Indian state.
His father and mother, Dr. Sydney and Thelma Fernandes, both were born and brought up in Mumbai (Bombay), which like Mangaluru and Goa is in western India. They came to the United States in 1970, two years before Bishop Fernandes was born in Toledo.
The bishop’s appointment gave all of those places a moment of civic pride and a chance to claim him as “one of their own.”
“My family in India was overjoyed,” the bishop said. “The Indian news media picked it up. The story was immediately translated into (the regional languages of) Malayalam and Konkani, and the Goans and the Mangalorians were fighting over me, and so I was surprised.”
A website known as The Mangalorian provided particularly extensive coverage of the appointment, with about 6,000 words of copy that included a 3,500-word interview. “I even gave an interview to Nirmala Carvalho (an India-based Catholic writer), which is translated into Italian. So all those things were surprising – the reaction over there,” the bishop said.
One religious order that is based in India has members in the Diocese of Columbus. Two Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, including Sister Zephrina Mary GracyKutty, FIHM, diocesan missions director, are based in Columbus. Two others have a convent at Chillicothe St. Peter Church and serve the two Chillicothe parishes and Waverly St. Mary, Queen of the Missions Church.
“The sisters are very delighted, and the community is thanking God,” Sister Zephrina said. “We are proud that the bishop’s family comes from India. His parents had faith, and they kept that faith. They lived a very faith-based life, and that’s why this son became a bishop. God’s blessings are there, and it’s in God’s plan.
“It seems to be part of a cycle,” she said. “Europeans and Americans came to India bringing the Catholic faith, and now Indians and Africans are becoming missionaries to the United States.”
The Bridgettine Sisters (the Order of the Most Holy Savior), who have a convent adjacent to Columbus Holy Family Church, have members from India in Columbus but are based in Italy.
One indication of India’s diversity is that it has 22 official languages. One of them is Tamil, spoken mainly in the state of Tamil Nadu on India’s southeastern coast. Pushparaj said seven Tamil-speaking Indian priests are stationed in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, and one of them comes occasionally to his house to celebrate Mass.
He said the Masses are not on a set day but take place whenever one of the priests can fit it into his schedule. The most recent was on Mother’s Day, and the next one is scheduled for August. “There’s always Indian food available following the Mass,” Pushparaj said. “It’s a treat for the priests, for the food isn’t something they get too often in central and southern Indiana.
“It’s a delight for me, because my home has been a welcoming place for all Indian priests since I came here 10 years ago to work in information technology for Nationwide,” he said. “The people who come here for the Tamil Masses are from all over the Columbus area and have developed a real sense of family.”
Pushparaj said the priest who celebrates the Masses most often at his home is Father Jegan Peter, administrator of parishes in Bedford and Mitchell in southern Indiana. He arrives late on a Sunday afternoon, celebrates Mass and returns to Indiana the next day.
Another occasional celebrant is Father Sengole Gananraj, VF, administrator of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Richmond, Indiana, just across the Ohio-Indiana border and about a 1 ½-hour drive from the Columbus area.
There are 20 million Catholics in India, making that nation one of the largest in the world in terms of the number of Catholics. Yet the number represents only 1.5 percent of India’s approximately 1.4 billion people, most of whom are Hindus (79.8 percent) or Muslims (14.2 percent).
St. Thomas established the Catholic Church in India in A.D. 52 in the state of Kerala, located south of Mangaluru and Goa on the southwestern coast. Kerala has been the most Catholic state in India since then and today has about 3.3 million Catholics, or 18 percent of the total population.
St. Francis Xavier in the mid-16th and St. John de Britto in the late 17th centuries are noted for their missionary work in India, and both are buried there.
“Most Catholics in India are poor but very faithful,” Sister Zephrina said. “Daily Masses are crowded, and on special feast days Masses are often held outside because the churches can’t contain the crowds.”