It has become quite common and convenient to extol the virtues of great men and women in history, write eulogies for them and idolize them, while overlooking the concerns and commitments that many of them valued. In these times when the church has been turned into an institution which is used for once self-aggrandizement, to talk of Bishop Benjamin and many others of his generation is to recover that church which once dedicated itself to serve the poor and the downtrodden.
Bishop Benjamin and other members of his family, of the same generation, embodied that which was laudable about the missionary tradition founded by missionary societies such as the CMS, that which we today would understand as the authentic identity of the church. For them, our calling as a community of Jesus Christ was essentially for mission and that too, for preaching the good news to the poor. Hence, church was not an institution that would live for itself but for others, especially those who are marginalized and poor.
Having distinguished himself as pastor and administrator par excellence and earned quite a name for himself, Arch Deacon T. K. Benjamin, Bishop Benjamin’s father, decided to do something that was not “respectable” in the sight of the world but holy in the sight of the lord. Though he had inherited the ancestral home in Maramon as the youngest son of the family, he decided to pitch his tent in a small village largely inhabited by Dalit Christians and known for its strong anti-caste moorings, named Kunnamthanam, near Pullad. Here, he spent the rest of his retired life serving the Dalit congregation, empowering them and nurturing them in the knowledge and love of Christ. I have very little memory of my grandfather, but today I am deeply appreciative of the privilege of growing up and going to school with my Dalit brothers and sisters, and being taught Sunday school by Dalit elders who eked out a living by hard agricultural labour.
The Arch Deacon was part of a larger protestant missionary tradition that had taken root in Travancore and Malabar in the 19th century and had produced social reformers like the Late. Rev. George Matthan. He was the inheritor of a history that witnessed missionaries campaigning for the abolition of caste practices and slavery, providing sanctuary for runaway Dalit slaves escaping from the fields of Syrian Christian and Nair masters, and arguing for control on the “proud and contentious” Syrian Christians from treating the church as their personal fiefdom.
Bishop Benjamin and his siblings were not untouched by the conviction and history that guided their father. All of them, in their own walks of life, bore witness to this tradition. Bishop Benjamin’s first cousin and late. Rev. T. K. Joseph’s daughter, Sr. Rachel Joseph, along with Sr. Edith Nieve, became instrumental in establishing the Bethel Ashram, through which, efforts were made to empower women and children, those who were otherwise considered lesser than humans in a caste ridden and patriarchal society. Bishop Benjamin’s two sisters, Sr. Mariam Benjamin and Sr. Anna Benjamin, also devoted their life for the educational ministry of the church despite possessing qualifications and degrees that would have given promising career opportunities at the time. His two brothers, Prof. T. B. Ninan and Prof. T. B. Thomas, also chose the same path and made distinctive contribution towards higher education in Kerala. Another of his brother, my father, Mr. T. B. John, though did not have the eminence of any of his brothers or sisters, was a staunch supporter of the ‘Separation Movement’ and believed that the Dalit Christians would never get justice within the fold of the church from a dominating, self-serving Syrian Christian population.
Growing up in such a familial context, it is not surprising that following his graduation from the Union Christian College, Bishop Benjamin chose to become a teacher at the Alwaye Settlement, which was an orphanage cum school for Dalit children. Even as a student of Union Christian College, he used to organize night classes in the mess hall of the North East Hostel for the Dalit children of the locality. He never thought of becoming a minister of the church until he was convinced that the same ministry could be carried forward with greater vigor and sense of calling within the fold of the church as an ordained minister. He began his pastoral ministry, as a church worker in Erathumbamon, among the Koravas who had embraced Christianity. His first posting after becoming an ordained minister was Ranni, which was, at that time, a totally Dalit parish. After having served in Christ Church, Trivandrum for a long period, when he was called back to serve as the Vicar of Cathedral Church in Kottayam by the Late. Bishop M. M. John, it is said that he asked the Bishop for a smaller parish like the one at Katampackal, which was largely again a Dalit parish. He had privately shared with me his strong feelings on how Dalit Christians were successively, methodically and surreptitiously marginalized in the church.
As the reins of ecclesiastical power in the Anglican Church went into the hands of Syrian Christian clergy and laity, Dalit Christians began to be excluded from the church in a more organized manner. Dalit congregations were least cared for and churches were in ruins. While Kunnanthanam congregation with a membership of 200 families was an outstation and provided only with an evangelist, the Povathoor congregation with a membership of 25 families was the head station with a presbyter in charge. The only difference between the two was while the former was a Dalit Christian congregation; the latter was a Syrian Christian congregation. The Kunnanthanam church today is reduced to a membership of 50 families as a result of pastoral neglect, “sheep stealing” by the Pentocstal churches and the coming into existence of a break away church under the leadership of late Rev. Stephen who was forced to leave the church ignominiously.
Similar is the story of Kallumalla Lower Primary School. In the sixties, under the initiative of the Central Kerala Diocese, Bishop Moore College was founded in the land of the Dalit congregation in Kallumala. And subsequently, Bishop Moore Vidhyapeeth English Medium School was established in the same mission property amidst big fanfare. New boundary walls were built and enormous profits were made. So much profits that the church went on to build a couple of other Vidyapeeths which catered to the educational requirements of the middle class in their respective areas. However, just outside the main gate of the Bishop Moore College, like Lazarus outside the rich man’s gate, there was the Kallumala Lower Primary School which was founded by the missionaries to meet the educational needs of the Dalit children in the locality, neglected and in ruins. No churchmen and no laity found anything incompatible and incongruent in this situation. After all, we live in times when church is more interested in running institutions that can pour in profits. Neglected and in ruins, during the last monsoon, the school finally collapsed. Can we show more disrespect than this to the legendary stalwarts who stood for Dalit liberation within the tradition of our church?
Throughout his ministry, Bishop Benjamin was always conscious of all this and many a times he silently sympathized with those struggles within the church that questioned the casteist ways in which the Syrian Christians asserted their power in the church. I recall with much gratitude the silent support he had given me when I was involved in the Faith Movement for Liberation in the Central Kerala Diocese and had to face the ire of the powers that be. As a young ordained minister, it was surely a time of test for me and if not for the encouragement of people like Bishop Benjamin, I would have left the Church for the sake of Christ. While he had the limitations of actively supporting the Faith Movement for Liberation, he kept abreast of the developments and several times visited those who were fasting outside the Diocesan Office gates. He enjoyed and used to share with intimate circles my repartee to those who questioned my standing on a motor bike and addressing a gathering that Jesus also stood on a boat and preached to the crowd.
As the Bishop of North Kerala Diocese, a Diocese with a distinct mission history, different from that of the CMS and riddled with dissentions and strife, he was unwavering in his convictions as to where the church had to be led to and he pursued it with diligence. Though coming from an Anglican background, he was very respectful of the Basel mission tradition and he worked with the people of that tradition with great sympathy and understanding and was able to win their heart. As a bishop, he gave most of his time to the diocese and never tried to establish his fame far and wide. He was truly a father in God to the ministers and the people in the pew.
During his tenure in North Kerala Diocese, he used to attend all the district and diocesan youth conferences without fail, as a silent participant. He enjoyed the enthusiasm and idealism that emanated from the youth and recognized its immense value for the church. Once, in a youth conference, the students challenged the church leadership on taking money for appointment of teachers in the diocesan schools. The clergy and the leadership of the conference tried very hard to mitigate the importance of the issue and defend the church leadership. At the point, Bishop Benjamin came forward and said that if money was being taken for appointment of teachers, then it was a rather serious issue which the church could not ignore, and should be dealt with sufficient seriousness. The response to this from the youth was overwhelming. There was much applause and jubilation from their end. This was the way Bishop Benjamin approached the youth and took their criticism. Unfortunately, today we have bishops who are intolerant of criticism, quick to silence the youth, and have no qualm in demanding donations for appointment of teachers.
His life and that of Kochamma were never ostentatious or extravagant but extremely simple and unpretentious. They did not have much wants and was content with what they had and at his retirement, it was under much persuasion that he accepted a Fiat car for his travels as a retired bishop.
During intimate conversations, when he shares about his disappointments with church, he is very much aware of a world that is under going rapid changes and the need to meet them with greater accommodation and understanding. He is able to take present tragedies, personal or that of the church, with equanimity and courage with the beatific vision of a God who is “sitting on a throne high and lifted up.” He never airs his critical perspectives of the present day state of affairs of the church, but looks at them with a certain amount of sarcasm born out of a strong conviction in God’s ultimate providence and the vanity of all that is happening around. I have in him an uncle, who could understand and respect the struggles and agony of a person of a younger generation to live out his faith in a relevant and meaningful way. While he is mostly silent these days, he understands more than what we think and articulate them in short and loaded words. I do not wish that I should have a long life like Bp. Benjamin had but I wish, I will have life of contentment and peace that he enjoys ultimately hinging on unshakable faith and hope in God’s providence and love.
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