Members of our Moolamannil clan got together on Saturday, January 14, 2023, in the community hall of Palazzo Flat in Devalokam, Kottayam. Getting our clan members together in one place at one time is like herding cats and dogs; all the cajoling, coaxing, and encouraging efforts of my brother, Chachayan (Jacob Mathews), and my youngest cousin, Subin (Subin Manuel), worked beautifully, as more than 55 members of our Family representing five generations came and enjoyed being with each other. Some cousins saw each other for the first time in their life. Some of us are shocked to find our cousins are like us, older, rather than in their teens, with whom we had played together at our Karackal house when we boys were in our knickers with suspenders and our girl cousins in skirts and blouses with hair braided behind. Those memories evoked certain nostalgia about the good old days of our innocence and beginning. It gave all of us time to be with each other and to catch up on each other's lives, both the ups and downs and the twists and turns of our individual and Family life journeys.
As I continue to reflect on our most recent Family Meet, I begin to wonder what it is that brings us back together, again and again, every few years or so. With memories of our early years fading into the past and as all but a few members of our parents' precious generation are now gone, I become worried and anxious if we ever feel the same affinity for our Family and if we ever can draw meaning from our collective past as we once did. What we share in common among us is our love for the family matriarch Moolamannil Ammamachi, regard for the great grandparents Oommachen Ooramelil and Mariamma Moolamannil, and our deep respect and reverence for our grandparents' generation, whom I call the original six, the Rev. M. O. Koshy, Dr. M. O. Chacko, the Rev. Dr. M. O. Thomas, M. O. Aleyamma (Aleyamma Mathew Kurunthotical), Dr. M. O. Cherian, and Dr. M. O. Sossamma (Sossamma Philip). Ammamachi and our great-grandparents were stalwart individuals of their time, wielding much influence in church and society. They raised six children who make up one side of our grandparents. All of them made a name for themselves. Two became Priests, one a well-revered faith healing practitioner in the Mar Thoma Church and the other a double doctorate theologian and pastor in the Anglican Church in Canada; three of them became medical doctors and served in Ceylon, Madras, and Andhra Pradesh, respectively, and one became a prominent church and community leader in Kozhenchery. While our great-grandparents serve as the core or the trunk of our family tree, the original six comprise the six branches from which form the succeeding generations we are all part. We are indebted to our ancestors for a heritage of spirituality, vision, and bravery. They were trailblazers. We remembered them at our Family Meets with much love and admiration.
A unique feature of our Family Meet on January 14, 2023, was the release of a book, 'Guided By Grace,' by Rahael Koshy Jalan (Kumari), the second daughter of the late M. K. Koshy/son of the late Rev. M.O. Koshy (Valiappachen). Rev. M. O. Koshy, the eldest of the Moolamannil siblings, our grandfather, was revered as an elder, healer, parish priest, and seer in his home village of Karakkal, Kerala, and beyond. Fortunately for our Family, he maintained a diary and wrote in it regularly about his bible readings, experiences, and visions.
The book 'Guided by Grace' is our effort to pass on our grandfather's teachings to future generations. My brother, Mr. Jacob Mathews, and I shared some of our insights and what we had seen as children growing up in the Moolamannil family home. We are privileged to record some of our memories of events we witnessed.
A previous Malayalam Book written about the late Rev. M. O. Koshy by his eldest son, Mr. M.K. Oommen, sheds light on him as a public person, an Achen (priest) who shepherds different churches and in his healing ministry. In 'Guided By Grace,' the reader will see Valliappachen not only as an Achen in public ministry but also as a father, grandfather, sibling, and family man. He was a man serving God but also a vulnerable human being. Kumari powerfully portrays the emotional bond between Valiappachen and her dad by quoting excerpts from Valiappachen's letters to her dad. She believes that her father's faith which he had expressed to her mother at the time of his premature death, 'Don't worry about my children, God will take care of them,' has more than been borne out today. She shows that there was a meaningful relationship between Valiappachen and her father, which had an impact on him and, thereby, on their Family.
By including a new English translation of the Malayalam Book written earlier by the late M. K. Oommen and Appachen's voluminous hand-written notes, which Appachen noted that he received in visions late at night for preaching at church services and other occasions, we now have an almost comprehensive account of the words and history of our Valliappachen, the late Rev. M. O. Koshy. This book will be an eyewitness account of our grandfather's life, ministry, and times, the Rev. M.O. Koshy, to future generations.
See www.koshyachen.com for the most recent testimonials from witnesses.
Our Family originated in Karackal, a few miles west of Thiruvalla in Kerala. However, we no longer have the Tharavadu (the Karthomparampil/Moolamannil family house) or a family member who now lives in Karackal. In place of a Tharavadu/family home, a physical location that serves as a place of belonging or a symbol that holds us together, what do we have now to lean on? What keeps us together? How will our future generation know they are born into a world that existed before they came? Do we have memories of our previous generations that we can impart to our coming generation? Don't we owe to prior generations for our identity, faith, and proud heritage? While an occasional gathering like the one we just had in Kottayam is ideal, it is impractical to expect members of our clan, now spread out across the globe, to be in one place at a time. However, we must continue to do our best to use our voices and our ability to transcend distances in today's global connectivity. We can and must make a difference! We can prevent our family name and heritage from fading into anonymity and eventually becoming oblivion. We can keep this lamp burning, these memories alive. In doing so, we cultivate an understanding of our identity and make meaning of our past.
It is gratifying to know some of the members who gave leadership for our last Family meeting on January 14, 2023, belongs to Gen X and Gen Z generations. Subin Manuel and his wife Priya Manuel, the youngest from our generation or the second generation from the original six, organized and conducted the Family Meet. It was a huge responsibility, but they did it with so much love and care. Another person we must be grateful to be Jithu Thomas George, a third-generation member from the generation of the original six. He copied Valliappachen's original hand-written sermon notes and digitized them for English translation. Maxwell Thomas (Tebby), also belonging to the third generation, did the painstaking work of putting in all the names of our large Family Tree members. Marissa Manuel, probably the youngest of the third generation, single-handedly presented our families' video at the Meet. Their participation and passionate engagement in the Family Meet are hopeful signs that the Moolamannil – Oorammelil Family Meet is here to stay, whether in person or via zoom, hopefully for the foreseeable future!
