40th day: Memories of H.G. Augen Mar Dionysius

40th Day: Memories of H.G. Augen Mar Dionysius

Today is the 40th day since we came in terms with the heart breaking
and unbelievable tragedy. As we remember thirumeni's contributions to
this church, we must continue to pray for thirumeni's soul and work
towards making his dreams a reality.

His life was a life of prayer and service to the poor. Here are some
of the precious moments as we remember him on his 40th day.

http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/photoGallery.php?ShowId=163801

[Note: Please click the play button on the player to start the slide show.]

Thanks,
Rajesh Vargheese
http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/

An Interview with H.G. Augen Mar Dionysius: English text

An Interview with H.G. Augen Mar Dionysius: English text

Recently many individuals and churches have requested us for the
download option for the interview with H.G. Augen Mar Dionysius. We
have worked with the people who have approached us with this request.
If anyone else wanted it and could not contact us, we would like to
let everyone know that the download option is enabled and if any one
wishes to download, feel free to do so.

The purpose of the interview was to create awareness about Idukki
among the people. This interview also gives a clear idea of
thirumeni's values, focus and vision. Hence, feel free to link this
interview to your websites, download, edit or use the interview in any
form as long as it is inline with the purpose. There are no copyrights
or credits required.

Even though thirumeni was one of the youngest bishops, his values and
visions are valuable guides for us in the future. To spread the vision
of thirumeni to a larger audience, we have translated the interview to
English text. We hope this will enable our younger generation to learn
more about the visions of thirumeni. The English text of the interview
is available at

http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/interviewWithHGAugenMarDionysius.php

You can also reach this through the common page that contains the
information about thirumeni. We will continue to add more information
on this page in the days to come. If you would like to link this page,
please feel free to do so. Also if you have information or resources
on thirumeni, please send us your link. We will be glad to link your
page to this page. The page is located at

http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/HGAugenMarDionysius.php

May his values and visions become a reality in the near future.

Thanks,
Rajesh Vargheese
http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/

TID-7: What could we have done better: The discontinuous Leadership?

TID-7: What could we have done better: The discontinuous Leadership?

In the last article, we saw the great things that IOC did to reach out
to the people of Idukki. This series would be a one sided story if we
do not look at where we could have done better. More over, our
strength is not in suppressing our mistakes, but to confront them and
make changes to better handle such situations in the future. In
addition to these reasons, we must try to understand why such
situations happen and why it is important for us to support bishops
who take up challenging tasks in such situations.

As we learnt, the time period of 1992-2005 can be considered the
blackout era of Idukki. In this period there was never a full time
metropolitan for Idukki. Either someone had an additional charge or
there was no bishop to lead Idukki diocese.

Why did this happen? May be we didn't have enough bishops.

Well, let's look at some statistics to see if this was the reason.

In 1992, IOC had 20 dioceses. In 2002, the historic unification
happened. At this time, four of the best 'cream layer' peace loving
metropolitans joined us. This resulted in the increase of the number
of bishops by 4. In addition to the dioceses that were formed as a
result of unification, we also formed new dioceses such as the
Mavelikara diocese. By 2002, number of dioceses went up to 25
dioceses. We also appointed bishops for all the 2002 newly formed
dioceses.

It is interesting to note that even in 2002, even though we were able
to find full time bishops for even newly created dioceses such as
Mavelikara, we were not able to find a full time bishop for Idukki
diocese, a place that has been thirsting for a bishop for more than a
decade. Idukki for some reason remained the neglected child.

To understand why this happened, here are some of the questions that
we should ask ourselves with respect to the inability to find bishops
for Idukki.

1. If there is a shortage of bishops, what should be our approach in
assigning bishops?
2. If we had a shortage of bishops, was it a good idea to form new dioceses?
3. If we have a shortage of bishops, is it fair for one diocese to
suffer for 13 years?
4. Even if we had a shortage of bishops, why didn't any bishops
volunteer to be the bishop of Idukki?

We will look at each of these of these questions in detail in the next
couple of articles.

Let us start with the first question by asking another question.

Assume that you are in charge of 25 children and that one among the 25
was handicapped. If you had 24 caretakers, which child you would
assign the first and the best caretaker. Undoubtedly, you would assign
the first and best caretaker to care for the handicapped child.

Based on this answer, Idukki being the most backward diocese must have
got the first and best bishop, but it did not happen at times,
especially from 1992-2005.

Idukki diocese is small diocese with just 34 churches, many of them
not even able to pay salaries to their priests. It is highly likely
that the reason why Idukki did not get a full time bishop was because
it was a small diocese. While making a decision of assigning a bishop
(full time Vs part time), we could at least have four view points.
They are

1. Being a small diocese, the needs might be less and hence let us
appoint a part time bishop.
2. Being a small diocese, we want to grow it into a large diocese,
which needs lots of effort and hence let us appoint a full time bishop
3. Even though a diocese is small, based on other considerations such
as geographical spread and developmental challenges, to be effective,
let us appoint a full time bishop.
4. Due to the distance and transportation challenges to the closest
dioceses, it might be ineffective for a bishop to execute his duties
in two dioceses. Hence let us appoint a full time bishop for the
remote diocese.

The situations in viewpoints 2-4 are very true for Idukki diocese and
hence a full time bishop is an absolute must, even if there was a
shortage of bishops. The ideal approach in a scenario where we have
shortage of bishops would be to share bishops between dioceses that do
not have these challenges.

Unfortunately there have been times when the IOC leadership made
decisions ignoring view points 2-4. The cost of these decisions
probably triggered the decay of Idukki diocese.

Next Article: TID-8: What could we have done better: Aggravating the
Bishop Shortage?

Thanks,
Rajesh Vargheese
http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/

TID-6: Idukki Diocese and IOC: What did we do right?

TID-6: Idukki Diocese and IOC: What did we do right?

As we learned earlier, Idukki diocese had its share of 'good days' and
'not so good days'. IOC has spent lot of effort towards the faithful
of Idukki diocese. IOC gets a lot of credit for the good days of
Idukki diocese. We will look at some of the things that IOC did for
the betterment of the people for Idukki diocese.

The visionaries of IOC were the first ones to think about the faithful
of Idukki. This led IOC to walk into Idukki and be the first
denomination to setup a diocese in Idukki to care for the faithful of
Idukki. To venture into a terrain to serve the poor people of Idukki
without being pulled back by the challenges was one the greatest acts
of Christian love.

IOC appointed a very capable leader (H.G. Barnabas thirumeni) to
establish its diocese in Idukki. The disciple and service mentality of
its leadership helped make the right choices for Idukki diocese. As we
saw earlier, this action triggered great development of the Idukki
diocese in the early days.

With IOC's organizational structure and resource sharing model, IOC
provided all the help needed for Idukki diocese in its early days. IOC
provided support from neighboring diocese in the form of clergy and
other resources.

IOC has always provided assistance to Idukki diocese to sustain the
salaries of priests belonging to churches that could not afford their
salary share.

The mission society has provided small grants to Idukki diocese from
its Mission Sunday collections even though there were no organizations
operated by the mission society.

IOC has provided help to build churches and sustain maintenance of the
churches from the Catholicate day collection and from the Devalokam
account.

IOC has responded to emergencies that have occurred in Idukki. When a
church had collapsed due to rain, IOC did provide a major helping hand
in the reconstruction of the church.

IOC also has been proactive in ensuring the long term growth needs of
Idukki diocese. To balance the inequalities of the standards of
education, IOC has quotas for each diocese in its admission process to
the Seminary. These have ensured that Idukki has priests from among
its own people.

During the term of the previous H.H Bava thirumeni, a thirusheshipu of
Parumala thirumeni was setup in Puttady. This attracts thousands of
faithful to this place and thereby helped retain the faithful.

IOC selected peermedu as one of its locations to setup an IOC run
Engineering College. This definitely has a positive impact on the
local economy and provides more job and educational opportunities.

Lately, IOC appointed another very capable metropolitan (H.G. Augen
Mar Dionysius) to take over the administration of Idukki. This was
prompted a revival of Idukki from its 'not so good days'. IOC
continues to shoulder its responsibility to Idukki through the
metropolitan.

Apart from the things that IOC directly did, the IOC churches across
the world have been a major source of help for the diocese.

The list goes on. IOC does get lot of credits for the good things that
it has done in Idukki.

To be continued…

Next Article: TID-7: ID: What could we have done better: The
Discontinuous Leadership?

Thanks,
Rajesh Vargheese
http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/

TID-5: Idukki Diocese of IOC: The rollercoaster over the last 25 years

TID-5: Idukki Diocese of IOC: The rollercoaster over the last 25 years

I am sure the tone of the last article (the golden era) does not match
with the initial tone for the series (the financially backward). One
can ask if the start was considered 'golden' why we have ended in this
state. Where did we go off track?

To understand the current state of Idukki diocese, we have to look at
the last 25 years of its existence as Idukki diocese. Based on ups and
downs, the 25 years can be divided into three time periods.

1. The Golden Era: (1982-1992): This is the time period under the
leadership of H.G. Barnabas thirumeni. This time period extends from
the formation of Idukki diocese to the time when H.G. Barnabas
thirumeni left the Idukki diocese to take his new assignment. As seen
in the previous article, this period saw that foundation of Idukki
diocese being laid. The emphasis was on creating congregations,
building churches in the most rural and financially challenged areas
thereby creating the opportunity for people to receive the body and
blood of Christ.

2. The Blackout era: (1992-2005): This is the time period in which
there was no permanent full time metropolitan to lead Idukki diocese.
A time that the people of Idukki was abandoned like the lost sheep
without a Shepard. In the absence of a good administration, Idukki
diocese started to decay in all respects. The weaknesses in
administration led to the weakness in spiritual growth. When IOC's
concern for the people of Idukki dipped lower than the lowest
standards, we started loosing people to other denominations. Our
churches started to shrink. We lost the momentum that H.G. Barnabas
thirumeni had painstakingly accomplished. We will discuss specific
details in later articles.

3. The Revitalizing era: (2005-till date): The time period under the
leadership of H.G. Augen Mar Dionysius, the current metropolitan of
Idukki diocese. After many years of wandering as the lost sheep,
heavenly father answered the prayers of the people of Idukki. A
vibrant Shepard at last took over the ruins of Idukki diocese and
started his journey in search of the lost sheep. The Shepard had a
very clear focus: regain the lost glory of Idukki diocese and reach
out to the lost sheep by providing them all assistance for their
spiritual growth. The Shepard worked and continues to work feverishly
towards this goal. His efforts started to revitalize Idukki diocese
once again. The decay of Idukki came to an end, new life started to
emerge. At last the people of Idukki diocese saw a ray of hope.

One of the greatest blessings that heavenly father has showered on IOC
is in the form of its recovery from the deep downs to greater heights
during the most difficult times. In the next few articles, we will
look at why we had a roller coaster ride over the last 25 years and
the role of IOC in the 'good' and 'not so good days' of Idukki
diocese.

To be continued…

Next Article: TID-6: Idukki Diocese and IOC: What did we do right?

Thanks,
Rajesh Vargheese
http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/

TID-4: Idukki Diocese of IOC: The Genesis

TID-4: Idukki Diocese of IOC: The Genesis

The Idukki diocese of the IOC was formed in 1982, within 10 years
after the birth of Idukki district. The IOC had an early start in
Idukki being the first denomination to setup a diocese in Idukki to
care for the faithful of Idukki.

The challenges of the terrains, weather, the lack of infrastructure
and the labor pains of being the first denomination to reach out did
not deter the first metropolitan of Idukki, H.G Mathews Mar Barnabas
thirumeni from walking miles and miles to lay the foundation of Idukki
diocese. The simplicity and capabilities of thirumeni was a perfect
fit for Idukki and its people. Though many others looking from outside
were upset to see thirumeni traveling in the local buses, thirumeni
had one aim in mind: the betterment and the spiritual growth of the
people of Idukki.

The time that H.G Barnabas thirumeni was the metropolitan of Idukki
diocese was probably the golden era of Idukki. Thirumeni built
churches in remote places for people who could have never done it
otherwise due to their financial challenges. Thirumeni gave the
spiritual and organizational structure for the Idukki diocese. Apart
from the churches, and a small aramana (along with the chapel) that
were established in Idukki, thirumeni started a mission hospital for
treating the poor patients. This is still the only charitable
initiative of IOC to this date in Idukki.

The greatness of H.G Barnabas thirumeni is in the fact that even after
he left the Idukki diocese, he continues to shoulder the Idukki
diocese by funding them to make more things happen. Many of the
churches in Idukki have only one or two Sunday services a month.
Thirumeni's dream is to increase the number of services in these
churches every month. For churches that have only one service a month,
thirumeni helps to make it twice a month and so on.

The people of Idukki have great respect for H.G Barnabas thirumeni to
this day for his selfless efforts in Idukki. [The good words that I am
writing about H.G Barnabas thirumeni should not be mistaken as
'sugaring' of our diocesan bishop (American diocese).] These
impressions and words are not based on stage speakers, but are based
on the feelings of the local people. I want to highlight one specific
observation that I made during casual talks with people of Idukki.
Even though the people of Idukki are very happy with their current
bishop (H.G. Augen Mar Dionysius), and have great words for his
initiatives, they rarely talk about Idukki's achievements without
mentioning the name of H.G Barnabas thirumeni. They never seem to
forget the great work thirumeni started 25 years ago.

The genesis of Idukki will not be complete without mentioning the
people who worked tirelessly along with thirumeni, the clergy from
kottayam who traveled all the way to Idukki to take care of the
spiritual needs of the people of Idukki and everyone who helped
nurture the Idukki diocese in its early days.

All in all, a great start for the Idukki diocese of IOC.

To be continued…

Next Article: TID-5: Idukki Diocese: The rollercoaster over the last 25 years

Thanks,
Rajesh Vargheese
http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/

The Idukki Diary (TID): Continuing the Series after the Sunset

The Idukki Diary (TID): Continuing the Series after the Sunset

The primary goal of 'The Idukki Diary' (TID) series was to create
awareness about the challenges of Idukki diocese. Until article 3 of
the series, we had a vibrant Shepard who was aggressively working for
the betterment of Idukki Diocese. All we had to do was to support him
and strengthen his arms to reach farther goals. We had the hope that
as long as we do our part, Idukki diocese surely would become the
'Success story of IOC'.

In the past, Idukki diocese has been at the crossroads of success and
failures multiple times. And at these crossroads, we had taken the
road of success at times and the roads of failures at other times. To
give us the bigger picture, I had articles (article 5 and later) in
the series that looks at both sides of the coin on how Idukki diocese
was treated by us at times in the past.

I am sure at least some might not like the critic viewpoint; but I
want to assure you that there are reasons why the articles would be
vocal on our small failures in addition to our success moments. The
reasons were

1. To get a clear perspective of the state of Idukki diocese that H.G.
Augen Mar Dionysius thirumeni inherited and why such a situation had
happened.

2. To acknowledge the sacrifices that thirumeni made while accepting
the role of the Metropolitan of Idukki diocese and how our efforts
were needed to sustain his role.

3. To funnel more effort and focus from all angles to make up for the
neglect of Idukki diocese over the years.

4. To understand the development that has occurred in Idukki during
the last few years and how we can keep it going.

On June 06, 2007, Idukki diocese had its greatest shock of its
lifetime. The modern day Architect of Idukki diocese, H.G. Augen Mar
Dionysius passed away leaving behind a lot of unfulfilled dreams for
Idukki diocese. The sun had set on Idukki.

Never ever did I think that we would be at the crossroads of success
and failures once again so quickly. Never even in my dreams, did I
ever think of a situation where thirumeni was not there to keep the
wheels of Idukki rolling.

And at this moment, I believe we probably want to add one more aim to
our list: to avoid repeating our journey on the roads of failure by
not making the right decision at the crossroads.

We have a responsibility to keep the wheels of Idukki rolling and
realizing the dreams of thirumeni. We and especially our leadership
must be sensitive to the needs of Idukki and must execute on the
vision that thirumeni had for the Idukki diocese.

As we are currently breathing through the moments of decision making,
I would like to bring the challenges of Idukki diocese quickly through
the 'The Idukki Diary' series. The series would appear more frequently
that its current frequency of a week. I request everyone to join the
discussion and to be the voice of Idukki. For those who tuned in late,
the archives of TID part 1-3 are available in the ICON archives or at
http://idukkidiocese.blogspot.com/

The series would continue with the assumption that thirumeni is
running the show in Idukki because as soon as we take him out of the
picture, many things might not hold true. Also the words on thirumeni
were based on the true impressions I had written when he was alive and
is not based on the emotions after he passed away.

It's our humble request to everyone to be the voice of Idukki in your
own positions. Please provide feedback to your leaders so that we can
quickly find bishops to take over the wonderful work of thirumeni and
steer it to completion.

Thirumeni was a perfect fit for Idukki diocese. It might be difficult,
but not impossible to find a replacement for the leadership of Idukki
diocese. If we look at the characteristics of the ideal fit for the
leader of Idukki diocese, it is really interesting. It is not the
'education' that people look for, but it is the 'empathy' that the
people look for. It is not the 'Doctorate' that matters, but it is the
'Down to earth Service' that matters. It is not the 'Theology' that
you work with, but it is the 'Tears of the poor' that you work with.

It's extremely important for the IOC leadership to act quickly in
appointing the right leadership for Idukki diocese. If we don't do the
right things, we will inherit one more Ankamaly diocese. If we do the
right things, we will continue to have the Idukki diocese of
2005-2007. The choice is obvious, but where we end up will be decided
by the actions of our leadership.

May the prayers of Dionysius thirumeni and his sacrifices guide us in
these crucial moments. May heavenly father give our leaders the needed
strength to overcome all challenges.

Thanks,
Rajesh Vargheese
http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/

TID-3: Our Perception of Idukki: The Paradoxes and the Realities

TID-3: Our Perception of Idukki: The Paradoxes and the Realities

In the previous article, we glanced through a lot of positive things
about Idukki. Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there. There are
many paradoxes that could change our perception of Idukki.

Even though Idukki is the largest district of Kerala, 97% of its area
is covered by rugged mountains and forests. 50% of Idukki is reserved
forests. Only 4.5% of the land is considered mid land (20-100m above
sea level). The terrain and weather has its own challenges for its
inhabitants.

Even though Idukki produces 66% of the power needs of Kerala, only
35.8% of the houses in Idukki have electricity.

Even though Idukki is a favorite tourist spot, it is only accessible
through roads. It does not have rail or air link. There are places in
Idukki that are not even accessible through roads. Idukki lacks the
infrastructure needed for the development of industries. These include
electricity, communications and transportation nightmares.

Majority of the people of Idukki migrated to Idukki in search of jobs
in the plantations and other construction sectors. (ex. dams) The
major cause of the backwardness results from the slowdown of the
economy due to the drop in prices of produces and commodities. This in
turn made plantations less profitable. The drop in prices of produces
resulted in the closing down of small and medium size tea factories.
The closing down of factories resulted in the lack of employment
opportunities in the plantations and its factories leaving many people
unemployed. Currently, if you travel through the terrains of Idukki,
you can see rusted and broken buildings of tea factories all along.
The big ones still survive. The owners of the small factories
abandoned their factories and have divided the tea plantations into
extremely small plots and handed over it to the workers for harvesting
the crop. They pluck these tea leaves and sell it to the other
factories. This is probably the lifeline that's keeping their kids get
their meals every day.

The limited educational opportunities, distance to these institutions
and lack of transportation add up to the long term under development
of the Idukki.

While Idukki is the perfect spot for vacations, life is a challenge
for the local people of Idukki. As factories closed and education and
employment facilities decreased, many people migrated out of Idukki.
Majority of the people who are left there are the people who are
either very well off (a very small percentage) or the people who do
not have any other place to go. And it's the state of their churches
and living realities that we read in the Orthodox Herald article
'Karuna thedunna devalayangal'.

All in all, if our perceptions are based on our few days of
vacationing in Idukki, there is a high chance that our perception
could be far different from the harsh realities. And by now we
probably have an answer to the question I had in the previous article
(How can Idukki be financially backward?).

Yes, based on all the challenges that we saw, Idukki can be a
financially backward place and the reality is that Idukki is a
financially backward place.

To be continued…

Next Article: TID-4: Idukki Diocese of IOC: The Genesis

Thanks,
Rajesh Vargheese
http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/

TID-2: History, Geography, Economics and our Perception of Idukki

TID-2: History, Geography, Economics and our Perception of Idukki

The first time when I heard Idukki was 'financially backward'; I
wondered how could a land so rich in natural beauty, tourism, hydro
electric power and plantations be poor.

Our perceptions of a place depend mostly on what we commonly hear and
see. The good news is that Idukki has so many positive traits (natural
beauty, vacation spots and so on) and our perception is that it is
wonderful place. The not so good news is that the positive traits mask
many of the challenges and the hardships of the people. (poverty, lack
of education and so on). We will first look at the perceptions that
give a positive impression about Idukki. Later we will look at the
paradoxes in the next article.

Even though Idukki district was only formed in 1972, the modern
history of Idukki tracks back to the late 18th century with the advent
of the European planters. Historically, people migrated from other
places of Kerala and Tamil Nadu in search of jobs in the plantation.

Geographically, Idukki is the largest district of Kerala and accounts
for 12.9% area of Kerala. Idukki shares its boundaries with developed
districts such as Kottayam and Ernakulam. Idukki is not a densely
populated district. It accounts for only 3.7 % population of Kerala.

Idukki is a district blessed with natural beauty of the high ranges,
valleys and plantations. Thekkady, Munnar, Vagamon are few among the
best tourist destinations in Kerala that is located in the Idukki
district.

Idukki is a well suited place for the agriculture of tea, cardamom,
pepper, coconut and rubber. Agriculture is the main occupation of the
people of Idukki. Famous for its tea plantations and spices, there are
many tea factories.

Idukki is known as the power house of Kerala. 66% of the power needs
of Kerala come from the eight hydroelectric power plants in Idukki.
The Idukki dam is the largest arch dam in Asia.

With all these positive traits, one would ask a question: How can
Idukki be financially poor?

To be continued…

Next Article: TID-3: Our Perception of Idukki: The Paradoxes and the Realities

Thanks,
Rajesh Vargheese
http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/

The Idukki Diary: Understanding the Challenges of Idukki Diocese

Idukki diocese is one among the 25 dioceses of the Indian Orthodox
Church (IOC). Formed in 1982, the IOC's Idukki dream saw a great
momentum in its early days during the time of H.G. Barnabas thirumeni.
Today, even though the diocese is celebrating its 25th year of
existence, it always had the ill fame of being the 'most financially
backward diocese'. It's hard to imagine that IOC which is known for
its mission and reaching out culture would have such a diocese and 25
years of its attempts to elevate it has seen a slower than expected
success rate.

One of the main reasons of its backwardness is the lack of awareness
among the people about the challenges faced by the people of Idukki
and its diocese.

In the recent times, there have been serious efforts to bring
awareness among the people about the challenges of Idukki. This series is indebted to the Orthodox herald (OH) and the ICON forum for
kindling our curiosity to understand the challenges of Idukki. The
Orthodox herald article 'Karuna thedunna devalayangal' was probably
the starting point of the modern media awareness of the harsh
realities of Idukki diocese. In addition to the OH initiatives, ICON
has made true strides in bringing the issues of Idukki Diocese to
light. Thanks to all the writers and readers of ICON for reaching out
to the needs of Idukki.

This series is an attempt to build on these awareness initiatives to
bring the challenges of Idukki diocese closer to us. Most of the data
is based on the information from the local people, clergy and the
metropolitan of Idukki diocese. I realize that the sample of people
interviewed for the data is extremely small, and hence if I overlook
view points or present incorrect information/comments or inferences,
please feel free to correct me (with references) as I am open to
learning the facts.

All articles will be tagged with prefix TID (The Idukki Diary). In
addition to the ICON archives, the series will be available at
http://idukkidiocese.blogspot.com/

In addition to the awareness, the prayers of many, the presence of a
strong administration under the leadership of H.G Augen Mar Dionysius (the current metropolitan of Idukki diocese) and the helping hand of many churches across the globe, there has been a revitalized effort by IOC to address the challenges of Idukki diocese. While this is a great start after a break, the momentum must continue. Our ultimate goal must be to erase the ill fame tag of 'the most financially backward diocese' and replace it with 'Idukki diocese: the IOC success story'.

To be continued…

Next Article: TID-2: History, Geography, Economics and our Perception of Idukki

Thanks,
Rajesh Vargheese
http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/