Page 442 - page.qxd

Milestones

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS OF

KNANAYA CHURCH

As we are celebrating the first anniversary of the inauguration of
the first Knanaya Catholic Parish outside Kerala, it is only
appropriate to take a look at our humble beginnings.
Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln and
many others have one thing in common. When you thump through the pages
of history books or biographies, the image that sticks in your mind about
these great men and women from all walks of life is that of their humble
beginning, thus gaining our admiration.
We admire them for what they did for humanity and not for what they
didn't do or could have done. They had the vision and determination to make
changes in people's lives through their actions.
Early Knanaya immigrants can tell you many stories of their humble
Sabu Mutholath beginnings in this greatest country on God's green earth. Before the mass
influx in the 90's, the pioneers of our community can tell you about the
countless hours they had spent looking for the cheapest apartment to live in,
We admire them for the cheapest car, etc. because that's all they could afford. From that humble
beginning, they built their little empires and moved on to bigger and better
what they did for mansions.
humanity and not for On numerous occasions I have heard a phrase repeated especially by our
what they didn't do or men. I would imagine that in an effort to teach their children humbleness,
they would say in a proud and firm voice, “When I came to this country, I
could have done. They only had $11 in my pocket” or a similar version. A vast majority of us who
had the vision and migrated to this country can say with pride that we did not come with a sil-
ver spoon in our mouth, rather $11 or less in our pockets. That is the story
determination to make of our personal humble beginning; now let's talk about our parish's.
Based on our current socioeconomic standards, one can easily argue that
changes in people's Maywood may not be the ideal place for our community. However, since we
lives through their proudly claim to be Christians, shouldn't our mission be to spread Jesus'
actions. teachings of tolerance, humbleness, and simplicity and try to influence oth-
ers' lives in a positive manner? What better place for that mission to take
place than Maywood? The simple fact of the matter is that this is the best
we could afford at the time. Let's do the most with what we have.
I can tell you with confidence that our presence in Maywood, albeit
short, already had profound impact in the local community. Let me illustrate
my point with an example.
One of our neighbors, most likely recognizing our growing need and
also seeing an opportunity to better himself, offered to sell his property with
a house for $200,000. Although we have no need for any more houses, we
certainly could use the land for additional parking. Well, the word must have
gotten out somehow, before anybody could react and initiate a negotiation
process on behalf of the parish, some astute business person within our com-
munity recognized the golden opportunity (must be the Jewish side of our
ancestry) called and offered $300,000 within a matter of hours. Low and
behold, by 2 O'clock that afternoon, the asking price had shot up to a whop-
ping $400,000 plus. (Of course, I am not oblivious to the possible motiva-
tion behind this.) Isn't this a testimony of our influence in a community?
What an impact our presence makes! Now, this is what I call economic reju-
venation.
From a personal standpoint, I consider myself fortunate and blessed to
442 ZihÕc kvarXn