Around 4,000 people from various parts of Odisha attended the concluding programs of yearlong celebrations of the birth centenary of Father Pascal Singh, Odisha’s first Catholic priest. Late Fr Jadav Pascal Singh was the great scholar & educationist of Kandhamal who founded Vijay High School, Raikia nearby Singhigarh in 1957. It has been enlightening the area in spreading the quality education for the upliftment of the locals. And his younger brother Late Fr Sahadev Cyprian Singh was the first Secretary of the Managing Committee of Jeevan Jyoti Mahavidyalaya, Raikia which was established in 1986. Both School & Mahavidyalaya are the leading academic institutions of Raikia which were initiated by Priest-brothers, the great sons of Kandhamal. Bishops, priests, nuns and people from all over Odisha gathered at Allanjuri, in the Kandhamal district of the eastern Indian state, Father Singh’s birthplace, for the closing ceremony on May 17. The concluding day saw the blessing of newly built St. Thomas Church in the village.
As reported by mattersindia.com, said Bhaktanath S, old student and retired teacher noted that “Fr. Pascal was a dedicated educationist and social reformist.” Ambrose Sualsingh, another old student and a retired teacher remarked that “Along with his younger brother, he was instrumental in establishing educational institutions in different parts of Odisha that empowered the downtrodden, marginalized people of the then Cuttack diocese.”
Father Singh was ordained a priest on December 31, 1945, at Kattingia, the oldest parish known as the mother parish of Kandhamal. His only brother Cyprian Singh was ordained four years later as the second native priest of Odisha. Since then the eastern Indian state has seen a steady increase of priestly and religious vocations.
Source: www.mattersindia.com
