Introduction of Fr. Xavier James
Fr. Xavier James is a Catholic Archdiocesan
clergy of Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. He is a missionary originally from Poothurai,
in Kanyakumari district in the Latin Archdiocese of Trivandrum, South India,
but presently working in the North of the country for the noble cause of evangelizing.
Having passed his pre degree in Management and Secretarial course, he did his
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Psychology in Gujarati medium. He has done his
Philosophical & Theological studies from Bombay and Vadodara. He knows
Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Hindi and English, the few languages spoken in
India. After his ordination to the priesthood, he served as assistant principal
and teacher of a higher secondary school taking care of teaching and
administration. He catered to the poor children of the town of Deesa mission.
He is very much pastoral in his approach. Thereafter he was appointed the
Parish Priest of Mehsana where he made the parish vibrant with Catholic faith
and reaching out to the poor and vulnerable specially the HIV Aids patients in
the district. Here he began the Small Christian Communities to be participatory
in the life of the Church. He was then sent to do his Master of Social Work
(MSW) from Mumbai University. While staying in Holy Name Cathedral parish in
Bombay he became the bridge between the poor and rich, flat owners and slum
dwellers. After his successful completion of studies cum ministry in Bombay he
was asked by the then Archbishop of Gandhinagar His Grace Stanislaus Fernandes
to pioneer Siddhpur Mission Parish in 2012. Here too with his hard work and
dedication established a Trust and Parish and to make the parish vibrant, he
strengthened the lay participation in the life of the parish. In the recent
past, he has successfully constructed St. Xavier’s School, Umru-Siddhpur, in
spite of much hardship, just for the sake of the poor children around that
area. During this period, life has not been that easy for him. He stayed three
years in a rented apartment and four long years in a class room of the school,
cooking his own food and doing much hard work for the greater glory of God in
the vicinity where Christ is hardly known. He has totally dedicated his life for
the human upliftment and for human dignity. Thereafter, His Grace Archbishop Thomas
Macwan appointed him as the Archdiocesan Social Work Director to benefit the
Dalit, Tribal and needy people of the six district of north Gujarat i.e.
Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Patan, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha and Aravali districts.
Fr. Xavier James is a man of faith and
prayer, man of planning and action. He is committed to his work for the greater
glory of God. His ordination motto for his life is “To be with Him and to be
with them”. He takes his motto seriously and works accordingly. He has given a
pastoral colour to the social work. His work during the covid is praise worthy,
he reached out to so many people and helped generously. This brought glory to
the Christian Community due to hard work. In fact, so many suffered of corona
virus whereas this priest who was moving everyday to help the people was never
affected by corona virus, this is a miracle of God’s Mercy.
He was the Parish Priest of Palanpur parish
and brought about much renewal with the presence of the Eucharistic Lord. Since
Eucharistic Lord’s hand is on him, he tirelessly does good wherever he goes and
wherever he is. He makes the liturgy very meaningful and participative. His
laughter is infectious and that is why many are attracted to Christ our Lord.
He rendered his pastoral service at Vijaynagar, Tribal parish and now he is
among the migrant people at Bhileshwarpura.
He
was the elected member of the Priest Council.
He
was the elected member of the Priest Personnel Committee.
He
was the Dean of Palanpur Deanery (Vicar Forane)
He
was the Youth Director and Director of Archdiocesan Spoken English Course with
Faith Formation for 12 years.
He
was the Secretary of Liturgy Commission.
He
was the Secretary of Western Region Migrant Commission which includes the
states of Goa, Gujarat, Maharastra.
He
was appointed to formulate the directory of the Archdiocese of Gandhinagar
which is a witness of his hard work till date from 2020.
He
was the Priest in charge of defence personnel in Gandhinagar for 5 years.
He
was the member of Conference of Diocesan Priests of India.
He
participated in the National Eucharistic Congress in Mumbai.
He
participated in the Exodus programme organized by Vatican in Manila,
Philippines.
Above
all, he has love for the Eucharistic Lord and Blessed Mother Mary and that is
shown in his loving service to the poor and needy. Thus he is happy that his
motto is coming to a reality as “To be with Him and To be with them”.
For
more details kindly view: www.xavierjamesjose.blogspot.com
