Bp Bosco Puthur

You spent more than 52 years as a priest and 9 years as a bishop, how satisfying was your life as you look back?
I am very satisfied with my life, which is a gift and mystery of God. I had a loving family and caring parents, who were very religious. My priestly ordination was in Rome in 1971. I have been ordained the First Curia Bishop of the Syro-Malabar Church in 2010. In 2014 I was installed as the first bishop of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of St. Thomas Melbourne, Australia.
As a young priest, I went to the Catholic University of Leuven for doctoral studies in systematic theology and returned to my home diocese, Trichur towards the end of 1975. After a few months as an assistant Parish Priest, I was appointed as the Father Prefect at the Diocesan Minor Seminary. From 1977 to 1992 I was teaching Theology, mainly Christology and eschatology, at the St. Joseph Pontifical Seminary, Aluva. Throughout those years I was the animator of the first-year theology students. I also served at the Pontifical Institute as a librarian, dean of the Theology Faculty, and Vice President. It was a time of intellectual, and theological pursuits, as the students were stimulating me with their questions, doubts, and challenging opinions.
During those years I was also the Diocesan Secretary for the Liturgy of my home diocese. In that capacity, I was a member of the Central Liturgical committee of the Syro-Malabar Church. Back in 1978, Cardinal Joseph Parecattil was its chairman. It was before the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church was constituted. I remember that the members of the Central Liturgical Committee had often intense and bitter disputes due to polarizations on liturgical issues in our Church.
In 1992 I became the rector of the minor seminary and in 1995 the Vicar General of the Diocese of Trichur, which was then raised to an Archdiocese. As Vicar General, I served first under Archbishop Joseph Kundukulam and then Archbishop Jacob Thoomkuzhy. In 1999 for a few months, I was the Parish Priest of the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Archdiocese. Then I was called to be the first Executive Director of the Liturgical Research Centre of the Syro-Malabar Church. In 2005 I was appointed the Rector of St. Joseph Pontifical Seminary Aluva and in 2010 the first Curia Bishop of the Syro-Malabar Church. In that position, I served for a year under Cardinal Vithayathil and after his death for three years under Cardinal George Alencherry.
After spending all my life in the service of the Lord and his Church I thank God for my vocation, in spite of failures on my part. But, as a whole, the people of God are helping me to grow in faith. Life as a priest and bishop is often challenging and at the same time rewarding. My conviction is that a priest is a symbol of God’s love and mercy and a man of reconciliation, which I was striving to be in my own limited way.

“Clericalism is a perversion and a pest. In the Church, we have to beware of “clericalism”, as Pope Francis often reminds us. Only then we priests and bishops will be credible servants of the Lord in the Church and to the world.”

For a good number of years, I have been a formator in seminaries. I have often heard from my former students that I have been a rather strict formator, although at heart I always wanted to be just, gentle, and merciful. I thank God that hundreds of my students are now exemplary priests and almost a dozen of them are bishops.
Although I would have preferred to serve as a parish priest in my home diocese, to my regret I could do so only for a very short time. Now, at the twilight of my ministry and life, along with Saint John Paul II, I wish to “remember the past with gratitude, live the present with enthusiasm, and look forward to the future with confidence.”
After these many years in the ministry, the question I ask myself, again and again, is how much could I give Christ to our people; if I have been merciful like Jesus; have I been in my inner core connected to God, living a life of holiness? Have I been faithful in living, praying, and sharing the word of God? Have I been in constant dialogue with the contemporary world, so that I can discern the will of God for my ministry? Have I been conscious of the dignity and duty of priesthood of which I am called to be a humble servant? Finally, I ask myself at this point if I am grateful to God for all his graces and to Church who called me to serve in its ministry.
During these years I had the good fortune to interact personally with four popes. After my priestly formation at the Propaganda College in Rome, as we were to leave Rome, Pope Paul VI invited us to the Vatican and watched a film with us the newly ordained priests. In the end, when the Pope was delivering a farewell speech, one of us went forward to take a photo at close range. Then he remarked: ‘Dear father, please make sure that you have focused well your camera on me. Otherwise, you will get my picture distorted, disfigured, and out of focus. Dear young priests, remember always to focus well your life on Jesus Christ. Otherwise, people will get a distorted, disfigured, and out-of-focus picture of our Lord. Let that never ever happen in your life and ministry.’ I remember this papal warning all throughout my life.

You are not retiring, you continue in a new pastoral work, what is the fire alive in you?
When my successor Fr. John Panamthottathil CMI is installed on 31 May 2023, I automatically become bishop emeritus. After retiring from the official position of the Eparchial Bishop, I hope to continue my pastoral ministry, as far as health allows. Ministry without administrative power and authority will be the new dimension of my future ministry. One of the Syro-Malabar bishops outside Kerala has invited me to help him in the remote regions of his vast diocese. I happily accept his invitation and am eagerly waiting for my new apostolic adventure. I recall the challenging words of Pope Francis: “I dream of a missionary option” (Joy of the Gospel, 27). The motivation of my life and ministry is the person of Jesus and his compassion for his people. My motto is “God is love.”

How satisfying were your years in Melbourne? What is the future of migrant communities?
My nine years in Melbourne were more challenging than satisfying. Being the first bishop of a new Eparchy in a vast (two and a half times bigger than India) country like Australia creates its own logistical and pastoral challenges. The Eparchy is now extended to New Zealand and all the countries of Oceania. Another challenge is that the members of the Eparchy are composed of recent migrants originating from Kerala to a country with western culture and a very strong secular atmosphere. This is very challenging, especially for youngsters. The community has to struggle hard to establish itself, due to the lack of infrastructural facilities and high financial costs. Migration is always an opportunity and a challenge to any community. The question of the identity and relevance of the community as well as of the individuals will be constantly put to test.
Our Eparchy has seven key pastoral priorities: Sacramental life and liturgy, Faith formation, Missionary families, Parish leadership, Formation and training, Safe Church, and Social Services. With these parameters in sight, the Syro-Malabar community in Oceania is now courageously facing this double challenge of identity and relevance.
Within the above priorities, our Eparchy has taken a keen interest in the faith formation of youth, who are the vast majority of our community. I am happy to see the good results among our youth through their involvement in the Syro-Malabar Youth Movement (SMYM).

Pope Francis is talking about synodality, how was your experience through the turbulent periods in the history of the Syro-Malabar Church?
Synodality is journeying together as the People of God. It is a way of listening to each other as members of the Church to understand how the Spirit of God might be speaking to us. Synodality reminds us of the work of the Holy Spirit through each of us and through all of us working together for our common mission.
In our Eparchy we have no substantial problem with regard to the so-called liturgical issues, sadly experienced in some other parts of our Church. Our Eparchy is composed of migrants from all the Dioceses of the mother church. Hence, with due discussions and dialogue in our pastoral council and Presbyterium, we follow the decisions of the synod of our Church. We have happily opted to walk with our Church and the Synod, above and beyond individual preferences. I am conscious that the goal of the Synodal Church is “communion, participation and mission” and not dissent, indifference, and lack of commitment to the Church’s mission.
The discussions on synodality in some places like Germany have gone overboard and become Pandora’s box. It has caused more divisions in the Church than walking together. Cardinal Walter Kasper has said the German “synodal path” is a failure, and gives the impression that it can and feels it has to discover a new Church and must push through “its own agenda.”
However painful and difficult, I am in favour of a path of listening and dialogue, which has to lead us to consensus and communion, and not class warfare.

Are we as a church failing to respond to the call of the times? Are we too narcissistic and power-hungry?
To me, the most beautful and inspiring words of the Second Vatican Council are the opening sentence of the Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et Spes: “The joys and the hopes, the grieves and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the grieves and anxieties of the followers of Christ”. This is the mission Jesus Christ has entrusted to the Church. Indeed, it is a very difficult task. Jesus himself asked the disciples to interpret the signs of times. The Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. It labours to decipher authentic signs of God’s presence and purpose in the happenings, needs, and desires in which these People have a part along with other men of our age. These words are crucial; we are instructed to deliberately work at discerning God speaking through secular events. Our way to evaluate them is in light of the Gospel. We know the Church needs renewal. Renewal starts with a return to the source and summit of our faith – Jesus and his Gospel. This may be a challenging and disturbing process.

Do you think priests and bishops are losing their public image and losing their moral authority? What do you say to the church?
Church, priests, and bishops are often losing their public image and moral authority in some parts of the world, especially in developed Western countries, like Australia. The process of secularisation has challenged the public image of the Church, for that matter of any religious and moral institution. To the contemporary secular world, we often appear to be clowns.
Here I recall the story of the circus clown, narrated by Joseph Ratzinger as a young theologian. “According to this story, a traveling circus in Denmark caught fire. The manager thereupon sent the clown, who was already dressed and made up for the performance, into the neighbouring village to fetch help, especially as there was a danger that the fire would spread across the fields of dry stubble and engulf the village itself. The clown hurried into the village and requested the inhabitants to come as quickly as possible to help to put the fire out. But the villagers took the clown’s shouts simply for an excellent piece of advertising, meant to attract as many people as possible to the performance; they applauded the clown and laughed till they cried. The clown felt more like weeping than laughing; he tried in vain to get people to be serious, to make it clear to them that this was no stunt, that he was not pretending but was in bitter earnest, that there really was a fire. His supplications only increased the laughter; people thought he was playing his part splendidly – until finally, the fire did engulf the village; it was too late for help, and both circus and village were burned to the ground” (Introduction to Christianity).

“I hope to continue my pastoral ministry, as far as health allows. Ministry without administrative power and authority will be the new dimension of my future ministry. One of the Syro-Malabar bishops outside Kerala.”

Harvey Cox had already invoked this image, borrowed from Kierkegaard, to proclaim his The Secular City. Ratzinger admits this disturbing analogy, although thought-provoking, is still a simplification. It makes it seem as if the clown, or the theologian, is a man possessed of full knowledge and with a perfectly clear message. The villagers – those outside the faith – are conversely the completely ignorant, who only have to be told something of which they are completely unaware. The clown then needs only to take off his costume and his makeup, and everything will be all right. But is it really such a simple matter as that? If he who preaches the faith is self-critical, he will notice that it is not only a question of form. He will clearly recognize not only the difficulty of the task of interpretation but also the insecurity of his own faith, the oppressive power of unbelief in the midst of his own will to believe. His own situation is by no means so different from that of others. This is the way Ratzinger analysed the situation in the sixties. I think that today the situation of the believer has become even more challenging.
Another sad factor that has caused damage to the public image of the Church is a large number of Child abuse cases, for that matter any non-evangelical business interest,that has emerged in the Church and the way the Church authorities have handled them.
A third factor is clericalism. It is a perversion and a pest. In the Church, we have to beware of “clericalism”, as Pope Francis often reminds us. Only then we priests and bishops will be credible servants of the Lord in the Church and to the world.
Our Lord is constantly reminding us that the Church has to become the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Fidelity to the Lord and his Gospel is the only measure of the moral authority of the Church leaders. It is our mission and challenge.