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RESTORE MY CHURCH-5

The Story of St. Thomas Church Patratoli – Lockdown Church Description of Patratoli Village

Patratoli, as the name signifies, is a stony village in our Malom Naotoli parish. The people of this village are really tough, daring and hard working. To reach the parish they have to walk about four kilometres during dry the season and about twenty kilometres during the rainy season since they have to take the long route through Chainpur. The children have to walk six kilometres to the Chainpur town to reach the school. Normally they eat Basimandi (left over rice of the previous night) mixing it with a lot of salt. The only good meal they will have is in the evening around 4 pm when they return home from the school. The parents work from dawn to dusk in their fields, in the forests and at home to earn some money for their family maintenance and their children’s education and upkeep. Inspite of all these hardships Patratoli is the best village, ever ready to render any service to the parish. Twice, I remember, in the rainy season they came with umbrellas to offer their service SHRAMADHAN( free labour). That is why I was determined to help this village to construct a decent chapel for them.

Their 135 years Old Dilapidated Chapel

Patratoli had a 135 year old, dilapidated chapel built by their forefathers. It was the only pucca chapel- built with cement and brick walls and roofed with tin sheets. All the other chapels in Chainpur town area were of mud walls and country-made tiles. This ancient chapel served the people for 135 long years. Slowly it was getting dilapidated- the walls were cracking due to the heavy rains, the roof was getting rusty and the timber was being attacked by termites. So I had a couple of meetings with the people. They expressed their heart's desire in one voice: we need a decent chapel for our gatherings - spiritual, cultural and educational (children’s tuitions, recreations and music classes). They started collecting Rs, 1000 from each family. Some of them came forward to donate jackfruit timber for doors and windows and some others who were working abroad came forward to make some collection in their work places. Thus the project gathered momentum towards the building of the new chapel began.

The First setback - The Hindu Neighbours Blockage

After geeting a feeling of the enthusiasm of the villagers we had a meeting with them and fixed a day for the levelling work. On …… JCB arrived and started levelling the ground. Soon hundreds of Hindu neighbours came rushing to the spot. They climbed on the JCB and sat on the driver’s seat and thus blocked the work. Their argument was that their ancestors used to worship in this place. We counter argued - if your ancestors worshipped here why dud they not block the chapel and grotto construction work. Still they were not satisfied. The real story was that the local anti-Christian MLA wanted to grab our land, build a compound wall and offer it to Hindus to capture their votes since the elections were approaching. In the meantime they put a court case against our leaders saying that they beat up the Hindus, cut the trees without license and brought all sorts of other allegations against our leaders. For one year the case dragged on. Finally, the judgement was in our favour.

The Battle for Patratoli

Dec 22, 2019 was the historical day in the life of the Patratoli villagers. On this day the Hindu villagers wanted to destroy our Church and the grotto. For made mighty preparation to execute their vicious designs on this day. They contacted the Hindu MLAS and leaders from nearby towns. They made wide publicity through the newspapers and pamphlets. I too contacted all the local Christian leaders from our parish and neighbouring parishes. On 22 Dec morning we had a massive Christmas gathering. Around 1 PM thousands of Hindus came marching towards our chapel and grotto but our Christians stood up like a powerful dam. They did not allow them to cross the road. Finally with the help of the police and the rapid action force the Hindus dug a pit by the side of the road and planted their flag in the pit and ran off for their lives. On that day it was indeed a Patratoli Exodus event. God with a mighty hand really saved us. Our people really felt that God is with us. On that day, what we celebrated was the real Christmas.

Beginning of the Construction of the New Chapel

As the saying goes, "strike the iron when it is hot,”so without any furthet delay in the month of January and February 2020 we had a couple of meetings with the people. They were all anxious and enthusiastic to begin the work. Accordingly on…. Ash Wednesday we had the final Mass in the old chapel and thanked God for this 135 year old chapel built by our ancestors. We then began demolishing the chapel. For three full days our people worked hard and levelled the area. The very next day I called the engineer who was working in the parish for our school construction, and we did the marking. To our good luck Fr. Custos had fixed the council meeting just in the Malom Naotoli. I quickly grabbed this occasion, called for the villager's meeting and fixed the programme for the laying of the foundation stone laying . We had a simple programme on Feb 14th 2020. Fr. Anil blessed the stone, Fr, Custos laid the stone and Fr, Francis Rozario gave the message for the occasion. At the end of the programme Fr. Custos announced that he would try to contact the cardinal of Mumbai to sanction some money for our church. With his assurance the very next day itself our people began the chapel work with all sincerity and enthusiasm. We divided the whole village into four groups. Once a week each group would come for SHRAMADHAN (free labour). Thursday being a bazaar day we kept it as a holiday for shopping. The time after Sunday Mass and breakfast we kept as common SHRAMADHAN day for all.

The Progress in our Work

As the gospel says, “Once you lay your hands on the plough you should never look back”. After Ash Wednesday in the first week of Lent, our men folk and the youngsters worked tirelessly and prepared the foundation. In the meantime tractors marched towards the spot with bricks, stones, iron rods, cement and all the other building materials. Within fifteen days the foundation of the chapel work came up to the ground level. Within another week we reached the window level. The men folk happily carried the building materials to the spot, and the women folk brought water and did the curing of the foundation. My job was to keep their spirits high with distribution of sweets and taking of photos. The work progressed very well- happily and joyfully.

I went to Mumbai for the Collection, Ended up in Recollection

When the building work came to window level I thought that it was the right time to go to Sion, Mumbai for our fund raising work. Accordingly I gathered all the materials needed and handed over the responsibility to the village leaders and left for Mumbai. I landed in on 18th March and to my bad luck on 20th March 2020, PM Modi announced the Lockdown. I came for the collection but I was forced to be on a long recollection. Yet I did not stop there. The work continued. My body was in Sion but my spirit was in Patratoli. I directed the work online from Sion. Every night Pratatoli leaders briefed me on mobile regarding the progress of the work. Friar Anil would go to Patratoli occasionally and encourage the people and sent me the bills and photos of the progress of the work on what’s app. I was thrilled to see the photos of the work and to know that we have reached the roof level.

My Return Journey to Ranchi

In the meantime I kept on pestering the Custos to arrange for my return journey. In the beginning he was reluctant and hesitant due to my age and my diabetics. Finally he said " yes" and booked my flight ticket to Ranchi. Many friars were involved in securing my return journey. I am grateful to all of them- especially to Father Provincial and Secretary, Custos and Bursar and the Sion community. Finally on…… Friar Jose dressed me like a space man and dropped me at the Mumbai Airport. In the Ranchi airport Fr. Fulgence along with with Friars Bipin and Ushar. was ready with the jeep to receive me. I had my breakfast at Sion and for lunch I reached Naotoli. Great things happen when so many friars are involved in your life. I was quarantined for 15 days and then went to Patratoli to resume my work. The people were very happy to see that “Hamara Father” had returned to Patratoli safe and happy. They had prepared a special room for me. Because of the rainy season I stayed in this specially prepared room till Oct 15, the inauguration day. Every day people took turn to look after my daily needs like food and water. They washed my clothes, cleaned the room and watered the garden. Quickly Fr. Anil and I planned for the roof work. We contacted the Jesuit workshop director, Fr. Bartholomew of Kunkurim. He himself came to Patratoli, took the measurements and within fifteen days brought the roofing materials and the sheets and got the roof work done. Our chapel was looking majestic. The people were very happy. Now they could work freely anytime. Rain or shine nothing could disturb their work anymore. They went on working happily day and night with the plastering and painting and electrification work. Thus by September end our chapel was ready for the inauguration.

Preparations

As soon as all the works were done, we had a serious meeting with the villagers to fix the date for the inauguration. After the serious discussion we fixed Oct 15, 2020 for the inauguration. Immediately I contacted the Custos. He told me to contact the bishop's house for green signal. The very next day I went to the bishop’s house and discussed with them the date for the inauguration. They told me to keep the date after Christmas. I tried to convince them that Oct 15 is the ideal time, since after that people will be busy with Christmas and their harvest work. Finally the Vicar General agreed to come for the inauguration provided I gather only 50 people and follow all the restrictions of the Covid 19 lockdown. The very next day I fixed the meeting with the villagers and put before them to observe the restrictions and the difficulties involved in arranging for the blessing day due to lockdown. They agreed to cooperate and have a simple celebration. We divided the villagers into committees to take care of the various things like food, liturgy, finance, guests, decorations, parking and cultural committees. Each committee was provided a manager and 5 members. All these committees took the responsibilities seriously. Finally all the preparations were completed by Oct 15.

October 15 the Blessing Day

October 15 was the red lettered day in the history of Patratoli. By 6 am the women with drums came dancing and were ready to welcome the guests. From 6:30 am onwards the guests started arriving. At 6:45am the Vicar General of the Gumla diocese, the chief guest, arrived. He was shocked to see the large crowd. I tried to explain to him that I tried my best to convince the people to remain indoors but they just could not understand how to remain indoors on such an auspicious day. Patratoli alone has about 300 people. The guests came automatically. The Vicar General understood my helplessness. I gave him a glorious breakfast. After that we began the entrance dance. At the entrance he cut the ribbon and blessed the new church and began the Eucharist. In the introduction itself he expressed that he is saying the Mass with fear and trembling. This theme continued throughout the Mass. His fear was that in case the police came to witness our function they would arrest him and Fr. Alphonse. Luckily no police personal cam. Happily though with much anxiety we finished the Mass.

The Cultural Function

After the inaugural Mass in the church itself, we had a simple cultural function. The children sang the welcome song. The ladies ceremoniously washed the hands of the guests and garlanded them. The main guests the Vicar General, the Dean, and the Principal of Chainpur High school and Fr. Bipin delivered the messages. Finally Fr. Alphonse thanked Fr. Vicar General and all the guests for taking the risk, during the pandemic lockdown, to participate in the inaugural function. He also especially thanked Fr. Custos and the Sion church parish priest Fr. Basil Lobo and the community for their major contribution towards this chapel. He also thanked all the benefactors from Mumbai, Bangalore. Mangalore and Jharkhand. At the end, he thanked all the Christians of Naotoli and the neighbouring parishes for their strong support during our difficult times. And finally he thanked the Patratoli people for remaining like an unbreakable rock and participating joyfully in the construction of their dream chapel. After that we gave all the guests a solemn banquet. Thus our dream chapel became a reality.

ALL FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD.

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