Behind ‘A Special Photograph’ (BJEP004)

 



- The First Liners -

By mid 1982, ‘The First Line’ started meeting every month at Vidyaniketan College, near Kacheripady, Ernakulam. The reason for choosing that place was simple. On the third floor of the college building the 17 high school students were staying and I was in charge of the batch. So, that became an easy location for young leaders from all over Kerala to come and meet.

After a few meetings at Kacheripady we found a very quiet place to meet. That was Snehanilayam, Kakkanad. A special education school run by religious sisters most of whom were from Europe. By early 1983 we came to a pattern, of meeting on the Friday, before the third Saturday of every month and leave on Sunday. For organizational purposes the renewal activities were initially organized in 14 zones in Kerala and our youth activities were also conducted in these zones. Most zones had a second Saturday zonal youth gathering and the leaders would meet next Friday.


The First Line meetings were more like an intimate family gathering. All were so eager to gather together every month, as it was a caring and joy-filled gathering. Organizational part was easy because there were quite a few from the locality, that is Ernakulam. Augustine, Mathachan, KK Joseph, P V Marykutty, T O Antony, V J Antony, Reena, Edward, Kochuthresia, Rocky and so on were from St Teresa’s Wednesday prayer group and every Wednesday we had been meeting. We had a feeling that the whole First Line project was our initiative and a host of other volunteers from Wednesday group like Anil, Ginil, Johnson and lot of others were there to make all arrangements. In brief, we did everything in the mode of a friendly family initiative.

There were some elders we could always turn to. Fr Abraham Pallivathukal was the foremost. He had become the main coordinating leader for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Kerala and soon the Chairman of KST, its coordinating body. Mr. VT George and Mr. James Abraham were big supporters. And there were so many others we could turn to for guidance and help.

And what would we do, when we gathered on the third weekends of every month? Snehanilayam was a
cozy little place, with very friendly sisters, a nice little chapel, a good kitchen and dining place and a large hall for us to gather. Of course, there was halls with rows of beds to spend the night. All of us had such freedom and space for prayer, quiet time and a lot of interaction.

While there, most of the time everyone was talking. We had plenty time to update on all that was happening in our lives and almost no formal teachings or trainings. All would talk about what each of them was doing in their respective places and then many would share their thoughts and inspirations. When we parted on Sunday each one had a bundle of thoughts and ideas to take back.

And a final thought: What were the outcomes of this leaders’ fellowship? Over the years different layers of youth leaders were built up all over the state by this little group. We also had some focused training programs like Know Yourself Program. This four-day camp was held in different parts of Kerala giving self-awareness and leadership training to hundreds of leaders. But the most Signiant contribution of the First Line was the organization of “Jesus Youth ‘85” as part of the 1985 Youth Year celebration. While this group built up a movement, this program contributed the name.


Another related blog post: 

Who were the members?

https://edward-edezhath.blogspot.com/2024/07/who-were-initial-members-of-1882-first.html

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