Lancaster Dinner 2025, address of the guest speaker
Given at Kendal, November 20, 2025 by Fr Ajish Kumpukkal, a priest of the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of Great Britain, ministering in the Lancaster Roman Catholic Diocese. He serves as Parish Priest in the Lake District to parishes in Windermere and Ambleside as well as being the chaplain to the Lancaster Diocese Youth Service operating out of Castlerigg Manor, Keswick. This article has been edited from the provided original for clarity.
Fr Ajish Kumpukkal addresses the Lancaster Guild Dinner 2025.
My Lord Bishop Paul Swarbrick, Rev. Fathers, Deacons and very respected altar servers from senior to most junior!
I draw your attention to the diocesan Jubilee Mass a few weeks ago at the cathedral with the Nuncio and other bishops and priests. The procession was led by a young altar server who might be just 7 years old. He was leading the whole procession of Nuncio, archbishops, bishops and priests, etc. So you lead us priests and bishops, so your job as altar server is an important job and part of the church.
I have no clue why I am asked to do this talk, to talk to well-renowned and experienced holy people who serve at the altar of the Lord. I say this because, unlike many of the fellow priests, my reasons for serving as an altar server to later become a priest are not spiritual, but rather more human and selfish.
I will start with my career as an altar server, which began at the age of 10 when I was in year 4 or 5. If you are under the age of 10, please close your ears, as this content contains adult themes! I had a crush at that age, and the reason to go to the altar as an altar server was to impress her, and there were many other naughty things in India at that time you could do as an altar server, like you could hang on the church bell and swing if you are asked to ring the bell, and you could also taste the wine left over while cleaning the altar vessels. But to be honest, being an altar server was my identity in the parish and in the village. There are many other spiritual benefits which I wasn’t bothered about at the time, but they are bonuses.
My intention to join the seminary was purely because a school friend said he was joining the seminary, if you came, we could still play basketball and cricket probably every day, as the junior seminary had like forty young people together in formation. I enjoy sports as most of you do. I am proud to say that I still play basketball for a district league team and play for a local cricket club, so please do enjoy what you like to do, you can still be a priest serving the Lord in different roles. I had no direct intention to become a priest, but I joined to play sports, and a few years later, when the year of discernment came, I was placed in a parish with a children’s home attached and had a different, challenging experience, which made me think and to discern to become a priest. It’s a long, sad story, a child under my care died of snakebite, and I was threatened by the local political and fanatic groups, and it was all over the newspapers and became very famous within a day. Anyway, that was it. I made up my mind that I am going to be a priest. I was ordained at the age of 25, and I simply love being a priest.
After coming to England, I was in Barrow-in-Furness for almost 6 years. Barrow’s experience was great, and I had a wonderful time. When I was in Barrow I started going to the gym, and Fr Manny Gribbon, the parish priest, said as a joke that I may convert and evangelise people at the gym and bring them to church. After a few weeks I reported back to Fr Manny that I have started very deep theological discussions with a senior gentleman in the gym and every day we have lovely chat about church and theology, liturgy and all sorts of subjects, he is interested in the church. After a few months, I gently asked him ‘Sir, by the way, what are you?’ And he said ‘I am a bishop retired from the Church of England!’. A wrong person to evangelise…!
The point is you are called to evangelise and witness Christ, keep doing it, don’t bother who is in front of you.
God does wonders for you if you truly trust him.. I had to go to Lourdes last year, and as an Indian national I was struggling to get the visa to France as the Olympics were going on in Paris. I started the process many months back but couldn’t get it, and I can’t tell the bishop that I haven’t got visa to go to Lourdes when there were nearly 40 young people signed up, and the coach is booked and paid for, I can’t let the bishop down and the other pilgrimage organising team. One day I had a bright idea, that I am going to say a holy lie to the Nuncio that I have an urgent meeting to attend in Rome, Italy I need a visa urgently, could you please do something? Two days later I get the reply from the high commission of Italy in London that my appointment for visa stamping is all sorted!
God is great… he has done many other wonders for me.
Being in Castlerigg Manor [Lancaster Diocese Youth Centre in Keswick] with young people, I have a great team, and I enjoy working with them on school retreats and serving as chaplain to the youth. Lots of beautiful experiences and joy in Castlerigg. I asked my team at Castlerigg yesterday that I am going to this address tonight to the altar servers of the diocese, ‘what do you have to tell them’? One of them said ‘tell them not to set fire to the churches they serve!’.
Yes that’s is just to cheer you up, but you are all doing an amazing special job, enjoy it, and always think and ask God what are your plans for me… and I am sure you will be able to say YES to the call of God in different ways, may be to religious life or to priesthood or to be a deacon, so keep open your hearts to answer the Gods call to vocation.
That’s all from me.
Fr Ajish
