Br. Joseph Thermadom
Initially, in 1994, I was not keen on learning the Catechism. However, in 2001, I received an award from the Diocesan Catechetical Commission in the written examination on Catechism organized by Syro-Malabar Oriental Rite Diocese of Kalyan (Bombay). I should say that it was the beginning of my desire to dedicate my life as a priest. I was scared to ask my parents for my desire. Initially, face of mom Rosy showed the disgust, dad Thomas kept silently and my elder brother Stalin was surprised. Parents told me that handicapped people cannot become priests. That made me sad. I thought that I will remain single only and work like a Missionary but single life is not possible for me. In my daily prayer I asked Jesus what He wanted me to be. My desire to become a priest was rekindled when mom told me that a blind person was ordained a priest in my home state in Kerala , India on 27th December, 2006. Now, my family members are happy for my desire.
We asked my desire to our parish priest, Fr. Thomas Puthiyaparambil. He encouraged us to keep praying for path of priesthood life. I tried to become priest in India , but there was no diocese or congregation willing to accept me as a candidate because there are not seminaries which have the facility and faculty for the deaf. Once again, I was sad. I was surprised to know that there are deaf priests in USA through my elder deaf brother, Stalin who studied in Gallaudet University . So, I enquired a congregation in USA for applying the priesthood studies, but it did not accept me because I am an international. That hurt me a lot. Finally, Stalin told my uncle priest, Fr. Joy Vellattukara, who was visiting America , made contact with Fr. Brian O’Neil who was ministering to the deaf in the diocese of Camden . Fr. Brian gave Fr. Joy the contact address of Fr. Tom Coughlin. I was able to communicate with Fr. Tom and learn from him about the Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate. This religious association accepted me as a candidate, which made me an extremely happy. I was wondering how God working in this very long spiritual journey. Praise be to God.
This is intensely personal, I know that. What we are trying to do is to encourage people to see priests and brothers as human first. People (especially new vocations) need to know that priests and brothers are human and therefore still feel fear and hurt.
I was excited to enter the Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate in 9th January, 2008. After six months of entering, I experienced darkness of faith in which Mother Teresa also had it. I discussed this faith with Fr. Tom Coughlin. He gave me his life personal example. In his childhood, his father Pete taught him to swim. After few hours, he abandoned him and left. Child Tom tried to swim profusely and gained the knowledge of swimming himself. Similarly, God taught us the faith, and later he abandoned us to gain the knowledge of faith ourselves. I was amazed by the wonderful parable of Fr. Tom. So, I went through the darkness of faith in religious community and later knew the mystery of God myself. Now, sometimes, I feel tough in a religious community, but I am keeping Happiness which would guide me smoothly to attain my goal as a happy religious life. The source of my happiness is the inner chanting at every moment. The message for my chanting is either "Thank you Jesus" or "I am Sorry Jesus". Spiritual directing helps me a lot to remove the problems of my religious life.
