Priest

Fr. John Puthuva was born on 3rd October 1967 at Anappara, near Manjapra in Ernakulam district, Kerala, South India. He was 4th among the five children to his parents, Late P.V Rappai & Anna Rappai. His primary education was at Fatima Matha L.P School, Anappara. When he was in the 6th standard his parents shifted their family to another place called Chully in the same village. Rest of his Schooling was completed at St. Mary’s U.P School and Govt. High School, Manjapra. After doing the Pre-degree at SS College Kalady and completing a course in Food Technology, he joined in the Seminary for priesthood at S.H Study house Thrikkakara in 1985. He obtained bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and Theology during the seminary life.

He was ordained priest on 28th December 1994 by the Bishop Mar Jacob Manathodathu, at St.George Church, Chully. His first appointment after ordination was at St. Joseph’s church Meloor as the assistant parish priest; followed by at St. Mary’s church, Mookkannoor.
He has served as parish priest in various churches viz. St. Mary’s church Elavoor, St. Joseph’s church, Pothiyakkara, St. Antony’s church, Antopuram and St. Colbe church, Padamughal, before his present assignment at Little Flower church, Kavarapparambu where he is in service since…………
In spite of the hectic schedules in and outside the parish, Fr. Puthva also found time to pursue academic studies relevant to his service. Thus he has acquired Masters Degrees in various subjects such as M.A Philosophy and M.S.W from SS University, Kalady and M.Phil (Social Works) from Vinayaka University, Managalore.
Fr. Puthuva was appointed as the Assistant Secretary of CBCI, Delhi earlier and has also held the position of Resident Manager for Rashtra Deepika Ltd in the past.

A Social Worker

Fr. Puthuva has been a relentless crusader against the denial of justice to the downtrodden and weaker sects in a number of social and environment issues. It was under his initiative the so called ‘Plachimada’ agitation took off against a beaverage company which got snowballed into a national issue and later lit spark for similar campaigns elsewhere. His presence was there in the midst of the tribes at Marad when the communal violence hit them very badly. Being an effective counselor and a peace-maker, he and his team visited house-to-houses to pacify the ill-affected adivasis preaching Christ’s forgiving love. Fr.Puthuva was there in the forefront when the ‘Muthanga’ tribal agitation took place.

A Teacher Fr. John Puthuva is presently working as the lecturer in Social Work at Bharat Matha College, Thrikkakara, near Cochin. Also he is the visiting lecturer at DIST, Angamaly and Meridian College, Mangalore. Apart from his teaching profession he finds time to organize various awareness programs, mainly for the college students, and conducts Seminars and orientation classes for the youth.

Writer Fr. Puthuva is the co-editor of the famous book, ‘Peace & Value Education: A creative Response to Consumerism and Communalism’. He has written ‘John Paul II: Manavikathayude Shabdam’ a book about the Pope, the world renowned champion of human rights. Fr. Puthuva has been the spiritual column writer in the National Daily, Hindustan Times and National Weekly, Indian Currents. He was previously the Manger and column writer in the Daily, Deepika He is a regular writer for Catholic News paper, Sathyadeepam and various catholic and other publications.

Musician Another facet of Fr. Puthuva well known to the society is that of a Lyricist for Malayalam Christian devotional songs. He has got two famous music albums, ‘Ente Swantham Eesho’ and ‘Rophe’ in his credit. A video album named ‘Holy Christmas’ was released by his team during 2008. This was telecasted in the local channels, Asianet, India Vision & Manorama News.