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Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier
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BRANCHING OUT INTO FOUR PROVINCESMumbai
(Bombay) Province
Since the last 65 years the Society of Pilar has been steadily increasing in number and expanding the scope of its service to God and the nation. In the very next year after the Society was revamped, two missionaries were sent to Nagar Haveli that became the first unit, and the nucleus of what would later become the Bombay Province of the Society. In 1951, Cardinal Valerian Gracias of Bombay invited the Pilar Fathers to Ambernath, where they had to start from scratch. Today the Bombay Province of the Society counts 17 residential units, besides the Regionalate in Silvassa.
Fr. Hillary Fernandes, sfx - ProvincialMumbai@societyofpilar.org
(Click here for more information on the Mumbai Province.) B. Goa Province In the same year, i.e. 1951, the Society was entrusted with the region of Sanguem, in southeast Goa. This eventually became the hub of what is named as the Goa Province of the Society. Today the Province of the Society has 14 residential units spread over Goa and Karnataka, and one in south Maharashtra, besides the Provincialate in Margao. In most of these units the Fathers look after parishes and schools.
Fr. Galdino Monteiro, sfx -
ProvincialGoa@societyofpilar.org
(Click here for more information on the Goa Province.)
In 1961, the Society made a maiden entry into the northern regions of India. Fr. Ovidio Cunha and Fr. Mariano Pereira were sent to Sirsa in Haryana. Today the Delhi Province of the Society, whose members serve in the northern states of India, has nine residential units of its own spread over Haryana and Punjab, besides one parish in Dholpur in Rajasthan, and the Provincialate in Delhi. A two acre plot has been purchased in Nazafgarh, on the outskirts of Delhi city where the Provincialate will be shifted once the building is ready. The province also has eight priests doing pastoral work and assisting in parishes of the dioceses of Jammu-Srinagar, Jhalandar and Amritsar.
Fr. Menino Gomes, sfx -
ProvincialDelhi@societyofpilar.org
(Click here for more information on the Delhi Province.) D. Kolkata (Calcutta) Province
A new chapter in the life of the Society occurred in February 1965 when two of its members embarked for the far away islands of Andaman and Nicobar in the middle of the Bay of Bengal. The mission flourished well and was nourished almost exclusively by our members who opened Churches and houses in several places all over the islands. In 1985 the mission was raised to a diocese and Fr. Alex Dias, a member of the Society who worked for more than a decade in the Andamans, became its first Bishop. The capital town Port Blair was for many years the administrative seat of the Society’s eastern regions. Only recently, in view of the Region becoming a Province of the Society it has been shifted to Calcutta. The Calcutta Province has 16 residential units, besides some members who are lent to other dioceses.
Fr. Franklin Rodrigues, sfx -
ProvincialKolkata@societyofpilar.org
(Click here for more information on the Kolkata Province.) |
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