Interesting article on Fr. Jimmy. I seem to have missed out on a lot in the 3 weeks I didnt have access to the Net.😞 All would be true as Father was of such a STATURE. Good to know he did all that was required of him & more without "fanfare" as the term has been used. A priest in the true sense of the word. ....lived & died in harness...... in harness to God's Wagon. To me this says it all..... Farewell Fr. Jimmy & please include us in your blessings of your minions ...... as I bet you are noting all. Condolences to the Family Annette From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [SALIGAONET] The inspiring Goan priest from Karachi, aged 90, who died with his boots on ... (Menin Rodrigues, Goanet) Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2016 23:10:45 +0800 HI ALL, BY ALL ACCOUNTS , THE DECEASED WAS A BRILLIANT MAN . WHILE READING ABOUT HIM I HAVE DISCOVERED HE UNDERTOOK HIS PRIESTLY TRAINING AT THE SEMINARY IN KANDY , CEYLON AS I KNEW IT . IT WAS HERE MGR. ERIC BARBER WHO RETIRED AS THE VICAR GENERAL OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF CALCUTTA AND LATER THE PARISH PRIEST OF SACRED HEART CHURCH , DHARUMTALLA , FINALLY RETIRING TO MIDDLETON ROW WITH THE LORETO NUNS AND OTHER CLERGY INCLUSIVE OF ANOTHER SEMINARIAN FROM KANDY , EMERITUS FR .HENRY D'SOUZA , WHO I THINK IS STILL ALIVE IN CALCUTTA . HE WAS PREVIOUSLY THE ARCHBISHOP OF CALCUTTA HAVING TAKEN OVER FROM ARCHBISHOP DYER (?) WHO HAD SUCCEEDED FERDINAND PERIER S.J. . MGR. BARBER WAS IN FACT MY GODFATHER . HE MAY HAVE TRAINED WITH THE DECEASED AND WOULD HAVE BEEN ROUGHLY 96 YEARS OF AGE IF HE WAS ALIVE . CHEERS STEPHEN From: [email protected] Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2016 19:47:45 +0530 Subject: [SALIGAONET] The inspiring Goan priest from Karachi, aged 90, who died with his boots on ... (Menin Rodrigues, Goanet) To: [email protected]; [email protected] [Goanet] The inspiring Goan priest from Karachi, aged 90, who died with his boots on ... (Menin Rodrigues, Goanet) Goanet Reader goanetreader at gmail.com Sat Jan 30 05:48:41 PST 2016Previous message: [Goanet] Easy listening selection...........Peggy Lee & Bing Crosby.Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]Fr Jimmy (James) of Karachi and Goa 1925-2016https://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/24080782713/in/dateposted/https://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/24614105731/in/dateposted/ By Menin Rodriguesmeninr at gmail.com He was always on the go! The pilgrim priest, a Laurentian bybirth, a Patrician through education, a Kandy graduate and apriest of the Catholic Archdiocese of the Karachi since 1951;Fr. Jimmy as he was known to all, went about doingextraordinary missionary work in the vineyard of the Lord,until his very last days on earth! I've known Fr. Jimmy since being an altar boy at St. Pat's,sometimes serving at Mass for the small Bengali-speakingcommunity in the play-hall and chapel of St. Joseph's Conventin 1970-71; my latter two interactions with him was when hetook up the renovation of the Cathedral in 1998 and then hislast ten years 2006-2016. His Spirituality touched me. HisWisdom enriched me. His resolve for the poor undeterred. In recent years, Fr. Jimmy came over frequently to share some of the challenging work he undertook at the home of Baji Mirium Bugeja who runs the Divine Mercy Home for the Mentally Destitute (formerly, Convent of Notre Dame, Mehran Goth, Deh Thano, Malir Village, Karachi). Every weekend he would go there with Gabriel Dean, his companion on the road, to say Mass, spend the day sorting the dilemma through which Baji Mirium had to go through and check the continuing problem with electricity connections, billing issues, theft and other irregularities. He kept the Karachi Electric (KESC) officers, inspectors andmeter-readers engaged with his many letters of complaints andwith help from Roland de Souza got a number of long-standingPMT, meter-reading and billing issues solved. Fr. Jimmy wrote piercing words in his communication with theauthorities. When KE asked for information for theirEmpowerment Program, he wrote, "The Home is run andmaintained by trust in Divine Providence. It does not have abank account and there are no appeals for funds. It does nothave an administrative staff, a Board of Directors or publishan Annual Report. Baji Mirium is solely responsible for theoperation of this Home. She shuns publicity and moreimportantly, she will not use those in the Home asinstruments/tools for raising funds or for self-promotion.She wants the dignity of everyone in the Home to berespected." Unlike some of his contemporaries, Fr. Jimmy wrote what hismind spoke! Indeed, we made good music together. He wouldwrite frequently about so many good and indifferent things,all with the power of the Holy Spirit! He carried with himloads of information and wrote pages of invaluable history,about diocesan institutions and about God's people. Early December (somewhere close to his 90th birthday on Dec 11, 2015), Fr. Jimmy gave me a comprehensive article about the start of St. Patrick's Technical School, also sending a copy to the Christian Voice. It was to be, as Providence would have it, his last piece of precious diocesan history. It was published in three-parts in the Christian Voice; the last piece was printed on January 24, 2016. Four days later, Fr. Jimmy passed away. He writes in Part 2 of his article, Fifty Years of St.Patrick's Technical School 1966-2016, "At the end of 1963,Fr. Dalmatius Geurts and I made an analysis of the actualsituation and a feasibility study and came to the conclusion:There is a big demand for skilled craftsmen in Pakistan. Ourfinal planning was a school for the following occupations:Metal Works, Auto Mechanics, Electro-Technology, AirConditioning & Refrigeration, and Carpentry." When Bro Norman Wray (1923-2014) died on December 23, 2014 inKarachi, a man who had dedicated more than 50 years ofservice in Pakistan, Fr. Jimmy wrote a detailed article onthe life of Norman, as someone who gave his life forimparting technical education and later the rehabilitation ofdrug addicts in Pakistan. He wrote, "St. Paul’s letter to thePhilippians expresses our sentiments perfectly with regard toBrother Norman: We remember how he has helped to spread theGood News that God is Love; that God does not punish, wantsto save all those who have the humility to admit theirsinfulness and powerlessness over addictions. We are weak butGod is all-powerful." Another interesting response I once got from Fr. Jimmy for myarticle published in the Christian Voice on August 17, 2007"Crucifying Jesus -- Some interesting feedback on 40 piecesof Silver" was truly an eye-opener, his argument was, "Whatimage of Jesus have we given our people? Have we, made Jesus,Shylock? Without compassion? Is this not a serious betrayalof Jesus? Besides, is this charging of Rs. 40 for eachintention not a sin of Simony?" This is how Fr. Jimmypracticed his theological brilliance. James (Jimmy) de Souza's parents came from Saligao, Bardez,Goa, India; they moved to Karachi where Jimmy was born onDecember 11, 1925. They lived in Cincinnatus Town adjacent toSt. Lawrence's Church; he got his early education at St.Patrick’s High School and in 1944 proceeded to the PapalKandy, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) for his priestly studies. Hewas ordained a priest on 24 August 1951 in Karachi. Fr. Jimmy taught for a while in St Paul's English High School, and then in St. Anthony's School. Later he was appointed Principal of St. John Vianney School and held this post for many years. He was also involved with the repatriation of Bengalis in 1973, working with the ICRC and UNHCR. Interestingly, from amongst the Bengali congregation here, one of them, became a priest and later was made a Bishop in Bangladesh. When Fr. Jimmy taught at St Patrick's High School, Karachi hegave more meaning to his vocational duties by recruitingstudents to read to the blind at the Ida Rieu School. He was Rector of the St. Pius X Minor Seminary in Karachi in1974 and earlier he had been the first Chaplain ofthe Monastery of the Angels. When he became the Rector of theSeminary he used to send his Seminarians to help the sisterswith the cleaning of the Retreat House, a special plantingproject in the garden, or other heavy jobs. The sisters inturn supplied them with home-made jam, bakery goods, andfruits and vegetables from their garden. He was also a parishpriest at the Cathedral in Hyderabad. Fr. Jimmy was the 40th Rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Karachi from 1995 to 2000. One of his major achievements was the renovation of the cathedral building during 1998-1999 with funds from parishioners, former parishioners and well-wishers in Karachi and abroad. In 2001 he celebrated the Golden Jubilee of his priesthood.He was assistant parish priest of St. Lawrence's Church,Karachi in 2006-2007. Fr. Jimmy celebrated the 60thsacerdotal anniversary of his ordination on August 24, 2011with Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. On December 11, 2015Fr. Jimmy celebrated his 90th birthday! On January 30, 2016 at his Funeral Service in St. Patrick’sCathedral, Karachi, two bishops, 30 priests, 50 religious,Baji Mirium and the residents of the Home, principals,teachers, students, and a church-full of people, bade himfarewell. Bishop Emeritus Evarist Pinto in his Homily, said"Fr. Jimmy was a dedicated priest, his simplicity and concernfor the poor was well-known; on a personal note, ourfamilies, who hailed from Aldona and Saligao, knew each otherwell. He will be remembered for his selfless work in thearchdiocese of Karachi. May his soul rest in peace." # # # # Menin Rodrigues, whose roots lie in Colva, Goa, is active innetworking the Goan community in Pakistan and runs thewww.goansofpakistan.org/ site. -- _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ Frederick Noronha http://about.me/noronhafrederick http://goa1556.in _/ P +91-832-2409490 M 9822122436 Twitter @fn Fcbk:fredericknoronha _/ Hear Goa,1556 shared audio content at https://archive.org/details/goa1556 _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ -- -- Saligao-Net is at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe email [email protected] --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- Saligao-Net is at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe email [email protected] --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- Saligao-Net is at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe email [email protected] --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
