Meet Fr. Jose Muttathan, M.S.

I am the youngest of five siblings, born on October 2, 1966 in Panely, Kerala, Southern India. I was in the United States from May to September, sharing information about my life, vocation, formation and ministry while I was preaching mission appeals. 

I was late beginning school, at the age of seven. I went to the local government grade school (grades 1 to 4) in Panely. When I was eleven I matriculated to St. Mary’s high school in Kombanad (grades 5 to 10). The next step was going to pre-degree college at Kothamangadam (grades 11-12).

Chapel in Parakadavu, Kerala, India

No, the path the Lord traced out for me to follow in becoming a La Salette Missionary was not drawn in straight lines. I first went to the Discalced Carmelite seminary. I joined them and stayed for five years, becoming a professed religious. There I received my BA degree in philosophy. However something told me that I was not in the right place. I left and returned home.

As I was stepping off the bus in my home town, I encountered a young man who spoke to me about his entering the La Salette seminary. During the next year, as I tried to discern my future, the idea of becoming a La Salette Missionary kept reoccurring in my mind. After a retreat made in 1991, I decided to write to the La Salette vocation office in Parakadavu. Fr. Andrews Kollannoor, M.S., answered and invited me to come and see him and his community. 

 

I stayed there for a year while I learned about them and they learned about me. I felt happy that I had found my place. From 1992 to 1995 I was in the Philippines for my postulancy and novitiate. On May 1, 1995, a few months before my 29th birthday, I made my first profession as a La Salette Religious. Then I returned to India – this time to Bangalore – for my studies in theology. I became a millennium priest when I was ordained on the first day January, 2000, in that Jubilee Year.

Holy Cross Parish Church in Nadavayal, Kerala, India

For two years I worked as an assistant at Holy Cross Parish in Nadavayal. It gave me valuable experience in hoe to minister to people. Then the La Salette community asked me to do vocation recruiting. We had just procured a small house in Nadavayal, which subsequently became known as La Salette Ashram Mission Center, where the vocation office is now located. Near the residence is a room-size chapel dedicated to St. Sebastian. Some days as many as one hundred Christians squeeze in for the celebration of daily Mass.

Silver Jubilee Celebration

I believe so. During the first two years I was able to help fifty-five young men discern their vocation and enter our seminary in Mysore. The first year our seminarians reside in Mysore as aspirants. Next they go to Parakadavu for two years of pre-degree college. This leads to Bangalore for a three-year course in philosophy. With successful completion of those studies, they return to Mysore for postulancy and novitiate. 

 

We have no permanent residence for our theologians, but different possibilities are being explored in various parts of the country. Presently some scholastics are studying in Andhra Pradesh and some in Goa. Please pray that these young men may persevere and help bring our people to a deeper knowledge and love for Christ and his Church.