New appointments at the General House.
In case you have to get in contact with the Secretariat and with the Archivist...
RICHARD SURESH is our new Assistant to the Secretariat and the General Administration
On the 16th of November1980, a small baby boy was born to Jothi Ratchagadoss and Antoniyammal in Tamil Nadu. He was the third of four children, with an elder brother and sister and a younger sister, all of whom are married. Forty days after he was born, he was baptised with the name of Richard Suresh and that is me.
I was enrolled in a Catholic school in Tamil Nadu where I first encountered the love of Christ through the nuns who taught me. I later joined the MSCs in 1998 and went on to make my first vows on June 2, 2001 and my perpetual profession was on May 26, 2007. I was ordained on September 17, 2010 in Puducherry, India.
Following my Ordination, for a year I assisted the Superior in the Scholasticate as Administrator. The next year I was given the responsibility of being the Assistant Parish Priest at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church, Bengaluru, India. For the next 6 years, I supported the Indian Union Superior in his administration as Union Bursar.
As I was finishing my term as Union Bursar, I was invited by the Generalate to be a part of the General Administration team as Assistant Secretary General. After much deliberation and prayer, I accepted the invitation as I felt that it was a call from God to experience His work more closely in the land where Catholicism had developed.
On 23rd January 2021, I landed in Rome and after a brief quarantine, an orientation given by Fr. General Abzalon and Fr. Chris Chaplin enabled me to relate better to living in the Generalate. I started work with Fr. Michael Miller in the Office of the Secretary.
Although it has been a few months since I arrived in Rome, the learning under Fr. Mike has been immense and yet there is still an ocean of knowledge that I have yet to attain. I am truly blessed to be a part of this community which has confreres from various parts of the world. My interaction with them has opened my eyes to the beauty of other cultures and enrichened me. I hope by the grace of God and with the support from all.
HENGKI PONAMON is the new General Archivist.
In December 2020, Robertus Sumarwata, our General Archivist, returned to Indonesia after having worked for more than 6 years at the General House. We thank him for his many years of silent works in serving the Congregation. Since his departure, Paulus Pitoy has been the acting archivist, because the new Archivist has not yet arrived. But thank God, after quite a long wait, finally in February 2021 Hengki Ponamon, the new General Archivist, arrived at the General House. He came from Indonesia after carrying out his mission in Cuba for nearly seven years.
Working as an archivist is different from working in other pastoral works as Hengki had done before. Such work requires a special kind of preparation. Therefore, Hengki is now preparing himself for his new work by first learning Italian and then taking a course for archivists. During this time of preparation, in carrying out his duties in the Archives, he will be still assisted by the acting archivist.
Just to remind you the leaders of Provinces and Unions not to forget to send to the General Archives what are prescribed in the numbers 221 and 222 of our Statutes. And whatever you need in connection with the Archives, please contact our General Archivist using this email address, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
From the General Bulletin
