Fr. Jose Kalapura, SJ talks of his new book
A History of Patna Jesuit Mission (1921 – 2021) By Jose Kalapura, SJ
Patna Jesuit Society
Price: Rs. 500/-
1. What made you come up with this book?
I have been studying and researching on Christian History for over two decades. Also, I have been teaching Jesuit History at various tertianships for over 20 years. Naturally, my provincials asked me to write a history of Patna Jesuits for which I have been working for the past 10 years. This book is the result of this effort.
2. What do you feel while looking back at the 100 years of the Patna Mission?
Looking back as the Patna Jesuit Mission completed 100 hundred years I feel great satisfaction of having highlighted in my book, the signal contribution of Patna Jesuits in the management of Patna Diocese from 1921-2022, and making it a self-sufficient Church.
3. Does this history contain lessons for Jesuits in India? Mention two of them.
Two important lessons this book offers for Jesuits are: a) Jesuits are entrusted with a mission area in order to develop the mission into a church: Patna Jesuits did precisely this and thus four more dioceses emerged from one Patna Diocese over the past 100 years; b) The mission mandate was to build the church and so from a situation when the Jesuits managed all the churches and institutions of Patna Diocese in the earlier years, they are just one among several religious orders now working in Patna Archdiocese, managing only a few institutions and churches today—they have lived the gospel mandate, “He must increase, I must decrease”.
The author is the Director of Xavier Institute of Social Research in Patna.
