In a Christian context, a 40 year journey would always refer to the great journey of the people of Israel, led by Moses through the Sinai Desert and the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea as described in the Book of Deuteronomy.
The journey I refer to now is my own journey, having completed 40 years since receiving the gift of priesthood in 1970.
The good God has led me in His mysterious ways in the journey of my
priesthood. I gratefully and joyfully remember the day of my ordination
on 18 December 1970. It happened in the small coastal town of Tuticorin
in South India.
Having been born on 19 September 1945 in a family of six children to
devoted parents, I was a young man of 25 when I received the grace of
priesthood.
Previously, upon completion of my high school studies, I spent a year in
pre-university class and later, after two years of Latin studies, I
spent seven years of study in philosophy and theology at St Peter’s
Pontifical College in Bangalore which was run by the Paris Foreign
Missionaries (MEP). I graduated with a Bachelor of Theology in March
1971 as a newly ordained priest.
From April 1971, I started my priestly ministry as an assistant in three
parishes and later as parish priest in nine different parishes until
1985. Throughout the years, the loving hands of God led me through.
Later, obtaining a Diploma in Communications, I undertook a
Communications Ministry at our Diocesan Pastoral Centre and later in the
Diocesan Laity Centre for formation of laity.
On completion of that ministry, I had the privilege of travelling to
Rome, to other European countries and the Americas, opening up for me
many other opportunities.
A dream of having a mission experience in a different milieu was
fulfilled thanks to Archbishop Barry Hickey as the then-Bishop of
Geraldton.
After about five years in the Pilbara region, I returned to my diocese
in India where I continued my Communications ministry. I had the
privilege of administering the Diocese of Tuticorin for a year in 2004
in the absence of a Bishop in the Diocese. Later, in 2006, I arrived
again in Australia to the Archdiocese of Perth where I spent six months
in Moora, a beautiful wheatbelt town. In January 2007, I arrived in
Kalgoorlie-Boulder parish to serve the Goldfields Catholic Community in
all the various towns of the Goldfields.
It is great to live among and minister to the various communities of
faithful and I am very grateful to the people for their generous support
of prayer and cooperation.