Father Pasupalety came to see evangelization in America

Father Pasupalety looks forward to returning to family in India but will miss his parish families in Texas. Alfredo Cardenas, South Texas Catholic

The remote village in southeastern India in which Father Sebastian Pasupalety was born is 100 percent Catholic. And yet, they had never had a priest come from their ranks until Father Pasupalety was ordained 32 years ago.

In July, Father Pasupalety will return to his home after serving 12 years in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Due to a severe and progressive cardiovascular disease, he thought it best that he retire from active ministry. His doctor said that Father Pasupalety would probably be declared disabled so as to fully recuperate. He may also require a revision bypass surgery in the near future, his doctor said.

After 20 years serving in his native India, he wanted to see how the Church evangelized in the modern world; how the Church is able to spread the Gospel in the world’s most advanced country. He came to the diocese in 2001 and has served in the small mission churches of St. Vivian in Petronila and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Clarkwood.

These communities, in fact, are very similar to his home in India. There are about 70 families in each mission with no school, no bank, no grocery store and not much of anything else but acres of farmland and faithful Catholics.

His pastor in India had been an important influence in his life, so he realizes the significance of his role in a similar setting.

“I enjoy the silent sermon from the pew. That means I’m preaching from the pulpit and the people are preaching from the pews,” Father Pasupalety said. “Their homily is louder than mine. That is my philosophy.”

He explained by mentioning a lady in a wheel chair that is always at Mass. “She is preaching a louder sermon than me,” Father Pasupalety said. “They are preaching a deep faith and trust in the Lord. They preach from the heart I preach from the brain.”

Father Pasupalety said his parishioners’ “deep, simple faith” was a tremendous eye opener. “I was able to see their faith, when they pray the rosary as a family in their homes, they are kneeling down.”

He hopes that his presence has provided the people with a deeper faith. His charism is CCD and Liturgy so he introduced “a lot of new things.” During Lent, for example, he asks children to draw a picture of a Station of the Cross and the parents to write a prayer about that station. He then makes a video of the drawing and prayers together and puts them in a CD to give to the families.

During the Year of St. Paul he had the children draw pictures of their favorite Bible passages and then he made a calendar using the drawings. For Baptism, he asks parents to do a project at home and bring it to him at the Baptism. “You can talk for an hour and they won’t listen with babies crying,” Father Pasupalety said.

The parents learn more about the sacrament from the project than from anything he could tell them at the Baptism, he said.

“I enjoyed my life here,” Father Pasupalety said. “I’m not going because I don’t like the place but because of my health issues and I want to go be with my family.”

Father Pasupalety comes from a family of one brother and four sisters. When his mother died he was unable to return to India for her funeral. Same when his brother died.

“They missed me at the times they needed me. I want to be with family so they can enjoy my friendship, my care. I will be able to help them,” Father Pasupalety said.

He will return to a different village. After him, the parish produced 15 priests and “many nuns.” Two of his nephews are priests and one niece is a nun.

“We have been blessed by God in vocations,” he said. But he was the first, not only in his family but also in his community.