Father Shaiju Chacko of India notes the modesty of Canadians as something which is sticking out for him. (Richard MacKenzie photo)

Share

Tweet

For Father Shaiju Chacko of India, his Coady International Institute experience started with a family reunion.
Chacko came to Canada a week early and made his way to Brampton, Ont. to spend time with family, some of whom he had never met.
“Those who were born here never knew me,” Chacko said of cousins and other distant relatives living in the southern Ontario city.
“It was one week of great coming together. I became a kind channel for two families to get together.”
His return trip to India will include another stop in Brampton and, as he gleefully notes, another celebration of family.
In the meantime however, he is soaking in as much of the learning and other experiences available from the Coady and all of St. F.X.
“If I take the larger experience of being on campus at St. F.X., I find it very welcoming,” Chacko said.
“We had the impression that when the students came in, almost 4,000, we would be lost… like a drop in the ocean. But we’ve found it’s very inclusive.
“We never felt alien because we’re sort of the mature students here and we’re not students for graduation. We find the interaction is there.”
Engaging younger people is something Chacko tries to do back home in his work. In those cases, it’s youth seven or eight years younger than the average university student and it’s those living in remote, rural settings.
“I need to engage them in a way that I can bring them into the mainstream,” he said. “Have them forming into groups and providing them with employable skills.”
Working in rural, spread-out locations is one of Chacko’s challenges back home as well as in a region of such cultural and religious diversity.
Chacko was ordained in 2004 following earning a degree and his years of formation.
He works mostly in schools for the Diocese of Jammu – Srinagar in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It’s the northern most part of India and borders with both Pakistan and China.
He described the state as “huge” with about 12,000 Catholics spread throughout.
“Micro-minority, we could say,” his response when asked about the minority status of his religion. “It’s very challenging.”
However, doing his work, such as trying to provide youngsters with more options and hope, crosses religious lines, he said.
He notes his current institution’s namesake as being as inspiration.
“Father Moses Coady, as a priest, he could come out of the religious structure and reach out to people,” Chacko said. “Religion was not a barrier for him… spirituality and religion made a lot of sense to him.”
Making an impression on him now is what he sees as the modesty of Canadians. A modesty, he said, that can be seen even from those in highest ranking roles.
He talked about the easy-going and inclusive nature he observed from dignitaries such as Antigonish MLA Maurice Smith and St. F.X. president Sean Riley during recent functions.
“That’s something we don’t always find back home and it’s an approach I would like to take back,” Chacko said. “We’re always told you will take something of Antigonish back home so for me, it’s the modesty, simplicity and humility from people of higher ranks.”