FR FERRER - A FERRETING PREACHER OF DISCIPLESHIP

I had hoped that he would persevere till I reached back. Not that I was all that attached to him.  But I found in him a good soul, and having grown old myself, somebody with whom you could feel comfortable (humanly speaking), in gaining the grace through the sacrament of reconciliation. I will miss him. 

It was the initiative of Fr Benny Nalkara (presently our provincial), and Fr Roy Palatty who could gauge the greatness of the ministry he had accomplished to help him compile the same into a readable form.  If I recall correctly, Fr Benny had done a feature on him in our in-house bulletin highlighting the great ministry, generally oblivious in the mainstream discussions.

He was indeed a powerful preacher of Catholic spirituality (read, Christian discipleship) all through his life - having himself articulated the pillars of his preaching as Simplicity, Bible, well-researched Christian doctrine (ever-updated) foundation and Practicality (what we consider today as per RBT as application).  In the gossip circle - the four pillars were often a butt of ridicule - 'so simple, so biblical, so well-studied, so practical' - thus it went. But the artless soul that he was, he was able to take such banter as a compliment.  To my mind,  he brought about a paradigm shift to the conventional preaching based on the fundamentals of Christian faith, which had a baseline of (holy) terror built on sin, death, hell, purgatory and heaven.  He transformed this conventional preaching with studied inputs on modern Catholic teaching based on the Second Vatican documents and the teachings of the Holy Father from time to time. He appears to have made full use of the training in Christian Biblical Spirituality and the exposure he received in the United States (Catholic University of America, Washington?), to his ministry - a 100-fold productivity! 

I assume, till the ripe old age of 86, he had been active as a preacher, and as he himself would say every year, with his guileless simplicity and with a great sense of satisfaction, 'my calendar is all (booked) full for the coming year'.  From a very casual assessment, I feel that he must have preached at least 1000 retreats.  Perhaps, more. He distinguished himself as a preacher - more so, for priests and religious, than for the parish communities.  Another area of his expertise, on which the CMIs and several other orders counted upon,  was discernment in terms of the vocation to priesthood and religious life. He was in great demand for this taxing task, in which he found great contentment I believe. 

I have heard that he was very meticulous in going by the book as far as religious life is concerned - attending the community prayers, and community activities, adhering to the set norms of accounting etc, at times to the point of irritating others as if it were all a sham.  I don't think so.  I think he was thoroughly ingrained in the old school of religious life with all sincerity. Maybe, he has a record in the congregation for having lived in the same monastery for the longest period - I think he had been at Aluva St. Anthony's monastery for almost 50 years as an inmate. 

In the last 2 decades, he seemed to derive immense satisfaction in leading what has come to be known as the 'Aluva Convention', where he could arrange an array of preachers from all over the state, and manage it as a great event (I resist from saying show).

Personally, we seemed to have a good bond, though we hardly stayed together in one place. Most of the recommendations he had made for admission to the college, in some manner or other, I was able to accommodate, and he was always happy about that. 

I was blessed to be in his company being on a provincial council with him, and then, as well as later, he would boost my morale by admiring that I could do many things at a time, and that I had worked hard. I regret not having even a single picture with him. I also regret I have not been able to say hello to him in the past few months, though I did manage once, soon after his hospitalisation at Rajagiri.  I did believe he would come back soon. Perhaps, the onus of being the senior most member in the province weighed down on him! 

To me, he is someone who had accomplished his mission in life - I always wanted to be someone who did powerful preaching like he did - but has never been one. All the same, I derive a vicarious satisfaction in having him (and lately, a few smart youngsters as well!) as a model who passed on a major component of the founding charism of the CMIs untiringly. 

May the blessed and faithful servant (Lk 12:37) enter into the promised domain of eternal bliss and peace (Mtt 25:23)! May he inspire and empower the growing number of the younger preachers of our community through his intercessions!