Rev. Fr. K.M. ARULAPPAN, Diocese of AIZAWL, MIZORAM, rests in the Lord...
Rev. Fr. K.M. ARULAPPAN, a priest of the Diocese of AIZAWL, MIZORAM, hailing from Chemparuthivilai and the first priest of the Parish of Chemparuthivilai, RC Diocese of Kuzhithurai passed away on 09/03/2022. The funeral Mass will be held on 12/03/2022 at the Catherdral Church, Aizawl, Mizoram by 1 pm.
Note the Change: The funeral Mass will be held on today Friday 11/03/2022 at the Church of St. Lawrence, Aizawl, Mizoram by 1 pm.
Letter from a Missionary in India Father K. Maria Arulappan Dear Youth, I am Fr. K. Maria Arulappan, from Cape Commorine, India, working in this region of India as a missionary, since 1980. I hail from a family very much devoted to our Lady. So much so that all of us in our family bear the name of our Blessed Mother. I can proudly say that if I am a priest of Christ today it is mainly due to my Heavenly mother Mary. I am very much indebted to her. I am working in Mizoram, a hill state of India, which lies in between Burma and Bangladesh. Ninety percent of the Christian population is Protestant. The Catholics are converts from Protestantism, and are a minority group. Their faith is not deep yet. The Protestants are very loose and allow anything just to get members. They allow divorce and abortion, which are major problems that we face here. Moreover, they despise Mary and devotion to Mary. So on the day of my priestly ordination, I vowed to our Blessed Mother that I would bring honor to her name in Mizoram. Since then I work hard to speak about Mary and her role in our salvation to everyone. I took charge of this parish in 1985. I started a parish newsletter called, Ave Maria, mainly to write about Mary to the people around. Copies were freely distributed to the Protestants. Then in 1988, Marian Year, we built a Grotto of our Lady here in Serchhip. This is the first and only one in our Diocese to this day. Nothing could stop me from proclaiming the glories of my Mother. Our parish is dedicated to Our Lady of Assumption. Our parish church was destroyed by a severe cyclone in 1989. Since then we are without a church to worship. We have our Holy Mass offered in the school hall. Now with the help of our Lady, we are building a beautiful church. Missio is sponsoring the building. We hope to complete it this year. We are only praying to God to open the hearts of some generous people to come forward. We don't know any source, where to approach. If you know any source, please inform us. "Village houses have no sitting room or kitchen or bedroom. It is one hall - part of it is bedroom. The rest are one single room. Kitchen is in the corner and all sit around and chat - drink tea." "Village children. This is how they carry their children when the mother is away for work in the jungle." What I want to say is this: Our Lady is at work here at Serchhip. The people around us who were despising us for honoring Mary are quiet now. This I believe, because of the Rosary prayer we are having every day at the Grotto, since 1988. This year being the family year we have taken it seriously to spread the family rosary prayer. Most of our people do not even have a rosary. I like to hear people speaking about Mary and the Eucharist. We have an annual procession of the Eucharist and Mary among the Protestants. We have in our parish adoration to the Blessed Sacrament on every Friday and on all Saturdays, the rosary, confession and Mass. By the way this is a very poor mission. We are isolated, living in deep jungles here. Our life is very tough, we have hardly any leisure time. I am all alone in this parish. Please write to us sometimes. I also have 14 villages (sub-stations) to look after. I go to these villages on foot. I have to walk 8 to 10 hours to each village. It is a mountainous area with high hills and deep valleys. Villages are mostly situated on hill tops. No road communication to these villages. People are poor and depend on monsoon rains for cultivation. We don't have even drinking water here. We store rain water and use it sparingly. Most of the people have hand-to-mouth existence. We are handicapped with lack of funds and materials to evangelize. So whatever we can get will be useful and helpful for this mission. Please pray for us. Yours sincerely in Jesus and Mary, (Rev. Fr. K. Maria Arulappan, P.P.) "Fr. Arulappan, with his team, crossing a river during a mission tour in the jungles of Mizoram." "This snap is of our old kitchen which was blown off by cyclone. Whole roof was gone. This was taken during the repair works. The tanks that you see will give you an idea how we store roof water in rainy season and use it sparingly in winter and dry "A view of Mizoram hills. On the far end on the top of a hill you see a village. That is Tlangpin village. It takes two days on foot from Serchhip to reach that village. We have three more villages beyond that." © 2007, 2000 Catholic Heritage Curricula www.chcweb.com All Rights Reserved.
Letter from a Missionary in India
Father K. Maria Arulappan
September 8, 1997
Greetings from Fr. K Maria Arulappan, for the first time from the new
parish of Aizawl. As I have informed you earlier, I am transferred to this
parish of Christ the King, Kulikawn Aizawl on the 24th of August, 1997.
I am very grateful to you for all your help, an encouragement and
prayer support for me and for my old mission. With your help, I could do
something for Christ and His Church there. With your help, we have a
beautiful church there.
Now Bishop has brought me to this parish of Christ the King, Aizawl.
First I was in the Mother’s parish and now I am in the Divine Son
Christ’s parish. When I went to Serchhip the parish church and
presbytery was in a state of collapse. By God’s grace and through the
intercession of Mother Mary, we have a beautiful church, presbytery, a
hall and a hostel there. Now I am brought here to build the church in
honour of Christ the King and the priests residence here in Kulikawn,
Aizawl.
The first Catholic
church was constructed
here 50 (fifty) years ago
by the Canadian Holy
Cross Fathers, which
was extended 3 times. It
was a wooden structure.
As you know, Mizoram is
full of white ants and it is
a place exposed to
cyclonic storms. So the
first church here had
collapsed completely in
1993. Since then the "Our hostel children - same as orphans, Kulikawn parish"
then parish priest tried
his level best with the
help of the people to
build a church. The area
is very sloppy and we
have to build from the
road below and have it
up to get a level place
for the church.
Due to financial
difficulties the work is
not progressing.
Besides, now this church
is going to be the
Cathedral.
"This is Sabual village chapel. It is on the point of
collapse. They got some money from MISSIO and could
build only the pillars and beams."
So we want it to be big and beautiful. Both, Bishop and the people have
put great hope in me.
"Fr. Arulappan with a small group of faithful in Sialsuk
village 70 kms. away from the parish center. It takes 4
hours to reach there by jeep."
I, a penniless
missionary put my trust
and confidence in
Providence and on our
Heavenly Mother. As
she helped me to build
the church at Serchhip,
so too she will help me
to build this church in
honour of her Divine
Son, Jesus. So I count
on your continued
support and prayers,
very much.
This was the biggest parish in Mizoram. Now it is divided into 3
parishes. Earlier when I was the assistant pries here in 1980-1984, we
had 62 sub-stations. We were only 2 priests. At that time I had to visit
there villages on foot only. But now to most of the villages, we can go by
Jeep.
I remembered you all in my
prayers and Holy Mass. I
continue to do so and I request
your prayers too, because this
parish is not like Serchhip, it is
almost dead spiritually. No
prayers, no rosary. So I have to
work hard to fight against the
satanic powers. So I need
spiritual strength. As I build the
house of God with cement and
bricks, I will have to build the
living temple of God, the people
of God.
Once again thanking you for all
your support and assuring you of
my prayers I wind up. God Bless
you.
"Fr. Arulappan offers Mass in one of the village leader's
house. The name of the village is Kanghmun."
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