Another Casualty of the Mar Thoma Cross: -- Victim No. 3, Fr. George Madathiparampil

– Tom Varkey

It is unfortunate that even though Fr. George Madathiparampil is a talented and respected priest, he did not make much of a dent in his career as the Vicar General of the Diocese working with Bishop Angadiath in Chicago.

Without meaning to diminish the credit that is due to him, I have mixed feelings about his departure at best. I have a few mental glimpses of him from working with him a few years ago, though on a limited basis, during the Dallas Syro-Malabar Convention. Working side by side with him never conjured up any strong impressions about him in my mind. Certainly, he stands in huge contrast with Fr. Saji who has met martyrdom figuratively speaking standing up for the Crucifix. The history of Fr. Saji Chakkittamuriyil has been written in golden letters in the annals of the history of St. Alphonsa Church in Coppell. He will be long remembered both in Coppell and elsewhere.

No doubt, Fr. George is a talented priest. But there is a common saying that a man is known by the company he keeps. Joining with Bishop Mar Angadiath and the rest of his claver devotees, he could not have done any better. Because as Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, bad company corrupts (1 Cor. 15:33). He simply happened to be working with a bad company of misguided Syro-Malabar clerics like Bishop Angadiath and Fr. Roy Kaduppil. This seriously and negatively affected his effectiveness as a priest much less as the Vicar General for the Diocese. Needless to say, I feel nostalgic thinking of the days when Fr. Saji was here in Coppell. I am waiting for those days to return. I am longing to see a priest of his caliber and dedication and faith to show up within the Syro-Malabar arena in Chicago. But unfortunately I don't see even a remote chance on the horizon under the leadership of Bishop Mar Angadiath.

In 1 Cor. 5:11 Paul tells us: “not to keep company ... with a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a man do not even eat." The claver fanatics within the Chicago Diocese are engaged in idolatry through their honoring and imposition of the Mar Thoma Cross. So clearly, they are idol worshipers with whom Paul says we should not even mingle. This is where Fr. Madathiparampil went wrong. He had many opportunities to defend the Cross of Jesus Christ which is the Crucifix. But he failed to take advantage of the many occasions for speaking up for the Crucifix as Fr. Saji did because he did not want to ruffle the feathers of Bishop Angadiath.

Just because those in our group go wrong does not give us an excuse to condone or join them. Remember that Jesus has appointed us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Mt. 5:13-14). Therefore we have to stand up for the Crucifix representing the mystery of our salvation and the physical symbol of Christians in general and Catholics in particular world-wide. In Ex. 32:19-29 we read about the horrible sin of idolatry the Israelites committed under the leadership of Aaron in the absence of Moses who had gone up Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. The excuse he gave to Moses for succumbing to the pressure of his fellow Israelites and making the golden calf is noteworthy. In Ex. 32:22 Aaron says to Moses: “Do not be angry, my lord … you know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ … They gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

But God was angry with Aaron and therefore he never set foot on the Promised Land. We are presently faced with a Bishop and his misguided followers asking us not only to pledge allegiance to the man-made Mar Thoma Cross as the golden calf was. Fr. George Madathiparmpil was under pressure to bow to the Mar Thoma Cross as Fr. Joji is being pressured even as we speak. The pressure for him to please Bishop Angadiath may be great. But Fr. Joji and others must consider the consequences by considering what happened to Aaron and most recently to Fr. George Madathiparampil. The greatest mistake that we can make is not to learn from the mistakes of others. In 1 Cor. 10:11 we read: “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us.” We must take heed to these warnings written down in the Bible to serve as extremely valuable lessons for us. Or else we will also fall as future victims of the Mar Thoma Cross as Fr. Madathiparampil has just fallen. The greater punishment for those who go after idols like the Mar Thoma Cross will be coming in the future. There is no loss that can compare to this whopping loss – the loss of one’s soul as being warned by Jesus Christ Himself in Lk. 9:25: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world if he suffers the loss of his own soul?” We must come into grip with this lesson as we reflect on the departure of Fr. George Madathiparampil, as Victim No. 3 of the Mar Thoma Cross idol.

Praise be to the Glorious Crucifix of Jesus Christ in which we all must take pride in as nothing else can come even remotely close. There is only one genuine cross just as there is only one true God and everything else is a false god or idol. We gratefully acknowledge the services of Fr. Madathiparampil to our Diocese and wish him all the best as he exits the scene having witnessed fiasco after fiasco as the Battle for the Crucifix rages on in Garland and elsewhere in America.