Our Parish Priest, Fr Jerald, comes to us from the Diocese of Sultanpet in India.  This is a relatively new diocese, created by Pope Francis on 28th December, 2013, to provide for the spiritual and practical needs of this region.  The diocese’s first Bishop, Antonysamy Peter Abir, was appointed on the same day.  Bishop Peter’s episcopal motto gives insight to the Diocese of Sultanpet’s mission, “Broken to Build”. He said “we hope to uplift the life of the most vulnerable, the poorest, the disadvantaged and the neglected of the society.”

 

 

In November 2014 we were honoured to host Bishop Peter at Our Lady of the Pines.  He said Masses for us and told us of the plight of his diocese which is in a very poor area and in need of much financial assistance.  We took up a collection for him at our Sunday Masses and also held a ‘Bollywood’ Night to raise funds.  We are happy to advise that we raised enough money to allow Bishop Peter to purchase land on which to build a school. He advised that nuns would be asked to run the school as well as a small medical facility for minor ailments.  Below is a letter from Bishop Peter expressing his gratitude along with photos from Athupathy, a village in his diocese.