On April 30, Reverend Omana Victor retired from her service as a priest at the Elakode West CSI Church in Thiruvananthapuram. She was the only woman priest in Kerala when she retired, and the second after the late Marathakavalley David, who was ordained in 1989.
“There was never any opposition from anyone — from my family or the church committees. I had everyone’s support,” says Omana, a day after she got out of the priest’s robes. She had been one for 25 years, beginning her seminary studies in 1990, a year after Marathakavalley’s ordination. Omana says she got the calling of god, and had the support of her late husband Robert Victor, who was also a priest.
“He was then studying at the Kerala United Theological Seminary and there were other women studying there. He asked if I was interested to join,” Omana says.
She finished her B.TH. and B.D., and began her service as a priest on May 1, 1994. “I made my application at the pastor board and the Bishop made the necessary arrangements.”
Robert and Omana had served as priests together for years, before he passed away last year.
In 1970, the Church of South India (CSI) began the process of ordination for women priests, and it took a full 12 years for the proposal to get two-thirds support. Even then, it was not easy for the late Marathakavalley to be ordained. She had to fight a long battle as it was a time when opposing voices said that women are ‘unclean and unfit for the job’, according to an India Today story published in 1991.
But thanks to the battles before her ordinance, Omana Victor didn’t have to fight. In 25 years, she served in several churches across Thiruvananthapuram and everyone called her Acha, the same way they addressed male priests. Whenever there was a problem and believers wanted her to pray, they’d call her and say, “Acho, please pray.”
Omana cannot speak enough of the acceptance and belief that people had in her. “They tell me of their pain, confide about things they wouldn’t want me to tell anyone else. And I recall them only during my prayers. When a pregnant young woman had complications, she’d call me. When a three-year-old child needed a heart operation, the parents called me. I pray. And when they are saved, it is a divine feeling.”
She also visits the families of churchgoers for special occasions. “They are all sad that I am retiring. I am too. I don’t know what’s next. I’ll wait for the higher authorities to say something.”