By Patricia Mukhim
SHILLONG: Every person’s rendezvous with death is unpredictable. Death met Archbishop Jala on Highway 20 of the Colusa County, California. The Archbishop and Fr Matthew Vellankal were seated in the front seats of a Toyota Prius, with the latter at the driving wheel. Another priest, Father Joseph Parekkatt of St. Anne Parish in Walnut Creek was injured. He was seated at the back. Fr Joseph is recuperating at Santa Rosa Hospital.
The Toyota pulled up in front of an oncoming tractor-trailer on Highway 20 while making a turn from Highway 16. The Toyota car was broadsided (meaning a collision of T-bone accident where the front of one car or truck crashes into the side of another vehicle). The sheer impact of the collision killed the two friends in the front seats. Never in his wildest dreams could Archbishop Jala have ever imagined that was how he would go to the Lord.
Of a quiet demeanour but perspicacious and sound in his judgment of issues, Archbishop Jala was a man of few words. His sermons which were short and crisp were very well thought out and tailored for the occasion and always delivered in a conversational tone. For those of us in the media, he was the go-to person when we would be looking for sane views and appeals for peace and calm when the city passed through any crises. It was a learning experience to interact with the Archbishop. As a widely travelled person he was a citizen of the world and his worldview was as broad as his understanding of the need for human co-existence.
The Catholic congregation of Meghalaya as indeed the country and the world will miss this shepherd who gave his all to lead his flock during periods of calm and tumult.
It is not easy to lead the church inasmuch as it is a challenge to maintain the equilibrium inside the church.
Any human society of which the church is a part has its faults and failings. Often the cracks are camouflaged to make things appear ‘normal.’ But only the leader knows what it takes to lead a spiritual body. Archbishop Dominic Jala with his native sagacity managed to keep things in control.
His passing away leaves a huge gap in the archdiocese. People are already speculating on who the next incumbent would be. Well, the church is a hierarchy and that place will soon be filled.
What will be missed are the gentle prodding, the mentoring and the counselling to a youth that is very much in need of a listening ear and a heart that’s big enough to understand their plight and try and find solutions. No wonder a large number of young people feel the loss even more than ever.
Every Easter and Christmas, Archbishop Dominic Jala would be asked to give a message to Christians at large. He would do so with a precision that comes from a mind that understands the present needs of his flock.
The mining tragedy at Ksan on December 13, 2018, when 16 people were buried in a flooded rat hole mine, disturbed Archbishop Jala a great deal. His sermon, post the tragedy centred on the human rights of those labourers and how we should be sensitive to the needs of the poorest and the voiceless. Recently when asked by this writer why the church did not take a stronger stand on behalf of the environment, his answer was that the church uses the pulpit and all its institutions to send the message of environmental conservation based on the Papal encyclical since the church is seized of the global climate change and the impending environmental disasters that await humans and other living creatures.
This foresight and wisdom will be missed. The light has gone out. Hopefully, the all-pervasive spirit of sacrifice, patience and generosity will continue to guide those that take his place. Rest in Peace Archbishop Dominic Jala.