എടത്വ കരിക്കംപള്ളില്‍ നന്നാട്ടുമാലില്‍ പുത്തന്‍പുരയ്ക്കല്‍ അന്തോനിക്കുട്ടിയുടേയും സാറാമ്മയുടേയും മൂത്തമകള്‍ ലിസമ്മയുടേയും കൂളത്തൂര്‍ മേലേട്ടുകൊച്ചി കുട്ടപ്പന്റേയും മകനാണ് ഫാ.സതീഷ്. സഹോദരന്‍ സതീഷ്. (ഭോപ്പാല്‍).
ബാംഗളൂരിലെ ദിവ്യരക്ഷക സന്യാസ സഭയില്‍ 1983-ല്‍ ചേര്‍ന്ന സതീഷ് 1986 ജൂലൈ 27-ന് ആദ്യവ്രതവാഗ്ദാനവും 1994 ഏപ്രില്‍ 25-ന് നിത്യവ്രതവാഗ്ദാനവും നടത്തി. 18 വര്‍ഷമായി വൈദികന്‍.
യുണൈറ്റഡ് സ്റ്റേറ്റ്‌സ് ഒഹിയോ ഡേയ്ടണിലെ ഇമ്മാക്കുലേറ്റ് കണ്‍സെപ്ഷന്‍, സെന്റ് ഹെലെന്‍ ഇടവകകളിലെ അസോസിയേറ്റ് പാസ്റ്ററാണ് സതീഷ് ഇപ്പോള്‍. കമ്മ്യൂണിക്കേഷനില്‍ മാസ്റ്റര്‍ ഡിഗ്രിയും തിയോളജിയില്‍ ഡോക്ടറല്‍ ഡിഗ്രിയും നേടിയിട്ടുണ്ട്. എല്ലാ ഞായറാഴ്ചയും വൈകുന്നേരം ഡേയ്ടണില്‍ നടത്തുന്ന വിശുദ്ധ കുര്‍ബാനയില്‍ നൂറുകണക്കിന് ആള്‍ക്കാര്‍ പങ്കെടുക്കുന്നു. ഇറ്റെ മിസ എസ്റ്റ് മിനിസ്ട്രിയുടെ സ്ഥാപകനാണ്. മുതിര്‍ന്നവര്‍ക്കായുള്ള വിശ്വാസ രൂപീകരണമാണ് ലക്ഷ്യമാക്കുന്നത്. ഫാ. സതീഷിന്റെ പ്രസംഗങ്ങള്‍ കേള്‍ക്കാനുള്ള സൗജന്യ ഐഫോണ്‍, ഡ്രോയിഡ് ആപ്‌സുകള്‍ ലഭ്യമാണ്.
ഫാ.സതീഷ് ജോസഫിന്റെ ദൈവവചനപ്രഘോഷണങ്ങളും ധ്യാനപ്രസംഗങ്ങളും വിശ്വാസസമൂഹത്തില്‍ ആഴത്തില്‍ സ്വാധീനം ചെലുത്തുന്നുണ്ട്. നിരവധി രാജ്യങ്ങളില്‍ ഇതിനകം ധ്യാനപ്രസംഗങ്ങള്‍ നടത്തി. ആധുനിക സാങ്കേതിക വിദ്യയുടെ സാധ്യതകള്‍ ദൈവവചന പ്രഘോഷണത്തിനു പ്രയോജനപ്പെടുത്തുന്നു. ആഴത്തിലുള്ള വിഷയങ്ങള്‍ ലളിതമായി അവതരിപ്പിക്കുന്നതിനു ഫാ.സതീഷിനു പ്രത്യേക കഴിവുണ്ട്. ലഭിക്കുന്ന ചോദ്യങ്ങള്‍ക്കെല്ലാം മാതൃകാപരമായി മറുപടി നല്കുന്നതും ഫാ.സതീഷിന്റെ പ്രത്യേകതയാണ്.
ഫാ.സതീഷിന്റെ പ്രഭാഷണങ്ങളുടെ വീഡിയോകളും പോഡ്കാസ്റ്റുകളും ധാരാളമായി ഇന്റര്‍നെറ്റില്‍ ലഭ്യമാണ്. 'ഗ്ലോബലൈസേഷന്‍ ആന്‍ഡ് മിലിറ്റന്‍ഡ് ഹിന്ദു നാഷണലിസം: ദ് ന്യൂ കോണ്‍ടെക്‌സറ്റ് ഫോര്‍ തിയോളജി ഇന്‍ ഇന്ത്യ' എന്ന പുസ്തകം (248 പേജുകള്‍) ദൈവശാസ്ത്ര മുന്‍കൈഎടുക്കലിനെക്കുറിച്ചു വിശദീകരിക്കുന്നു.
ഫാ.സതീഷ് ജോസഫിന്റെ ലേഖനങ്ങളില്‍ ഒന്ന് മാതൃകയ്ക്കായി.. ഒരുമിച്ചു പ്രാര്‍ഥിക്കുന്ന കുടുംബം.
The Family That Prays Together...
About my childhood family – it was mom, dad, my brother and I. Mom and dad both worked for the government. That meant financial security even though the income was meager. But what set us apart was that we were a praying family. Ours was the model family in the parish. Priest and nuns often came and dined at our home and our family was often quoted as the Christian family par excellence. We prayed each morning and night – together. Before my brother and I left to the Catholic school my parents could barely afford, we would gather together and pray. After dinner each night, we prayed again, sometimes for a good half hour. There was not a Sunday we missed mass whether it was the Cricket World Cup or plain tiredness. For the most part we prayed together and stayed together.
That was thirty years back when we were my brother and I were kids. I went on to the Seminary, was ordained in 1994 and today I am a priest of 18 years. Here is my greatest question though. Why did the family that prayed together not stay together? It happens that today my only brother is something between an agnostic and an atheist. He could care less for the Catholic Church that the stray dogs that roam the streets of India. He loves and respects me not because I am a priest but because I am his brother.
My brother is not a bad guy. There was a time when he baptized his only daughter, participated in her First Holy Communion event and even today, will drive my parents and me to church when we visit him. But at the heart of his passion are the people of Bhopal, who was affected by the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984. The Union Carbide factory (now Dow Chemicals) spewed poisonous gas and thousands of people died while others remain affected for decades or even generations to come. This population was neither compensated justly nor their needs met adequately. My brother works for the government during the week and on the weekends, he'd rather be with the people in their struggle cope with daily life than being at Church.
You may ask why he could not do both? 'Because,' he says, 'the church is only interested in getting people to church! The question is why does the church not go the people?' He was referring to the local church's lack of involvement in the struggles of the people of Bhopal. At other times he has said to me, 'There is a reason why Mother Teresa has been already a saint and Archbishop Oscar Romero will never be. I think it is because one took care of the poor whereas the others questioned the system that creates the poor. Where is the church and on whose side is the church today?'
I know numerous once-upon-a-time-church-going-people who think similarly. They are young and adults alike whose alienation from the church is a moral stance. The abuse crisis and the immunity of top leadership, the concentration of decision making in the hands of a male dominated hierarchy, the unwillingness to even dialogue about women priesthood, and even the recent liturgical changes are among the reasons why some have alienated themselves from the church.
Our archdiocese is embarking on a major initiative called 'Christ at the Center.' The goal is to 'explore the challenges that families face today and discover with one another viable tool and methods for evangelizing and ministering to the church of the home.' Perhaps, one of the assumptions of this initiative is that if we can educate the parents about faith, then children will keep the faith.
My experience tells me that educating families in faith and providing them the resources for evangelizing and ministering to the church of the home, while beneficial, is not a panacea for a vibrant church community. Because, if I consider my family, the family that prayed together did not necessarily stay together. For that, the church too must change. For example, the church must ask itself if its paternalistic organizational structure is healthy for its own good? Is the silencing and excommunication of reasonable theological voices the best way to deal with dissent? We made organizational changes as a result of the abuse crisis – but have we been church to the victims and their families the way Christ would? In the recent liturgical changes did we settle for uniformity rather than unity? Why do people who migrate to evangelical churches talk about their faith journey in the Catholic Church as devoid of the experience of God? Why do scores of people find themselves spiritually starved after their weekly celebration of the Eucharist? These are the kinds of questions that people who grew up Catholic and have since conscientiously alienated themselves from the church are asking.
Meanwhile, my parents and numerous elderly parents who hurt because their children have left the church have their question, 'What did we do wrong?' I often say to them, 'It is not your fault.' My family prayed together too but did not stay together in faith. That makes is sad for my family and for my church.
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