"I, PIME priest, from India to the Philippines"
Fr Sundeep Kumar Pulindindi is originally from Eluru, Andhra Pradesh. So far, he has been responsible for education at the local seminary, where he served as dean. "We must pay more attention to the training of our young people, get their trust," know the problems people experience.
Rome (AsiaNews) – "I am ready for the adventure of the mission, which to me means directly knowing people and their problems,” said Fr Kumar Pulindindi, an Indian priest with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME).
He spoke to AsiaNews about his vocation and the work he has done so far as an educator, but also of his deep desire to go on mission.
He lived in the Philippines for four years, including the slum of Bucandala and the city of Arakan, in Cotabato province, which is where he learnt what mission means.
"That experience shaped my spirituality,” he explained. “People require incarnation. We cannot speak abstractly of the poor, the marginalised and the needy. We have to live, sleep and eat with them. Only this way can we know the faces and names of those for whom we pray, those whom we recommend to God."
Fr Sundeep Kumar, 34, is a native of Eluru, Andhra Pradesh. He calls himself a "son" of PIME. Born in the local hospital run by the Missionaries of the Immaculate (female congregation associated with PIME), he did all his studies in the schools run by the missionaries, from elementary to the seminary.
Speaking about his vocation, he said that there are two fundamental reasons for his "mission calling". The first he calls "automatic" because he was steeped from an early age in the priests’ environment. The second he describes as "motivational", coming from having seen and experienced the missionary spirit.
"Their stories,” he explains, “have inspired me to do abroad what they came to do in India. It was a desire that matured in me since childhood. I wanted to follow their example. PIME had come to my country to evangelise, and I want to do the same in places where Christ has not yet gone."
For him, the mission is "always an exciting challenge." "It's easier,” he says, “to spread Christ’s teachings in one’s own land, among people of one’s own culture. I could do it sitting at a desk in front of the computer, using means of communication such as Skype, Whatsapp or Facebook."
However, what prompted him to join a missionary institute "is the challenge of the adventure." He claims to be ready for this "adventure", which will take him back to the Philippines.
So far he has been involved in education, including the position of dean at the Valarpirai-St. Thomas Formation House. "There is a big difference,” he says, “between training others and training oneself."
As for his education, he is grateful to have had the opportunity of attending the Gregorian University’s summer school for three years. "For me, it was an important moment of spiritual growth during which I had time to reflect on my vocation, my human dimension. It helped me in an extraordinary way."
The courses have made him better understand how to deal with the difficulties of today’s youth. "I was appointed vice dean at the age of 31. I was very young. And for a young man it is more difficult to gain the attention and respect of other young people."
For this reason, "the only way to get into their minds and their hearts is by putting oneself at their level and bear witness with one’s own life what one is trying to teach. It is not enough to say what one must do; one must also put it into practice."
Ultimately, to be a good missionary, "one also has to be taught well. Therefore, one has to have good educators."
Still, "There is a risk,” he believes, “that all the missionaries might go abroad, and no one is eft at home to train seminarians. We must not forget the young, because it is at their age that the desire for the mission forms. This too is the mission; indirect but still mission."
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03/02/2020 16:40
