In Memorium

God’s Precious Gift to His Church
His Life and the Blessings he has bequeathed

It is a saga of a mustard seed, smallest of all seeds growing into a huge tree with bushy branches sheltering birds of the air: Yogi Bera says, “It is not over until it is over”. The Most Rev.Peter Fernando the Archbishop emeritus of Madurai breathed his last at 11.15 am, Saturday 31 Dec.2016. The seventy seven years of his life past, stood out tall and dignified from the minds and hearts of the faithful, the clergy and the religious across Tamil Nadu and beyond as though in a lightning, revealing a destiny worth seven times his age. One can call his life an authentication of the immeasurable, yet palpable value of life eternal which God ushered in him that will continue to impact the Church in Tamilnadu for a long time. Or one can esteem his life studded with merits Jesus the High Priest and Victim bestowed on him with the priestly blessings of the Order of Melchizedeck. What a stupendous gift of God ! That is a far cry from the life of the one who was born on March 22, 1939 in the far flung coastal Bethlehem of Idinthakarai of the Diocese of Tuticorin!! Indeed it is a sure resonance of the Jesus’ Kingdom story of the mustard seed, smallest of all seeds growing into a huge tree with bushy branches, so that the birds of the air can come and have shelter. (Matthew 13:31,32)

It’s a saga of how God sanctifies, blesses and makes His chosen person holy and multiply : What a human person does genuinely is worth a value for a time; yet what a Christian genuinely desires to do with God is worth the treasure of his whole life (Matthew 13:44). But if God sets His eye on His chosen one, He lavishes His anointing on him despite whatever the material he be (Jeremiah 1:5f). Born second in a family of four brothers, Peter Fernando was led by the inner pull of the star of God’s predilection. He was growing in wisdom and in stature. And God’s favor was with him. (Luke 2:52) His family gave him good education by sending him to Jesuit Colleges but he won University accolades with a gold medal for his Baccalaureate in Education. Later when the family willingly came forward to offer the best of its sons for priesthood, Bishop Thomas Fernando of Tuticorin though not had the slightest idea at that time that Peter Fernando would be the Bishop next to him to come from Idinthakarai but saw the promise of God in him for the Church in future. Hence with care he sent Peter Fernando first to St.Paul’s Seminary, Tiruchy for Philosophy to give him grounding; later to St. Mary’s Seminary, Ohio, USA for Theology for further nourishment. Ordaining him a priest on May 29,1971, God was beckoning him to the path He had prepared. Upon successful completion of his doctoral studies in 1975 in Clinical Psychology at Kent State University, Ohio, USA, Fr. Peter Fernando submitted himself to Bishop M. Ambrose of Tuticorin who warmly received him and kept him close as Secretary to the Bishop. How Fr. Dr. Peter Fernando was going to serve the Church with his powerful new knowledge and advanced capacity of a resource person and master trainer?, was the big question at that time. Bishop Ambrose was open to God’s design for him. And God issued the call from Fr. Zeitler SVD, Director of the Institute of Missiology and the National
Vocation Service Centre, Pune to the Bishop of Tuticorin asking for the professional services of Fr. Dr.Peter Fernando. He went and bloomed where God had planted him.

It is a saga of responding and bearing fruits that will last: (John 15:16) Under the inspiration and overarching mantle of Fr. Zeitler SVD the towering giant of the Missiologist, the priestly and missionary zeal in Fr. Peter Fernando was set ablaze. He tested the enduring connection of spirituality to psychology and came up with a resource material and a master trainer team to go the length and breadth of India visiting Major Seminaries, Religious Houses of Formation, Dioceses and Major Religious Institutes conducting Courses on Pastoral Psychology, Psycho Spirituality, Workshops and Live-in Sessions of crises resolution through reconciliatory interventions for Diocesan Clergy and Religious Communities. Through the twelve years of maturation at the National Vocation Service Centre, Fr. Peter Fernando was brought into the throbbing heart of the Church where the demands of Faith and the Call of the Gospel to respond to the “signs of the times” revealed in the social, cultural, economic and political milieu of the people of God meet. God who all along kept a step ahead of him, further opened the way to servanthood of his priestly calling. God brought Fr. Peter Fernando to Chennai to be the Secretary to the Tamilnadu Bishops’ Council, then to Tiruchy to be the Rector of the St. Paul’s Regional Seminary which eventually brought him home as vicar general of the diocese. All the instructions he received from God through the years got him ready to share the fullness of priesthood of Christ by anchoring himself deep into the love of Christ.

“Rooted in the Love of Christ “ (Ephesians 3:17) Fr. Peter Fernando was consecrated as Coadjutor Bishop of Tuticorin on May 29, 1996. Soon he was made the Apostolic Administrator of Tiruchirapalli Diocese. In 2000 he took charge of the Diocese of Tuticorin. In 2003 he was promoted to be the Archbishop of Madurai while continuing to be the Apostolic Administrator of Tuticorin Diocese until 2004. In his fuller freedom now, all that God had opened his eyes to and all the promptings of the Spirit laid a much bigger onus on him. He plunged himself into the problems of the people of his diocese, nay, the entire region of Tamilnadu. All this time until he retired as Archbishop of Madurai in 2014, there are three areas for which he opened the doors of the Church: 1. At the Regional and National level he initiated a new paradigm for formation of future diocesan Priests introducing the Spiritual Year between Philosophy and Theology. 2. As Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council, he coordinated the secular forces to float the much awaited Movement and Forum for the Minorities in the State of Tamil Nadu and to meaningfully contribute towards nation building along with non-christian minorities. This particular effort gave birth to an action group called The Christians’ Rights Movement at the grass root level to be at the service of the voiceless majority and the working class of all hues. Drawing inspiration from this, a political wing came into being christening itself as The Rights Movement (Vaazhvurimai Iyakkam) to gradually educate and influence people to a awakened democracy. 3. As Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council, Archbishop Peter Fernando formed a Legal Cell to actively fight for the Rights of the Church and safeguard the goods enshrined in the Constitution of the country for the Minorities and so help the Church- State relationship in matters of policy making and dealing with practical legal hustles at various governmental and non governmental levels. Appreciating the valuable services of this Legal Cell towards nation building, the Tamil Nadu Government recently elevated the Secretary of the Legal Cell: Advocate Rev. Dr. Xavier Arul Raj appointed by Archbishop Peter Fernando to the honor of “Senior Counsel” in the High Courts of Madras and Madurai with all privileges attached to it.

Thus rooted in the love of Christ, the Archbishop found the strength with God to grasp the breadth and the length; the height and the depth of His love and so got a good whiff of the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:18-21) God who knows him only so well, willed to make him perfect by sharing with him the redemptive suffering of His Son Jesus. Accepting the excruciating pain from the dialysis for his kidneys amidst much discomfiture, Archbishop emeritus of Madurai Peter Fernando peacefully returned to the Home of Our Father breathing his last on Dec.31, 2016 at St.Leuca Hospital, Madurai shortly following the visits of the Archbishop Antony Pappusamy of Madurai and the Bishop Yvon Ambroise of Tuticorin with his Curia Members. Congregated in Madurai and Tuticorin where the funeral Masses were offered on Jan 01 and Jan 02, 2017 respectively, the Bishops of Tamilnadu, numerous priests and religious and innumerable faithful thus sang the paschal farewell song to their beloved Archbishop Peter Fernando as his mortal remains were being interred in the Sacred Hearts’ Cathedral, Tuticorin:

May You Join the Peace Eternal ! May You Live in the Light Eternal !! When the Lord calls us too, We will Meet You along with Him !!

The Bishop and Presbyterium of Tuticorin thank the Archbishop of Madurai for presiding over the Funeral Liturgy, Bishop Antony Devotta of Tiruchirappalli for the Homily during the liturgy, Bishop Peter Remigius of Kottar, Rev. Dr. Xavier Arulraj, Secretary, TNBC Legal Cell, Mr. Bhagat Singh, Secretary, Tuticorin Diocesan Pastoral Council, and Mr. Lancy, nephew of the deceased Archbishop for their touching funeral orations and Rev. Fr. James Victor, Rev. Fr. Amalraj for their respective roles as Master of Ceremony and proposing the vote of thanks. From the bottom of our heart we thank the Professor emeritus Ms. Sundari for graciously taking up the expenses of the funeral. Our special thanks to Fr. Rayappan, Fr. Titus and the Parish Council of the Sacred Hearts’ Cathedral, who paid meticulous attention to conduct the funeral with dignity, devotion and order

Rev.Fr.A.S.Kirupakaran, Vicar General