After the seminary-becoming human and free for mission today
Saturday 16th May 2026 - Augustine Vattoly
Join Root & Branch for a thought-provoking and challenging dialogue in our ‘Breaking Silence’ series to hear from Augustine Vattoly, a priest of the Syro-Malabar Church, in Kerala Sate, India.
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He says “I entered the seminary ‘full of love for Jesus’. By the time I left ‘they made sure that not one particle of Jesus remained in me’. I was ‘devoid of the consciousness you should have’ as a fellow human being.”
Recently resigning from parish ministries in the Ernakulam-Angamaly diocese, saying in his resignation letter that “too much power is concentrated in the hands of the men in mitres”.
Vattoly is no stranger to protest and refuses to be silenced. He has campaigned against a Coca Cola plant in Kerala, and demonstrated against Franco Mullakkal, the former Bishop of Jalandhar accused of raping a nun and very recently in support of nurses striking for better pay at the archdiocese’s flagship hospital.
In conversation with Root & Branch’s own Penelope Middelboe, Vattoly will speak about his belief and values about what it is to be human and what it means to fully live a Christian life. We're also delighted that Kochurani Abraham, a well known Indian feminist theologian, will also join us.