Pilar Fathers have new superior general

(August 13, 2012) The Pilar Fathers, an Indian Catholic religious congregation based in Goa, on Saturday elected Fr Francis Carvalho, a veteran missionary of the Andaman Islands, as its new superior general. The election held during the congregation’s general chapter in the presence of Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, was the first election after the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier was raised to a pontifical congregation in 2010. The congregation is popularly known as the Pilar Society since it is based at Pilar, a small town near Panaji, the capital of Goa. 65-year old Fr. Carvalho said he would collaborate with his men “so that all of us become instruments of God." The new superior general of Pilar Fathers studied cultural anthropology in London and has a doctorate in canon law from Rome’s Gregorian University. Fr. Carvalho has worked several years in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, and also served the society’s vicar general and novice master. The congregation was founded in 1887 Fr. Bento Martins. An outstanding member of the congregation is Venerable Fr. Agnelo De Souza, or simply Fr. Agnelo whose process of beatification and canonization is under way in the Vatican.