KERALA, India — Father Joseph C. Ayathupadam, a retired priest of the Diocese of Charlotte, passed away Saturday, April 8, 2023, in India, aged 89. Over more than 60 years of priestly ministry, Father Ayathupadam had gone with trust to wherever God called him – as parish priest, missionary, hospital chaplain, and devoted supporter of Indian Catholics in the Carolinas.
His funeral Mass will be celebrated at his childhood parish of St. Sebastian’s Church, in Neyyassery, Kerala, India, on Thursday, April 13, 2023.
Locally, a Mass for the repose of the soul of Father Ayathupadam will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 15, 2023, at St. Mary’s Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, 715 E. Arrowood Road in Charlotte.
He was born on Jan. 17, 1934, in Kerala, India, the son of Chacko Mathew Ayathupadam and Anna (Poovanthuruthil) Ayathupadam.
He attended schools in his home parish of St. Sebastian before entering St. Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary, Mangalapuzha in Aluva, Kerala – the major seminary for the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, in 1954. Founded by the Apostle Thomas, the Syro-Malabar Church is the second largest Church among the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the pope.
He was ordained a priest on March 12, 1961, at St. George’s Cathedral in Kothamangalam, Kerala, by Mar Mathew Pothanamuzhi, the first bishop of the Eparchy (Diocese) of Kothamangalam, India.
He began his priestly ministry in the Kothamangalam eparchy, serving in parishes there for 13 years. He also earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Karnatak University in Dharwad, India. He then traveled to Eldoret, Kenya, where he served for three years as a parish priest and school principal – missionary work that he described as one of his most memorable as a priest.
“The poverty and simple faith of the people in Africa inspired me,” he said in a 2011 interview with the Catholic News Herald. “During Mass, you would hear them speak and sing in three different languages, yet they came together as one community.”
From Africa Father Ayathupadam traveled to the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth in Nova Scotia, Canada, and after spending 10 years as a hospital chaplain there, he applied for a job as hospital chaplain in the warmer climate of the Carolinas. He served at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Asheville from 1987 to 1988 before moving to St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Parish in Charlotte to serve as parochial vicar.
In 1990, he was incardinated in the Charlotte diocese, where he continued to serve in various parishes: St. Leo the Great Catholic Parish in Winston-Salem, Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Mission in Highlands, St. Joseph of the Hills Catholic Parish in Eden, and Our Lady of the Annunciation Catholic Parish in Albemarle. In his last assignment before retiring in 2006, he served as pastor of Holy Spirit Catholic Parish in Denver, where he oversaw the building of an activity center to accommodate the parish’s growing needs.
Father Ayathupadam was also instrumental in building Charlotte's Syro-Malabar Catholic community. In the early 2000s, when he was still pastor of Holy Spirit Parish, an informal Malayalee Catholic group gathered under his leadership. From 2000 to 2006, he served as spiritual leader for the growing Indian community in the Charlotte area, occasionally celebrating Holy Qurbana (Mass) at St. Vincent De Paul and St. Thomas Aquinas churches in Charlotte.
After retiring, Father Ayathupadam continued to remain active from his home in Fort Mill, S.C., helping parishes in South Carolina as well as continuing to support the local Malayalee Catholic Community by celebrating Holy Qurbana at St. Philip Neri Catholic Church in Fort Mill every month until 2012. More recently, he had moved back to India to be close to family.
In 2021, Father Ayathupadam celebrated his 60th anniversary of ordination.
Looking back on his decades of ministry, Father Ayathupadam reflected in 2011 that the greatest part about being a priest was “to serve the people as my brothers and sisters.”
“There is no retirement for a priest because the vocation is life, and we are priests forever until the last breath. And hopefully after that moment we’ll be at the altar in heaven,” he said.
Father Ayathupadam is survived by his sister Thressiamma Joseph; and nephews and nieces: George, Paul, Philomina, Mary, Saly and Gracy.
He was preceded in death by his parents and immediate family members Matthew, George, Rosamma and and Sister Angel.
— Catholic News Herald