Rev. Dr. Fr. Joseph Mappilamattel CMI,
Former Director of Jyothidarsana
Jyothidarsana Institute for Counseling & Mental Health, Kerala INDIA
Called by Fr. Joe, he needs no introduction to Notre Dame Church. He was coming us for summer ministry from 2010 onwards.
Fr. Joe’s Family
Fr. Jose comes from a big family of 9 children and 15 g. children and 2 great .g. children. His late parents Joseph & Aelikutty had 9 children. 5 boys and 4 girls. F. Joe is second in order. He joined the Carmelite order ( CMI) after high school . Ordained priest on 1985, at the age of 30 ,with bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Philosophy and Theology. Fr. Joe also took a Masters Degree in pastoral Counseling from Dharmaram Pontifical Athenaeum, Bangalore.
After ordination he held different responsible positions in the congregation such as Director of vocations, boarding rector, Director of prayer Centre etc.
In 1993, he opened Jyothidarsana Institute for Counseling & Mental health, in Kerala. He was the director and psychotherapist at Jyothidarsana. Besides Counseling & psychotherapy, the center also trained school counselors.
In 1996, Fr. Joe was send to USA for Pastoral work. Staying at St. Joseph’s church Kingston, re York as associate pastor, he joined Marist College, Poughkeepsie and took Master degree in Psychology. He also worked as Chaplain at Ellaville Correctional Facility.
In 2000, Fr. Joe moved to Long Island to work in the diocese of Rockville center. He worked as chaplain at St. Charles Hospital with a residence at St. Gerard Majella church, Port Jefferson. He pursued his studies in Psychology and in 2005, he took his PhD in Psychology from Southern California University and a P G Diploma in Family and Marital Therapy from St. John’s University Queens, NY. Fr. Joe was called back to India to start the counseling Centre in a new Campus with more facilities.
Fr. Joe’s Dream Project
With the support of his friends from here and India, Fr. Joe’s Dream Project Jyothidarsana Counseling Centre was opened in New Campus was opened on April 12, 2012. He worked as Director and Principal Therapist for 6 years.
Fr. Joe back to Notre Dame with a New Mission
Fr. Joe is back again to Notre Dame with a new mission to serve the Christian Community of New Hyde park, with a good number of Indian and Asian people.During the past 4 years he organized the Joint feast of St. Thomas and St. Chavara Kuriakose, who is the founder of CMI Congregation which number more than 3000 members, of which 105 of them doing pastoral work in USA and Canada.
Make use of Counseling Skills
With the above personality strength, Fr. Joseph will be a blessing to Notre dame Parish.
Asked about his priorities and plans for future,, he said ‘ with direction and guidance of the new pastor Scolaro, he will focus on the spiritual growth of the parish, available to the people for confession, counseling and other sacraments. He wants to make use of his counseling and psychotherapy skills family counseling, spiritual counseling and teen agers with emotional and academic problems. Moral and spiritual development of our Notre Dame School children will be another goal of Fr. Joe. Fr. Joe is asking the support of all parishners to become an effective minster of the people of Notre Dame Church. We welcome Fr. Joe to our Notre Dame Family for a fruitful and happy ministry.
Fr. Joe’s Counseling Centre Website: www.jyothidarsana.com