http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/us/30priest.html India, an Exporter of Priests, May Keep Them Atleast 800 Indian priests are working in the United States alone. India, Vietnamand the Philippines are among the leading exporters of priests, according todata compiled by researchers at Catholic University of America in Washington.Butthese days the Indian prelates have reason to reconsider their generosity. WithIndia modernizing at breakneck speed, more young men are choosing financialgain over spiritual sacrifice.“Thereis a great danger just now because the spirit of materialism is on theincrease,” said Bishop Mar James Pazhayattil, the founding bishop of theDiocese of Irinjalakuda, as he sat barefoot at his desk, surrounded by mementosof a lifetime of church service. “Faith and the life of sacrifice are becomingless.”Some ofthe forces contributing to a lack of priests in Europe and the United Stateshave begun to take shape here.Parentsare having fewer children, with even observant Catholics freely admitting theyuse birth control. The Indian economy, which has boomed for years, offers morecareer options.Many priests once came from largeagricultural families. But now land is scarce, the soil tapped out. Familiesare moving to cities, far from the tight-knit parishes that for generationskept Indian Catholics connected to their faith. And educated young Catholicsare increasingly attracted to fields like engineering and technology.In past generations, having a sonbecome a priest increased the family’s stature, said the Rev. Jose Kuriedath, asociologist in Aluva who has written a book about vocations in India. Mr.Kuriedath recounted an adage in Malayalam, the local language: “It is equal indignity to have either an elephant or a priest in the family.”But this is changing.Answering a CallAt St. Paul’s Minor Seminary in theDiocese of Irinjalakuda, sleepy teenage boys clamber from their dormitory everymorning down to chapel, past a statue of Mary and portraits of Pope BenedictXVI and Gandhi.Among them is Chacko Kuttuparambil, astocky 17-year-old who wears high-top basketball shoes and slim, stylish glasses.His prosperous family was not particularly supportive of his joining thepriesthood, he said.His father, an apartment buildingmanager, wanted him to be a computer engineer. His brother, a businessexecutive, also tried to dissuade him. Chacko is the younger of two sons, andtraditionally it is the responsibility of the youngest son to care for theparents in their old age.But Chacko felt called to thepriesthood because, he said, as a child he was miraculously cured of a viralinfection that paralyzed the right side of his body for two years.“He gave me life,” Chacko said, “so Iam to give my life to Him.”On a hot day before the rainy seasonarrived, Chacko and his fellow students boarded a bus for a field trip intendedto expose them to ministry work. Along the way, the teenagers clapped andbelted out Christian hymns and pop tunes. They craned to look out at billboardsof motorcycles, mobile phones and models with bare midriffs advertising sarishops.The students arrived at a home formentally ill adults run by an order of nuns in pink saris. Some studentsinitially recoiled at the patients’ odd tics. But as they had been taught, theyseparated into small groups to talk with the patients, many of whom brightenedunder the boys’ attention. Most of the students were selected for the seminaryafter attending a “life guidance camp” that each year draws hundreds of localteenagers for a three-day session at St. Paul’s.Those who seem promising are invitedback for a vocation retreat, and the best of those are invited to join theseminary.In a first-year class, the studentsstudied a pamphlet called “Growing up Gracefully.” The school’s rector, theRev. Sebastian Panjikaran, demonstrated proper priestly etiquette. FatherPanjikaran acted out the wrong way for a priest to walk through town, chargingdown the aisle between the students’ desks, his eyes fixed on the ground.PhotoFOCUSED ON FAITH In Kerala, a state in the southwest part of thecountry where 20 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, families like theAlengadans pray together at home and Mass attendance is high.CreditJamesEstrin/The New York Times“A priest should not walk so fast,” hesaid, turning to face the students. “He should walk how?”“Slowly,” the students said.“He should walk slowly,” FatherPanjikaran repeated, strolling casually up the aisle and making eye contactwith the students. “And he should ... ?”“Help,” the students say in unison.If you walk slowly, Father Panjikaranexplained, the people will see you are friendly and accessible and will ask youfor help. He concluded, “You can have that sense of usefulness if you do goodfor others.”Changing LandscapeCatholics represent a tiny proportionof the population in India — about 2 percent. But they have played an outsizerole in weaving the country’s social safety net, establishing schools,hospitals, old-age homes and other organizations that serve many non-Catholics.The church here is ancient, with threeseparate rites, each with its own liturgies and bishops. Here in Kerala, astate in southwest India, Catholics of the Syro-Malabar rite trace their rootsto the Apostle Thomas, who according to lore arrived by boat in A.D. 52, made disciplesamong the ruling Brahmin class and planted seven churches.About 20 percent of Kerala’s populationis Catholic, and being faithful is more than a once-a-week event. Families praytogether at home in the evenings, kneeling at shrines in their sitting rooms.Mass attendance in many dioceses is over 80 percent. And the entire communityturns out for local festivals on saints days.After evening Mass one Sunday at SacredHeart Keezhmad, the parish just up the hill from Don Bosco College, the youngaltar boys and some friends were helping the priest close the sacristy. Ofeight young men, including the president of the local Catholic youthorganization, only one said he was interested in becoming a priest. Six saidthey aspired to be engineers, and one said he wanted to be a doctor.Like many seminaries run by religiousorders, Don Bosco College traditionally did not accept students who were theonly child in their families. But that policy has changed, said the Rev.Sebastian Kalambaden, the seminary’s administrator. The seminary also has twostudents who were brought up Hindu and converted to Catholicism. Untilrecently, most seminaries avoided taking converts.Duty to Serve AbroadSome graduates and former teachers ofDon Bosco College are now serving overseas. The students are aware that if theydo well they might be tapped. And many see it as their responsibility to go.“People came from foreign countries asmissionaries, and because of them we have Christianity, and in many ways we arebenefiting,” said Augustine Thekkepookombil, a seminarian. “ So I feel it is myduty to give spiritual help. That would be the best way of showing gratitude.”PhotoThe Rev. Jolly Vadakken, left, withseminarians in Irinjalakuda, had offers to work in Italy and Atlanta but wantedto stay in India.CreditJames Estrin/The New York TimesThe Diocese of Irinjalakuda has 10priests serving in the United States, as well as 3 in Germany, 2 in Canada andone in England. Four are studying in Rome.In the United States, four of theIndian priests are in Birmingham, Ala., where the former bishop arranged aboutseven years ago to pay the Diocese of Irinjalakuda $5,000 a year for eachborrowed priest, an official in the Indian diocese said. Many bishops have sucharrangements, giving them a motive other than generosity to loan out theirpriests.Bishop Pazhayattil said he chose whichpriests to send abroad very carefully. Some who volunteer, he said, couldeasily go astray so far from home.And some do not want to go. The Rev.Jolly Vadakken had studied in Rome and worked short-term in parishes inGermany, Minneapolis and Birmingham. Tall and prepossessing, fluent in fivelanguages, Father Vadakken had offers to work as a parish pastor in Italy andAtlanta. But he preferred to stay home.In Irinjalakuda, he runs a Catholicresource center across the street from the diocese’s towering pink cathedral.He buzzes around the diocese on a motorcycle, often in his cassock, hiscellphone ringing incessantly. He operates a suicide hot line (Kerala has oneof the highest suicide rates in India), counsels couples, teaches courses inparenting and runs a program that mediates local conflicts.He said he feels more vital here thanhe did in the United States or Europe, where he was needed only for thesacraments.“In the other world, we are officialpriests,” he said. “We are satisfied just doing the Mass and sacraments,everything on time, everything perfect.“In India, the people come close tous,” he continued. “The work satisfaction is different. Our ministry is so muchwanted here.”At the same time, the Catholic churchin Irinjalakuda is expanding. When Bishop Pazhayattil was appointed in 1978,the diocese had 78 parishes; it now has 129. He said it was unlikely he wouldbe so eager to send his priests to Europe or the United States in the future.The rectors of both large seminaries inAluva, with over 400 students each, each said in separate interviews that theCatholic church in the United States and Europe would eventually need to stoprelying on India to supply priests.“Itis not a solution,” said Msgr. Bosco Puthur, the rector of St. JosephPontifical Seminary in Mangalapuzha. “It is only a stopgap that does not solvethe problem
