I was ordained a Jesuit priest was on April 23, 1994, and pronounced my final vows on December 08, 2000. I have been Vice-Principal (Commerce) of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India for eleven years now (since 1998) and have been teaching Accountancy for the last twenty-two years (since Regency in 1988). Fr. Valero Aleu S.J. and I began the Commerce Section in 1988 to cater as much as possible to the poorest of the poor of Mumbai city. Accordingly, the criteria for admissions to this Section of the College is being from an under privileged economic background. The timings are from 5.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m., where students come to study after a whole days work.
My first love, however, is scripture, and I have an M.Th degree in Scripture from Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth (J.D.V.), Pune, India. I use this degree to teach at the St. Pius X Seminary, Goregaon, Mumbai, India and at Institute Mater Dei, Old Goa, India, in which places I have been teaching for the last sixteen years. Besides, I also conduct various scripture seminars for the laity in many Parishes in Mumbai, India and abroad. I was invited to Muscat (Sultanate of Oman) in 1998, to conduct a Scripture Seminar for the laity on the Gospel of Mark, and to Canada in December 2004, and again in May 2005 for the same purpose. In November 2003, I was invited to meetings in Rome and Spain on how to make Spirituality relevant to people in our timesMy contribution at these meetings was much appreciated. In March 2005, I was invited to Bahrain to conduct a Lenten Mission for all the faithful there. I was then invited to The United Arab Emirates in March 2006, to conduct a Lenten Mission for three weeks in three of the Emirates, Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, and in October 2006 to Kuwait and March 2007 to Oman for the same purpose. In July 2007, I was invited to Vienna and to Bosnia to conduct retreats for religious and to Ireland and Rome to address Jesuits in formation on the Spiritual Exercises. In March 2008, I was invited to Doha in the State of Qatar to conduct a five day Lenten retreat for the people of the Parish and in June 2008 and again in July 2009, I was invited to Tacoma, Washington in the United States of America to conduct scripture seminars and retreats for the laity of Holy Rosary, St. Joseph’s, St Leo’s and other Parishes. I was also invited to Canada in March 2009 where I conducted three Lenten Mission programmes in Precious Blood, Merciful Redeemer and Sts. Peter and Paul Parishes. These were very well attended.
I have developed a full day session on Annotation 23 of the Spiritual Exercise of St. Ignatius of Loyola, “The Principle and Foundation”, which I combine with various modern psychological insights, and conduct it for teachers and students (both Christian and of other faiths) in the numerous Schools in Mumbai, India and also in some Colleges. This Session has been much appreciated and many lay people of all orientatrions have been helped tremendously.
I was also Promoter of Vocations for the Bombay Province (June 2001- May 2004), and in this job, encountered children and youth from the various schools, colleges and parishes in Mumbai, and conducted retreats for them. I also follow up on those who show some interest in the Jesuit way of life, through letters, telephone and E-mail.
I also gives numerous retreats to Priests, Religious (including Jesuits), Seminarians and lay people in various parts of India. I have developed a special programme called the Net Retreat mainly for the laity, and have conducted three of these, each for a month since August 2004. People from all over the world including Canada, The United States of America, Bahrain, and The U.A.E., have participated in these retreats.
The Daughters of St. Paul have released five of my talks, which are available on both audio CD’s and cassettes. These are titled Prayer and Discipleship, Repentance and Healing, The Eucharist is Life, Lets talk about Mary, and Fear in Not the Key. They have also released two of my books. The first book is titled “Recycling the Word” and the second “Beyond Ordinary Time”.
In September 2009, I was invited to Doha, Qatar to address the three day “Marian Convention” programme.
I will be going to New Zealand in March 2010 for a Lenten Mission programme in four Parishes there and in April 2010 to hong Kong to preach a retreat to the Superiors of different women religious congregations.
