In 1983, His Holiness John Paul II had invited the whole Church to "Look to the future with commitment for a new evangelization, One that is new in its fervour, New in its methods and new in its expression" F.B.A (The Friends of the Birds of the Air) is a response to that call.
The Holy Spirit who inspired His Holiness John Paul II at Haiti willed to instill this divine inspiration in the heart of a simple but zealous, catholic priest Rev. Fr. George Kuttickal, M.C.B.S, who was on a visit to Bharatpur bird sanctuary at Rajasthan in the same year 1983.
Rev. Fr. George Kuttickal, M.C.B.S. (Missionary Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament) was inspired by the meticulous care given by a group of naturalists who were closely studying Siberian birds which had migrated to the sanctuary.
These naturalists showed such genuine love and concern for these birds naming, numbering them and by maintaining meticulously medical reports in separate files which where sent to the Siberian Counterparts before the birds would return to their motherland.
This amazing gesture of love and concern expressed to these birds of the air was a great moment of "Divine Inspiration" to Rev. Fr. Kuttickal. He was reminded of the thousands of human beings abandoned by everyone on the streets. They too are created in God's own likeness and image. Many of them die on these streets. There is no one to mourn, nor is there anyone to give these brethren a respectful funeral. There are hundreds of sick people on the pavements, yet hardly anyone to turn an eye on them. They have neither homes, nor friends or relatives. They are totally forsaken by their own societies. They do not possess any ration cards or identity cards. Morever no one will find his / her names enrolled in the voters list of the country. It is these kind of forsaken human beings whom God asked Fr. George to call "The Birds of the Air". They too neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet the Heavenly Father feeds them.
The Mother house (first unit) at Chennaippara (Thrissur, Kerala), functioning as a training and retreat centre was inaugrated by Blessed Mother Teresa on 19th July 1994. There after similar units of F.B.A have been formed at different states in India.
