Taumaturgo Paes from Sulabhat, Agasaim, was ordained a priest on December 19, 1965 along with 10 others in the Society of Pilar.
“Soon after Liberation of Goa, there was no bishop in Goa,” he recalls, “Monsieur Rebello was the caretaker of the diocese. Bishop Colaco from Cabo Verde had come down to Goa for his home visit and holidays. And we were privileged to be ordained by him.”
Soon after the ordination, the then superior general of the Society of Pilar, Fr Sebastiao Rodrigues, decided to send Fr Paes and one of his colleagues, Fr Peter Gomes, to Andaman and Nicobar Islands. “But before we could go to the mission,” he said, “we were sent to Ranchi, Jharkand in order to learn Hindi and experience the rich culture of the people as 90 per cent of the Catholics in Andaman and Nicobar Islands were from Jharkand.”
After intensive study of Hindi language and the people’s culture, Fr Paes proceeded to Andaman and Nicobar Islands in March 1967. He served there for eight years, accepting all the untoward difficulties and challenges as God’s will.
After fulfilling his assignment in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Fr Paes returned to Jharkand to start a new mission. His selfless service and care for his flock continued for 13 years.
During his stay in Jharkand, Fr Paes build go-downs under the ‘food for work’ scheme for poor people involved in construction of wells, ponds and agricultural works. When he began his mission he lived in a small hut.
Over a period of time, the missionary enthusiasm prompted Fr Paes to build a residence for the priests and also construct a youth centre. “Initially when I went there I had no intention of building a high school to avoid complications like approval and recognition from the authorities,” he informed.
Fr Paes had heard from other sources that various parishes around the place had encountered hardships to sustain such schools due to poverty. “After three years,” he recollects, “I realised my mistake. Children were good at the primary and middle level. But after joining other high schools in the vicinity, they were a failure with hardly one or two making progress.”
Observing the pathetic situation of these promising children, Fr Paes regretted his earlier decision and convinced his parishioners to start a high school.
“The closest recognised school was three kilometres away, but the standard of education was very low,” he recounts. “And going ahead with the plan for a new high school was like climbing the Mount Everest or the Himalayas, but we trusted God.”
“Since the go-downs were spacious, we started the Seventh Class in one and followed it with the eighth class the following year,” he went on to explain.
“The students would sit on the floor since we did not have desks. The shortage of staff prompted me to take up teaching English, Geography and Biology.
“The students enrolled in the higher classes were mostly drop-outs from other high schools but we gave them special attention and care. In the first board exams, 43 of the 48 students, got through successfully.
Later on those who could afford joined good colleges like St Xavier’s in Ranchi.
“Within four years,” he continued, “more than 100 students joined college. Many of the educated parishioners volunteered to teach in our school.
“Making the most of the ‘food for work’ scheme wherein assistance would flow from America in the form of supply of bulgur, oil, wheat and milk powder, a school building finally came into existence,” he added.
After the school building was completed, Fr Paes decided not to built a church as he believed that the living church was the Catholics of Jharkand. However, after his departure in 1989, his successor took the initiative of building a church for the flock.
On completing 21 years of missionary work in Andamans and Jharkhand, Fr Paes decided to take a sabbatical and visit his brother and sister in Portugal, but a delay in getting a visa deprived him of the needed break.
Meanwhile, his superior requested him to accompany the Society’s philosophy students to Varanasi with the IMS Fathers. Accepting the task, Fr Paes stayed at Varanasi for three years and saw 28 seminarians completing the philosophy course. Later he attended a four-month pastoral course in the Philippines.
Fr Paes then got the opportunity of visiting his brother and sister in Portugal, and followed a summer substitution programme in America for four months.
“On return to Goa, my superior wanted me to be based in my alma mater at Pilar, but I requested that I would rather prefer to return and serve in Jharkand,” he said.
The superior, however, proposed that Fr Paes head to Ranchi instead, and find a place in and around Ranchi as there was no missionary work being carried out by the Pilar Fathers in proper Ranchi town. When he landed there, Archbishop Telesphore Toppo requested him to serve as parish priest (PP) in of the parishes, but he explained to the archbishop that he was on a different mission of finding a place for the Pilar Fathers.
Realising that appointment as PP would not help accomplish Fr Paes’ mission, the archbishop appointed him as an assistant in one parish. “Instead of assisting one parish priest, I had to serve four other PPs. During that period, a land was purchased, followed by a house ‘Dibadih’ for the Pilar Fathers. Finally the bishop decided to hand over the same parish Doranda to the Pilar Fathers,” he revealed.
After much hesitation, Fr Paes took up the parish responsibility as PP in 2002. After serving for one year and eight months in Doranda, he returned to his old parish in Agarma where he continued for two years. This was followed by a mission in Bhopal for 14 months.
Rigorous work in the remote missions inspired Fr Paes to take over as the spiritual director at the Morning Star Regional Seminary in West Bengal, for four years.
At present this Pilar priest, who recently celebrated the golden jubilee of his priesthood, is serving at Chiraiyan Mission, in Gumla diocese on the border of Chhattisgarh.
“There was only one old village church and a land in the name of the parish which was purchased 14 years ago,” he disclosed. “Today there are around 300 Catholic families. And for the past 20 years, the people have been longing to have a priest amidst them,” Fr Paes said.
