Fr Jose Kuriedath CMI - Standing tall - Thinker, Religious, Sociologist

Fr Jose Kuriedath CMI, a scholar and academic among us CMIs, has completed his sojourn on this planet and has entered the next phase of his existence.  It doesn't come as a shock to me or to most of us, his brothers in the order of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, and definitely not to him. It was a well-prepared, expected exit, rather, release to the painless world of eternal peace!

I came to know Fr Jose as the director of Chavara Cultural Centre, Kochi, way back in 1979. I was a learner of public speaking under his tutelage there. (No claims of having been a success on that front.)  He had also made some rare appearances at the KCSL camps, which used to be held at Rajagiri, Kalamassery, or Sacred Heart, Kochi.

My next encounter with him was as a young scholastic.  I took the freedom to ask him to borrow the scooter (vespa or bajaj) under his custody, to go for my two-wheeler driving test (this was in 1989). He did not show any reservation in this regard, though such freedom with a senior priest was not so easy to conceive.  It was perhaps the next year or so, I happened to pass by SH college, and we had an unplanned and casual encounter. I remember him taking me to the auditorium and proudly sharing his experiment in participatory management – the parent council members were seated and were persuading the new parents to support the college by voluntary donations.

Though we never kept in touch with each other, during my first visit abroad, in 2001, I managed to fit a short visit to Canada, and he had been the CMI coordinator there. I managed to secure a visa in those days and perhaps announced my arrival by email. I was received warmly – met the two former Principals of SH – Fr George Palamattam and Fr Jose Kuriedath. Fr Jose took me around Toronto; we went to an IMAX show, and on my departure, he gifted me 200 Canadian dollars, a happy surprise for me.

I was privileged to be at the electoral body which elected him to be the general councillor for education for the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate. While he made efforts to rearticulate the CMI educational vision and its core values, he also went around all the CMI educational institutions, animating the ministry across the globe.  I also felt honoured to be invited to felicitate him on his golden jubilee of religious profession held at his parish.

Immediately thereafter, I was fortunate to have him as my Prior and as the Manager of Sacred Heart College, where he had served as a well-respected Principal long before my time. He always commanded the respect of the faculty, many of whose senior members had once been his colleagues. At least once, he did caution me to go slow and give ear to the colleagues on the team, even when you feel that you have grasped what they are about to say. I am afraid that I have not put that valuable piece of caution into practice. He spoke with clarity and conviction, whether preaching in church or addressing an audience. His erudition was beyond question.

Despite his formation in the traditional grant-in-aid system, both as a student and as an academic, he had the courage to defend a model in which those who benefited from the management quota in admissions also contributed to the development of the college infrastructure, while insisting on transparency in the process.

His tenure as Prior of SH seemed to confirm, for the members of the Province, their trust in his leadership, eventually leading to his election as Provincial. He guided the Province with wisdom and balance. After completing his term as Provincial, he transitioned with ease to leading a self-financing institution, Rajagiri School of Engineering and Technology, thereby dispelling the notion that he was a “kattar socialist.” Rather, he proved himself to be a rational thinker who could discern and justify the need for CMIs to venture into such fields of education.

Already a two-time survivor of cancer, a third and entirely different onset was wholly unexpected. Yet, even at the age of over eighty, he displayed remarkable courage, becoming a personification of fortitude. Until April 2026, he continued to attend to his responsibilities in the Director’s office with unwavering commitment. Amidst his suffering, and without complaint, he brought out a book on CMI ministry from a sociological perspective. The Province acknowledged his intellectual and spiritual contributions by electing him to the supreme body of the Congregation, which he attended despite immense physical suffering.

Perhaps the congregation's decision to have him come to Keralam from an otherwise fertile thinking environment of Delhi and be part of its typical higher education culture, has deprived the world from have an Indian Sociologist who could have contributed to Sociological concepts and theories from an Indian-Asian perspective. Perhaps nobody remembers that, or regrets that!

As he now bids farewell after a valiant innings of scholarship, leadership, and endurance, dear Jose Acha, we salute you. May your example inspire emulation among your younger brothers. Adieu. May your grace-filled presence rest in peace!