We felt inspired—just as we think the readers will—to read the words of BISHOP SEBASTIANAPPAN SINGAROYAN, the former bishop of Salem, Tamilnadu, known for his simplicity of life and closeness to the people. He resigned before time, and asked to become an assistant parish priest in a village.—The Editors
Dear Bishop Singaroyan, even before your dramatic decision to resign and become an assistant parish priest, you were known and admired for your simple lifestyle (walking or cycling to visit Anbiyams and families, keeping your personal life very simple, etc.). What led you to love a simple life?
I hail from a simple agricultural family. From childhood I have been engaged in the agricultural works along with my parents and my brothers. Two hours of work in the field in the morning before going to school and two hours of work after returning from the school in the evening was the daily schedule. Being brought up in an ordinary life situation, it has gone deep in my personality to be simple, down to earth, people-friendly and hard-working all the time. I have remained what I am made up of, even in different situations later during my priestly ministry in parishes, higher studies in Rome, pastoral ministry in foreign counties, being a professor of theology in a major seminary and later being the Bishop of Salem Diocese for nineteen years. It is an inborn simplicity, preserved consciously all along.
Does the life-style of leaders (bishops, major superiors etc.) matter much for our ministry? How?
In case of ministry of a leader in the Church (bishops. major superiors etc.) his / her life-style is most effective—and more eloquent than his/her knowledge, efficiency and talents in leading the church communities. What is seen is more attractive than what is said. We have seen that several people in leadership with exceptional talents and extraordinary intellectual capacities have performed very poorly because of their inappropriate life-style. Hence life-style is an important hallmark of Christian leadership.
You must have been inspired by some particular persons or by some deep personal experience. Who are they and what are they?
In my schooldays I had a mathematics teacher in my school, who inspired me to live for others. Later, as a priest and bishop, Pope John Paul II, whom I had the chance to meet personally several times, was my inspirer. His deep spiritual life, hard work, zeal for evangelization, clarity of thought and great human qualities set my heart on fire to be and do at least something of what he was and what he did. My three short meetings with him during the preparation of my doctoral thesis in Rome on the ongoing formation of priests, inspired me to dedicate my life for the wellbeing of priests.
What are the main expectations of the people from Church leaders?
People expect church leaders to be living examples of what they are called to preach and do. Every church leader should be able to say like St. Paul: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). They expect church leaders to demonstrate good human virtues, like honesty, humility, fair play, transparency, availability and commitment to the cause. The deficiency in these human qualities destroys the effectiveness of the great works the church leaders do with excellent wisdom using all modern techniques.
What are we doing well as the church personnel (bishops, major superiors, priests and religious)?
There is so much spiritual, personal and material good that the Church leaders have been doing all along. It cannot all be narrated here. I mention a few in our context. Exemplary faith, committed life and effective ministry of many church leaders are to be appreciated. Our leadership in the field of education, health care, socio-economic development of the downtrodden people, is to be given credit. Pioneering efforts in the people or community-based ministries like insertion communities in the midst of the poor and vulnerable people are relevant. Liturgical and pastoral celebrations strengthen the life of the people.
Where are we failing and need to change?
Our ministry and leadership is still to a great extent institution- and structure-based. When the structure functions to their expectation, the leaders seem to be satisfied, without seriously assessing whether the structure has served its purpose for which it was established by the founders. The Church (diocese or congregation) seems to be working for its own wellbeing, and not for the wellbeing of the people they serve. Most of the church leaders still seem to operate on the model: “I give, you receive.” Collaboration and co-responsibility of the laypeople in the decision-making bodies and mechanisms is still lacking very much in our church leadership.
What led you to submit your resignation before time and ask to be an assistant parish priest?
The only reason for my submitting my resignation from the office of the Bishop of Salem before the age of seventy-five is my deteriorating health condition. Hectic travel in the first ten years of priestly ministry, sedentary work routine for the last thirty years in the Seminary and as Bishop, have caused considerable damage to my backbone and spinal cord. It forces me to reduce the speed of my work and causes severe disturbances during public liturgical and other functions. I realized that I am not able physically to function fully as required for the good governance of my diocese. In this situation, in order to provide for the effective administration of my diocese by another qualified leader, I decided to propose to the Holy Father my resignation from the episcopal office. I take it as God’s will that my resignation is being accepted by the Holy Father. Being basically a pastor all along my life, I chose to continue my pastoral ministry in a small way as much as my health permits. I proposed to my Superior to permit me to reside at Kruppur, a sub-station of Suramangalam parish, a village with thirty-two Catholic families and a large non-Christian population, so that I may be able to do some pastoral and missionary work, as much as my health permits, under the guidance of the local parish priest.
Would you like to share a couple of experiences—of prayer or relationships or ministry—that touched you and help you to remain focussed in life?
Yes. The following experiences touched me deeply, and helped me.
The first experience is the beginning of my vocation to the priesthood. One evening back in 1969, after the completion of the school final year, I was discussing with my mother what to do next: go for higher studies in a college or join the seminary to become a priest. My mother told me: “If you go for college studies, you and your future family will benefit; if you become a priest, great number of unknown people will benefit. You decide who is going to benefit from your life.” This made me to opt to become a priest for the benefit of many people. This scene—ever fresh—of my conversation with my mother remains the criterion for making any choice in my life and in my ministry for the past forty-two years as priest and bishop: for whom my life is going to be beneficial.
A second experience:
In 2013, soon after my travel to Nagpur, I was badly infected with the H1N1 virus (known as swine flu). Six days of intense treatment did not yield the results expected by the doctors. They felt helpless. One night, at about 10.00, I went to the hospital chapel. I spent the whole night (till 5 a.m.) in intense prayer like Moses for his people or David for his child, abandoning my whole life in his hands: “Lord, what do you want to make of my life?” At dawn I just heard the gentle voice in my heart, “You have got to do a lot of work for me yet; go ahead!” The very next day’s tests showed excellent results and the doctor confirmed that I could go home the following day. It enhanced my belief in God, provident Father. This and many similar such instances in my life showed me that God acts when you abandon yourself in his hands.
Here is a third experience.
I always believed in collective decision-making from days of my priesthood. Even though it is not easy and often not most efficient, I have seen it bear very effective fruits. Once we had to plan for a big function in my diocese. Various committees were formed with persons responsible for each sector. Every detail was finalized in the meeting of all the responsible persons. In the course of preparations, however, serious differences of opinion crept in and it almost looked like that the function would not take place. I called for a meeting of the responsible persons and gave a five minutes’ orientation speech and then allowed the group to decide what to do. After initial exchange of arguments against one another, there evolved in the group a strong consensus, very different from our earlier decision, but beautiful. Each of the responsible persons vowed to work unitedly and make the function successful. Everything ended more effectively than initially expected. At the evaluation meeting after the function, all unanimously said that the function would not have been carried out if it was not for a collective decision.
Anything else you like to share with our readers?
A few stray thoughts for the readers:
Today everywhere the priesthood and religious life are painted with a dark shades due to several reasons. Because of this, the people in general have developed a suspicion with regard to these categories, instead of showing reverence towards them. This is affecting very much our vocation promotion for the priesthood and religious life. I would like to tell you: do not be shocked. A big number of priests and religious are still good and doing wonderful ministry. Don’t get discouraged and lose hope. Even this will pass. It is painful that the bad behaviour of a few is throwing dirty mud on all. We need to patiently endure.
Secondly, quality of life and ministry is needed today more than quantity of achievements. Let us be conscious of this in everything that we do. Life witness is the most powerful means of evangelization. Let our life speak what our words would like to convey.
Thirdly, let us come out of our comfort zones (institutions and structures) so that what we want to say is audible and attractive to the people of today.
Fourthly, it is high time to invent and discover alternative ministries to meet the people who are living in a fast-changing world.
Finally, to do all this, being deeply rooted in the Lord and living in a healthy relationship with our neighbours is essential, without which everything we do or say bears no fruit for the kingdom of God.
Bishop Sebastianappan Singaroyan is the retired bishop of Salem Diocese, Tamilnadu. He has a doctorate in theology from Pontifical Lateran University, Rome; M.A. (Tamil Language), M.A. (Public Administration), M. Sc. (Psychology) all from the University of Madras. As a priest, he was professor of theology and director of pastoral ministry at Good Shepherd Major Seminary, Coimbatore. As a bishop, he was the Chairman of the CCBI Commission for Proclamation from 2011 to 2015. He is a priest for 41 years and a bishop for 19 years.
