Interview with Fr. Alain-Marc Nély, FSSPX, Second Assistant to Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General

 Father, you are coming back from your first visit to India. What was your initial impression of the country?

An impression of great confusion and deafening cacophony! The traffic in the streets goes in every direction in a jumble of vehicles, human beings and animals. I was struck immediately by the contrast between the elements of modernity and a life which is almost ancient. You find cows roaming freely in the financial district of Bombay! The streets are littered with heaps of refuse, in which cows, goats, dogs and poor people come to rummage in the hope of finding something to eat or to sell. As soon as you take your first steps out of the airport, you find yourself in a different world. You also discover immediately that India is a pagan, but deeply religious country. You find temples and grimacing idols everywhere. Yet, as a rule, Indians are very respectful towards the priest and willingly greet him.

 Could you give us a quick summary of your visit?

Fr. Joseph Pfeiffer, who recently joined the mission in India, welcomed me at Bombay airport. I visited our three Mass centers in the Bombay area. On the first day, I offered Mass in Malad, in a little chapel below the apartment generously placed at our disposal for our ministry in and around the city.

I also visited a small orphanage (St. Gonsalo Garcia Ashram) in Vasai, a village about an hour-and-a-half drive from Bombay. Vasai is a former Portuguese fortress. The director of this orphanage for some 80 children called upon the Society for Mass and spiritual help. I celebrated Mass for the children and the villagers in the orphanage chapel, and gave them a conference. Then I went with Fr. Pfeiffer to Bandra, where I gave another conference to some 60 faithful. Bandra is one of the most Catholic districts of Bombay.

Still in Bombay, I visited two large Catholic schools and met with their rectors, who gave me a very warm welcome. Fr. Chazal joined us after having said the Sunday Masses in Dubai and Chennai, and our two confreres took me to Mountain Mary Shrine, the great Marian shrine of Bombay, like Lourdes in France.

On Wednesday morning, I got up very early to catch the 3:30am plane for Chennai (formerly Madras, the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu) where I took the only daily connecting flight for Tuticorin. Fr. Brucciani, the prior of Palayamkottai, was waiting for me at the airport. He drove me to the priory, where I celebrated Mass in the evening.

From December 20 to January 1, I stayed in Palayamkottai and shared the life and apostolic work of our confreres. On December 21, in Nagercoil (south-east of Palayamkottai), I sang a solemn High Mass in honor of St. Thomas, the Apostle of India. From the priory to Nagercoil it is a two-hour drive on very bad roads, and we arrived back at the priory very late at night.

On Sunday, December 23, I celebrated Mass in Palayamkottai and gave a conference to the faithful.

On the 24th, I offered the midnight Mass at the priory and had the joy of baptizing Gemma, the 6-year-old daughter of one of the employees of the orphanage. We spent Christmas day at the priory, where I prepared lunch with the help of some boys from the orphanage who showed great interest in Western food.

December 26th was devoted to the children: we took them for a hike and showed them a film. In the evening, Fr. Brucciani had planned some fireworks; unfortunately they were all wet. It was a catastrophe, but we had a good laugh all the same!

I also visited the Mass centers of Christurajapuram, Tuticorin, and Singamparai. I took advantage of my stay in Tamil Nadu to meet with one vicar general and one bishop. In both cases, I was kindly welcomed, even warmly so by the bishop.

From January 1 to 4, we took the children of the orphanage to Kerala, at the Bethsaida Carmelite Monastery for a short vacation by the seaside. We went back to this Carmelite Friars Monastery for the priests' retreat which I preached from January 6 to 11.

On the evening of January 12, the orphans presented a Nativity play followed by some songs. It was a farewell ceremony since I was leaving the next day.

On January 13, I was in Chennai, and in the afternoon I was able to go and visit the "Great Mount," the spot where the Apostle St. Thomas was martyred. In the evening, I sang Mass in Chennai for some 100 to 120 people, to whom I also gave a conference. And the next morning at 3:00am I was in the plane taking off for Frankfurt. In Frankfurt, I took the connecting flight for Zurich, where two of our Sisters were kindly waiting to take me home to Menzingen.

 The SSPX has only one priory in India, in Tamil Nadu, in the south of the country?

Yes, we now have four priests stationed there. The prior is British, Fr. Robert Brucciani. He is assisted in the apostolate by Fr. Chazal, a Frenchman; Fr. Joseph Pfeiffer, an American; and Fr. Devasahayam, an Indian. Two future Indian brothers, John Peter and Anistas, live at the priory while waiting for their visas for Australia, where they will enter the novitiate at the seminary in Goulburn. A young Indian from Bombay, Marcus, who has spent 11 years in England, is staying at the priory until March, when he will begin his first year of study at the seminary of Goulburn. I will meet them all again then since I will preach the retreat for the beginning of the academic year at Holy Cross Seminary.

From Palayamkottai, our confreres minister to about 20 Mass centers, one of them in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. Of course, all these centers do not receive the visit from the priest every Sunday.

We are also helped by three Indian priests: Fr. Pancrace takes care of Christurajapuram, where we have a church and a little school with some 40 students, and two elderly priests help us by offering Mass in Tuticorin and Chennai.

 What is the size of the Mass centers?

I only visited 9 Mass centers. In the Bombay area, Vasai, and Bandra have about 100 faithful. Malad (where the priests usually stay) only has about 40 faithful. I would think that, as a rule, the groups are between 40 people for the smallest centers, and 100 to 120 for the largest.

 Is there hope for Tradition in India?

There is certainly potential everywhere. The arrival of a fourth priest at the priory makes it possible to develop the apostolate in the north. Up to now our apostolate was mainly concentrated upon the State of Tamil Nadu.

 What difficulties do you meet with in the apostolate in India?

As everywhere else, we do not have enough priests, and the places where we celebrate Mass are at a fair distance from the priory–this does not make the apostolate easier. What is more, in this country, the roads are most of the time in a dilapidated state, and people drive crazily without paying heed to any road rules. We only have two cars at the priory: an old Ambassador, the mythic car in India, and a small Tata, far too fragile, in my opinion, to compete with the famous "T-Rex" (trucks and buses) who impose their law on the roads in India. I suggested the purchase of a four-wheel drive, which would make traveling easier, and a lot safer.

The climate is very hot during six months of the years. My visit took place in winter, and I can tell you it was already quite hot, between 75°F and 85°F. The insalubrious living conditions are dangerous for Westerners, who often find it hard to adjust to the country. You must constantly be careful about water and food. Many people's health does not stand up to it.

As I told you at the beginning, India is a pagan country yet a very religious one. As a rule, Catholics are very much attached to their parishes and very few understand the problem of the crisis of the Church inasmuch as most of them are very simple and uneducated. However, there is much inculturation in parishes. You see pictures and statues of Christ in the Lotus position everywhere.

The religion of Vatican II does not establish the necessary rupture between paganism and Christianity, hence many Catholics yield to the general atmosphere of religiosity and touch and kiss the statues, just as the pagans do with their idols. It is of the utmost importance to instruct and to educate people in the Faith in order to make a clear distinction between Catholicism and paganism. There are gods everywhere, and people are confused.

The priory of Palayamkottai was built by an American, Fr. Blute, who made it look like the White House... Inside, however, it is not quite American comfort. There is no hot water; you must take cold showers. Power cuts are frequent–one morning I had to shave with the light from my cell phone. It was still dark and there was no electricity. My confreres were highly amused. The installation is very basic; in the bedrooms there is only a bed, a table and a chair, no closet or wardrobe, just some plaster shelves. It is truly a mission house. However, it is well designed. In the center of the house you have a lawn in the open, and all around the rooms open onto the lawn or onto balconies overlooking the lawn.

 What is the apostolate at the priory?

It concentrates mainly on the school and the project of a boarding school for the boys of the orphanage. The orphans, 14 boys and 11 girls age 7 to 15, receive their schooling at the priory. The eldest boys also stay at the priory on occasion.

 The orphanage?

Yes, I think most of your readers already know a little about Swarna, a young Indian woman who opened an orphanage in the State of Uttar Pradesh. She discovered Tradition and moved her orphanage near our priory in order to have Mass and the spiritual assistance of our priests. She is presently a novice with the Consoling Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Italy. Before leaving, she entrusted the direction of the orphanage to a young French woman who is assisted by a Sister from the Institute of the Consoling Sisters of the Sacred Heart and by four young Indian women, companions of Swarna, who are postulants in the same Institute. They also take care of a few elderly or handicapped people.

At present, they are renting an old house, but they have purchased a piece of land and are about to begin building their orphanage. The Sisters plan on keeping the orphan girls, and we are considering building a boarding school at the priory to accommodate the boys.

 You were on the camp with the children. What are these young Indians like?

They are very affectionate, very sweet, very pious, and very generous in prayer and for the service of Mass. They take good care of the chapel. I was edified by their good behavior and spontaneous piety. When you ask our young orphans what they want to be, all the boys tell you they want to be priests, and all the girls want to become Sisters! At the priory, we have a 15-year-old boy of outstanding piety, and we are hoping to be able to send him to one of our schools in the United States next year, so that he may get a good education with a view to the priesthood.

 You preached a priests' retreat...

Six priests followed the retreat, four SSPX priests and two priests who are friends and help out with the Masses in Tuticorin.

 What are the reactions to the Motu Proprio in India?

I have only a very limited knowledge of the question. As a rule, the clergy of Bombay are very poorly informed concerning the Motu Proprio. The archbishop of Bombay simply did not speak about it. As in many other dioceses throughout the world, priests and bishops seem to be rather uneasy about this Motu Proprio. Some did not hide their hostility and determination not to take any account of it. On the other hand, a bishop considered that the pope had spoken and that we should submit. I also met a priest who has an important responsibility and whose ideas are rather close to ours. He had studied for the priesthood in France and is reading much about the Mass. I believe he is looking towards the Society. That is about all I could gather from my contacts, but Fr. Brucciani could certainly tell you more on this subject.

This article reprinted with permission from Christendom (Jan.-Feb. 2008), published by DICI, the international news bureau of the SSPX. It is available on line at www.dici.org.