Father Isaac Arickappalil, CMI

Pastor

I was born in the Southern state of Kerala in India, of traditional Catholic parents. I hail from a family of ten children. All my family members are Catholics and we belong to the St. Thomas Christian Church founded by St. Thomas the Apostle of Christ who preached the Gospel in India in 52 AD.

My parents, Varghese (George) and Mariamma (Mary), have passed on and presently six of us children are living - my four brothers, our eldest sister and me. I am fifth among the children. My sister, Rebecca, is a housewife; eldest brother, Thomas, is a businessman; the next one, Joseph, was a finance manager and is now retired; the other two brothers are teachers - George is professor of Economics and Jacob of Electronics.
I joined the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), the first indigenous Congregation of India, after my High School studies. At the completion of the novitiate, I was sent for secular studies and my optionals to Christ College of Bangalore University. I received my Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Sociology and English Literature. After one year of practical training in teaching in our Minor Seminary, I did my Bachelor’s degree in Theology (BTh) in our Dharmaram Pontifical Institute (today it is known as Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram), in Bangalore. After my ordination, I was appointed Vocation Director of our province in 1978. Then, in 1984, I was sent to Rome for higher studies in Theology. After taking Licentiate in Theology in 1986, I taught theology for a semester in Bangalore, India. Again, my Superiors sent me to Rome to complete a Doctorate in Theology. I did research in theology under Prof. Dr. Petrus Yousif and Prof. Dr. Edward Farrugia, SJ in the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome and was awarded the Doctorate in Theology in 1992.
From 1992 to 2004, I was teaching theology in Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (DVK), our Pontifical Athenaeum of Theology, Philosophy and Canon Law, run by the CMI Congregation, with a thousand students and fifty resident staff. During those years, I served DVK in administrative levels too as Controller of Examinations and Registrar and Finance Officer. I was also in charge of two groups of CMI Theology students for four years each until their ordination to the priesthood. In 2004, I was conferred “Professorship” from the Congregation of Catholic Education, Vatican, Rome.
In June 2004, I was sent to the Diocese of Sacramento by our Very Rev. Fr. Prior General for pastoral service and to begin a Center for the Study of World religions. From June 2004 till March 2005, I was Parochial Vicar in St. Mary’s Parish Sacramento, with Father Francisco Velazquez VDMF, who was the pastor. After Fr. Velazquez was transferred to St. Joseph Parish in Sacramento, I was appointed Parochial Administrator of St. Mary’s by Bishop William Weigand. I have found St. Mary’s to be an active Catholic parish with good parishioners. Both Fr. Francis Chirackal, CMI who joined me in April 2006 as Parochial Vicar, and I are receiving great cooperation and support from the parish community; and we love to be here offering our humble services to the people and to the Lord.
In October 2005, Bishop Weigand blessed and inaugurated at St. Mary’s our new “Chavara International Center for Indian and Interreligious Studies” (CICIIS) of which I am the director. The center is named after the founder of the CMI Congregation, Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara and runs regular programs in interreligious dialogue and studies.