An Instrument of Peace
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal arrived to serve the St. Mary parish at the end of June and welcomes all to join their worship.
Editor's Note: The following biography of Fr. Bosco (his preferred form of address) is taken in part from his initial homily on June 29.
Father Bosco Padamattummal began his tenure at Manchester’s St. Mary Catholic Church in late June. Since his arrival, he has worked diligently to welcome those of the Catholic faith and others to worship at St. Mary.
Fr. Bosco showed his sense of humor early on in his introduction. He noted that when he begins at a new parish, he is often asked many of the same questions: Are there Christians in India? Do you celebrate Christmas? How do you pronounce your name?
Since India is the second highest populated country in the world, even the 2.9 percent of Christians who live there number into the millions. Growing up in a traditional Catholic family, Fr. Bosco attended Mass seven days a week and prayed the rosary with his family each night. He was an altar boy from fourth grade onward and joined the seminary after completing 10th grade. “It was a kind of natural progression of my vocation to the priesthood,” he said.
His former Bishop was a seminarian in Rome and following his ordination, continued his education at the University of Connecticut. While pursuing his master’s degree there, he came in contact with the former Bishop of Lansing, The Rev. Carl Mengeling, a relationship that is still ongoing.
“So, 10 years ago, when there was a shortage of priests in Lansing, Bishop Mengeling asked Bishop Francis to send some priests to work here,” Fr. Bosco explains. “I was the only one who was sent to the United States from diocese until last year. Now, there is another priest from my diocese who is in North Dakota.”
As a priest, Fr. Bosco believes he is entrusted with a sacred duty toward the Catholic faith community in Manchester. “I take this mission seriously,” he says. “I will do my best to teach the Gospel values through my word and deed.”
He also takes seriously the admonition to “make me an instrument of your peace,” and seeks to create peace among all the parish family members at St. Mary.
Fr. Bosco sees it as significant that he was called to begin his service to St. Mary Church on the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul. “In their lifetime, they did not work closely together,” he explains. “They even had public disagreements on whether Jewish Christians could eat together with the Gentile Christians.”
These public disagreements created divisions in the church early on, with some followers listening to Paul and others to Peter; still others were following other disciples.
“Paul reminds them strongly that human leaders are all equally servants of one Christ,” Fr. Bosco said. “Christ should be our focus and not the human leaders. The faithful are quick to label themselves as conservatives or liberals; the conservatives often identify with the institutional authority of Peter while liberals identify more with Paul’s charismatic vision. By combining the feasts of these two apostles, the Church is inviting all of her children to look beyond this divide—our focus should be on Christ.”
The opening hymn of the service that day reiterated the theme that Father Bosco Padamattummal expects to continue throughout his service here in Manchester—“All Are Welcome.” And a Monday Morning meditation published the following week by former pastor at St. Mary, Fr. Charles Irvin, underscores that theme:
“We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, rich, poor, y no habla Ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying newborns, skinny as a rail, or those who could afford to lose a few pounds. We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like grand knight who can't carry a note in a bucket. You're welcome here if you're ‘just browsing,’ just woke up, or just got out of jail. We don't care if you are more Catholic than the Pope, or haven't been in church since little Joey’s Baptism. We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or are still addicted. We welcome you if you're having problems, or you're down in the dumps, or you don't like ‘organized religion,’ we've been there too. If you blew all your offering money at the casino, you're welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can't spell, or came because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church. We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both.
“We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid, or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome the flexible, inflexible, tolerant, and intolerant, those who laughed and those who gasped at this welcome.
“We welcome tourists, seekers, doubters, bleeding hearts… and most especially, we welcome YOU!”
So, if you are seeking a welcome, and if you fit any or all of the descriptions above, Fr. Bosco and St. Mary Catholic Church will also welcome you.
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