In Retrospect

Growing up in Kerala, I had taken my Catholic identity for granted. This part of my identity was challenged when I faced questions about how I became a Christian when I started attending school here. I often find myself on the defensive while trying to explain that the British did not convert my forefathers to Christianity during their occupation of India. Google was still in its infancy and the search algorithms were not apt for the answers I was looking for. Some of my questions were getting answered by being part of this budding community. Initiatives like the 3-day retreat led by Fr. Tomy Kariyilakulam in 2004, the 1-day retreat for the youth led by Dr. Manoj Sunny and team from Philadelphia in the same year, played a big role in understanding my identity.

Classes conducted in 2004 were more of an opportunity for our elementary and middle school age children to come together to learn prayers and fundamental principles about our faith. A more formal CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) program was introduced in the following year with Mr. Jose Puthanpurackal as our CCD director. We started classes for all school aged children from kindergarten to the 10^th grade, albeit some grades were combined. As our community continued to grow, we needed more teachers and I was recruited to teach the 7^th grade in 2006. This is around the time I moved back home after my graduation and started to be more involved with the community. As a young college graduate who was searching for my own answers about various aspects of my faith, I was not sure whether I was qualified to teach a faith formation class at the time. We were encouraged to take online courses in catechetical topics offered at the University of Dayton organized through our diocese in Chicago. I ended up taking advantage of that opportunity by enrolling in a couple courses in the fall of 2006.

I stepped away from teaching as I was going back to school in the fall of 2008. Even though I was involved with other activities at the church I was not directly involved with the CCD program since 2008. I witnessed the program evolve year after year since we moved to Framingham under the leadership of then DREs (Directors of Religious Education) Mr. James Kutticherry, Mr. Bonus Varghese and Mr. Johnson Job. During this time our CCD program was extended to 11^th and 12^th grade students. I saw our students getting more and driving activities at our church, high school students teaching lower classes as student teachers, Bible month activities driven by the students and most importantly our children getting involved with charitable work in the community. It has been amazing to see the youth involved in various fundraising events, serving at food pantries and various other charitable activities over the years. A community that serves others in need is another pillar of a strong parish.

During this retrospective, I came to realize that a strong parish community is defined by a faithful group of people who fosters faith in their youth and serves in the greater society that they are part of. As we step into 2021 and look forward, I pray and hope that our parish continues to exemplify the marks of a strong community for decades and centuries to come.