By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi: Jesuit Archbishop William D’Souza, who retired recently as the head of Patna archdiocese, on March 1 became an assistant parish priest.
Archbishop D’Souza, who on March 5 turns 75, the mandatory retirement age of bishops, is the new assistant pastor of St. Stephen’s church, in Danapur Cantonment area, outside Patna, capital of Bihar state.
The retired archbishop said the “parish ministry is close to my heart and I will avail myself for the spiritual ministry in the parish and religious communities within my competence.”
As the archbishop he was noted for his simple lifestyle, approachability and closeness to mostly village people in his archdiocese. He resigned the archbishop’s post on December 9, 2020, nearly three months ahead of the retirement age.
Archbishop D’Souza was born at Madanthyar, Karnataka. He joined the Jesuit congregation and was ordained a priest on May 3, 1976. He did his philosophical studies in Shembanagur in Tamil Nadu and theology at Jnana Deepa Vidyapeet in Pune.
He was superior of Jesuit communities in various places. He served as rector of the minor seminary in Muzaffarpur, parish priests in different parishes, secretary to the bishop of Muzaffarpur and provincial of the Patna Jesuit province from 1995 to 2001.
He was appointed as the first bishop newly created of Buxar on December 12, 2005. He was ordained bishop on March 25, 2006, at Mary Mother of Perpetual Help Cathedral in Buxar. He was the parish priest of Itarhi in the district of Buxar at the time of his appointment as bishop.
He was also the administrator of Muzaffarpur diocese for a year.
Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as the Patna archbishop on October 1, 2007. He has been a priest for 44 years and a bishop for 14 years.
Several netizens commended the archbishop’s decision. “Wow.. What a humble priest… Even Bishop of Salem Singarayar became a parish priest,” says Sumithra Y M, reacting to Archbishop D’Souza’s news in the Facebook page of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.
Theresa D’Souza, another reader, said: “Commendable. A humble servant of God. May our Father in Heaven keep him in good health always and bless him abundantly.”
Michael Arnold Martyr hailed the prelate’s down to earth and said, “Wish we had more like him……a true leader of the Holy Church.”
Sylvia Peter Pais says the archbishop’s “unique example and religious love worthy to be praised.”
Lovejoy Linus Keitang wrote: “From archbishop to a humble assistant parish priest is commendable job for GOD and man, you are blessed.”
Archbishop D’Souza is the second Indian prelate in one year to take up for parish ministry after retirement.
On March 11, 2020, Bishop Sebastianappan Singaroyan of Salem moved to a parish to work as an assistant pastor, two days after Pope Francis accepted the 68-year-old bishop’s resignation.
Bishop Singaroyan, who resigned seven years before the statutory age of retirement for a bishop, now stays at Karpur Annai Velankanni substation church on the outskirts of Salem city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Abp Emeritus William D’Souza will inspire other ageing shepherds to get on the front foot.
While this is news worthy, the idea that it makes news shows the image we carry of a Bishop. The fact that position and hierarchy are seen as permanent facets of a Bishops life, even more than his commitment to serve the christian community.