A Missionary in Meghalaya reflects on his challenges and consolations

By Anbarasan, SJ

I have been working as a missionary in Meghalaya for the past nine and half years. What inspired me to volunteer to work in this region, far away from my own State?

Not merely the village I hail from, but also many of the people in my native village in Tamil Nadu, India are named after St. Francis Xavier. That is true for both men and women. I learnt that this great saint, who is the Patron of the Missions, brought the good news of Jesus to India, Japan and Malaysia. After he arrived in India, he never returned to Spain, his home country. Almost all the people in my village are Catholics. Most of our Parish Priests were Jesuits. All these lit the flame of desire in me to work as a missionary.

I had been expressing my desire to be a missionary to my Provincials, but I never specified where I would like to work. I just said I want to go where there is a real need, where there are not enough priests and resources. I did not desire to go to any rich country or even a developed area in India.

Our MDU Provincial agreed to send me to the Kohima Region and the then Regional Superior of Kohima Region agreed receive me. I came here on 29 June 2014. My first assignment was to be the Socius to the Director of Novices and Administrator at Arrupe Jesuit Novitiate at Shillong. I was there for 13 months and a half, during which I had an opportunity to learn the basics of the native tongue of the Khasi tribals for about 3 weeks through a crash course offered by the Salesians of Don Bosco. The British and Welsh missionaries taught the local people to use the Roman script for Khasi. I learnt at least five new words every day and soon my Khasi vocabulary grew to about 1,000 words. I started using them in my conversations.

Here people don’t make fun of you when you make mistakes while trying to speak their language. They come to you when you are alone and gently point out the mistakes. During that year when I was the Socius, I accompanied the novices in their weekend ministry, taught them Catechism, introduced to them the lives of Jesuit saints, and encouraged them to develop a reading habit.

On some occasions my pastoral ministry demands walking for six or seven hours. If we use shortcuts and climb up and down the hills, it takes three hours.

Pastoral ministry

I began my pastoral ministry in August 2015. Then onwards my ministry has been mostly pastoral. I was the Parish Priest for more than seven years at St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish- Maweit in West Khasi Hills District under Nongstoin Diocese. It has 39 villages as sub-stations. Since childhood I have had the habit of going for long walks. That is very helpful now.On some occasions my pastoral ministry demands walking for six or seven hours. If we use shortcuts and climb up and down the hills, it takes three hours. But I do it with joy. The mantra prayer or Jesus Prayer, which I learnt in my novitiate, helps me now. So, all my walking moments are moments of prayer.

We cannot visit certain villages during the rainy season, which starts by the last week of March and goes on till the second week of October.

Of the 39 villages only 13 have chapels and the rest need some structures that could accommodate at least 50 persons during prayer or Eucharist. In those villages people put up temporary structures, in front of a house or a common place used for meetings, using tarpaulin sheets for the roof and bamboos for seats. Unlike the churches in other Indian States, in the villages here you cannot sit on the floor. It is so unbearably cold.

People here are mostly poor and their food is simple. Theirs is a subsistence economy. They don’t have much to save. Whatever they earn they spend for survival. For six months during the monsoon, people have some agricultural work and their staple food is rice. We eat rice for all the three meals. During the dry months they go as daily wage earners to work in the mines, based on the availability of work and the permit from the government.

Village chapels

In spite of all these, they pay their dues for the care of the priests and catechists. All villages have a specified piece of land which is set aside for the construction of their own village church.

But I know that they can never build these village churches without financial help from other Indian States. Whenever I receive invitations for the opening or blessing of a new church in Tamil Nadu, built or renovated after spending lakhs or crores of rupees, the thought in my mind is: ‘How happy and grateful we and our people here would be, if the money is sent here!’ With just three lakhs of rupees the local people can build a village church in which 50 to 60 persons can pray or worship.

Last year we built a village church with free labour offered by people on weekends and small donations from friends, relatives and well-wishers both from Meghalaya and Tamil Nadu. And two more village churches are getting ready to be opened.

Here people don’t make fun of you when you make mistakes while trying to speak their language. They come to you when you are alone and gently point out the mistakes.

Since the total Catholic population of the parish is 4,960 plus and growing, we have divided the parish into three sub-districts containing 13 villages each under them with one head-catechist each. The head-catechist will assist in all pastoral and catechetical activities. A Jesuit who serves as the Principal in our school at the main station serves as assistant pastor. We also have a religious Sister who goes round touring villages along with the pastor. The people from these sub-stations in a sub-district assemble together on Sundays for the Eucharistic celebration. This way we are able to offer Masses in each village at least four times in a year.

My consolations

What are my consolations in my difficult pastoral ministry in the past seven and half years? We rectified 189 marriages, baptized 1638 babies and about 60 elders. On an average, we have at least 230 baptisms every year and give First Holy Communion to 981 children and the Sacrament of Confirmation to 796 youth in the presence of the Bishop or Diocesan Administrators as his delegates. Thousands come to make their confessions every year.

For the past five months I serve as the new pastor at St Paul Parish at Jalaphet village of East Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya under Jowai Diocese. It has nine villages with an average of 62 families in each village. The total Catholic population will be over 3,600.

Khasis of Meghalaya

Khasis are tribals with a matrilineal system, and so men here are at a little disadvantaged position at home, though they wield power in State politics and gain honour at public forums. Men in the rural areas study up to class IX or X and then they drop out from schools and become labourers who work for daily wages. Many of them are drivers. Only those who join seminaries get the opportunity to pursue higher studies. But men who live in cities or small towns have chances to go to college and get a government job.

At Khasi homes the uncles have a say in decision-making with regard to family matters, though they don’t bequeath any property. The family’s property is inherited by girl children and a lion’s share of it goes to the last daughter of the family, who is in charge of fulfilling the family duties.  In case any of her brothers comes back home due to some misunderstanding with his spouse or with the family he is married to, it is the youngest daughter who looks after him. Mostly men here are docile and submissive. When marrying a woman a man almost renounces his family and goes to the bride’s village. Both boys and girls assume the title or the family name of the mother. During celebrations or family discussions the entire family comes together in the house of the mother in law or the last daughter.

Compared to other Protestant Churches, Catholicism is a new arrival that came to this region about fifty to seventy years ago. But Catholicism has brought some equality among women and men and respect and honour to men. Couples living together without a formal marriage is considered quite normal here. Thanks to the Catholic teaching about the importance of sacramental marriage, many couples who have just lived together for years are entering sacramental marriage or get their marriages rectified and registered. This ensures that the children will not be abandoned.

The State of Meghalaya

Meghalaya is a far more peaceful State than the other Northeastern States.  The State has 60 elected Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). National People’s Party (NPP) with 25 MLAs, got the support of 2 BJP MLAs and other regional parties and formed a coalition government. The present Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma, is the head of the NPP party. This is the second time that Mr. Conrad Sangma, the son of former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Mr P. A. Sangma, is the Chief Minister.

Meghalaya has 12 civil districts and its three major languages are Khasi, Pnar and Garo. All these three main tribes live in a specific area, but they move to all places within the State for work and some marry women of the other two major tribes without much fuss, since all of them are matrilineal.

Seventy per cent of Meghalaya’s population are Christians.  Among them one third are Catholics and two thirds are Presbyterians and Baptists.

The Future of the Region

As many of the readers of INI may know, the Jesuits from Karnataka came as missionaries in 1970 to Kohima to start some educational institutions at the invitation of the then Nagaland government. Then they gradually moved further to Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya. What was a Mission became a Region during its Silver Jubilee year in 1995. Now Kerala Jesuits work in Tripura Mission. North Brahmaputra valley is served by the Jesuits of Ranchi province. From the year 2020, the Golden Jubilee year of the Mission, we have a good number of local vocations from various tribes especially from Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland. And at present the Region has 71 Scholastics and 3 temporal coadjutors in formation. We are 73 priests and of these two thirds are missionaries from Karnataka. In the next ten years the native priests will be surely more than the missionaries from other States of India. Hopefully this Region will become a Province soon.

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