As many as 56 newly ordained priests of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate Congregation (CMI) on January 4 celebrated thanksgiving Mass at St Joseph’s Monastery Church in Mannanam in Kerala’s Kottayam district where their founder’s remains are kept.
Father Mathew Chandrankunnel, a member of the congregation and a professor of theology, said the young men were ordained priests recently for their 15 provinces. All are from Kerala but belong to various provinces of southern and northern India.
Father Chandrankunnel said the new priests had undergone training that lasted from 10 to 15 years. They will now serve God and wider humanity all over the world, he told Matters India. The Kerala-based congregation works in various parts of India and abroad. It had 2,597 members, including 1,900 priests in 2016.
The first indigenous Catholic religious congregation in India was founded in 1831 by Fathers Thomas Palackal and Thomas Porukara, along with Saint Kuriakose Chavara – all members of the Syro-Malabar Church.