Women Carrying water jugs on their jead

Our Catholic Projects in India

The Mission of Goa and Daman is geared toward providing social and spiritual uplift to the disadvantaged, including tribal communities along the west coast of India. Deep within a country that has made economic leaps and bounds over the past decade, lies tens of thousands of people lacking basic needs.
The needs are vast in the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman. From missionary sponsorship to infrastructure support for schools and homes for the needy, we have an opportunity to make a significant difference in the lives of thousands of people lacking basic needs.
Explore the tabs to learn more about our many projects and donate to Catholic charity work in India.

The Wheels on the Bus: Setting Children Free One Ride to School at a Time

bus to help transport children in India

Thanks to you, our very generous donors, we have fully funded the purchase of a school bus for the Trinitarian Fathers to use at their school in the Assam region of northeast India.

This full-size bus can carry 72 children. Many of these children have to walk almost 5 miles to school. Therefore, they either arrive to school tired and unable to work, or they do not come at all.

Getting to school is vital to the future of these children – the knowledge and the sense of self-worth that comes with going to school is transformational for these little ones who have suffered in poverty for so long.

Thanks to you a bus has been purchased to bring these children to and from school. See photos below:

Empowering Women and Families in Kerala

When a baby girl is born in India, her birth is rarely celebrated because of dowries and other societal norms regarding women that poor families can’t afford. From the beginning of her life, a woman is often considered a burden, and this mindset follows her throughout her life. Women—especially unmarried women and widows—are often neglected, abused, harassed, and assaulted. Worst of all, this abuse is often committed by the extended family these women must rely on for protection!

Others on the fringe of society in India–widows, people battling addiction, people living with HIV, tribal people, and harijans (members of the lowest caste)–are also in dire need of help and hope.

Fr. Alfred, Director of Jeevana, the organization that works for social action and people’s empowerment, tells us, “Unemployment is extreme here, and people are not in a position to lead a dignified life.”

The Diocese of Cochin and the Diocese of Calicut are ready to respond.

Mercy Josey Paddy cultiation

Bringing social and spiritual uplift to Tribal villages

11 Centers Completed Thanks to Your Generosity!

The plan starts with construction of community centers for the dozens of tribal villages speckled throughout the Nagar-Haveli area. While tribal villagers live in huts made of mud, these community centers will be the only facility within reach with electricity. The community centers will provide a venue for: missionaries to provide spiritual formation; celebration of Mass and the sacraments; a place for the children to study; families to pool resources, and much more for these villagers. The community center will be the only facility in the village with generators for light and heat, where missionaries will lead families in programs to better their communities and living conditions.

Building Churches in Rural India

Bringing Hope and Building the Church

As part of our mission to empower the poor and spread the Gospel, Catholic World Mission is proud to support the construction of churches around the world, so the faithful in poor communities can have a spiritual home.

Large group of people standing together in Thambipuram, India

Mission in Porvorim

Porvorim Center

In 1957, the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman was established to serve the growing Catholic population of 625,000 people on the west coast of India. Over 600 priests have served the areas of Goa, Daman, Diu, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli in the 169 parishes there. However, with time the priests serving them have retired, and others are ailing. Without family to provide and care for them they have requested our assistance in bringing a Clergy Home for the ailing and retiring priest community in Porvorim. Already, the center there has a hospital for the sick, a chapel for prayer and celebrating mass, and a convent for the sisters.

Catholic Archbishop blessing the ground

Children

The Children of India

Children pray with new rosaries you donated in 2015

Twenty percent of the world’s children live in India and about 11% of those children ages 0-14 are laborers. Priests like Fr. Seby and Fr. Tony fight for the rights of the children, and keep them out of harm’s way. You can support their work by exploring the tabs, and giving generously to their mission.

Click through the following tabs to learn more!

  • The Story: learn more about the care Fr. Seby and Fr. Tony provide to thousands of children
  • Christmas Miracles: Learn how you’ve been a Christmas miracle for children in India since 2014
  • Updates: Read exciting updates about this corner of western India! There’s a lot to celebrate with new construction, new vehicles, and your continued generosity!
  • How You Can Help: Learn how you can keep giving to children in India in this tab.

The priest and school principal below speaks of his own foundation as a child in the school in Dudhani.

Pastoral Institute of Laity Formation

Formation of the Laity

In India, it is important now more than ever for the faith to explode and show the faithfulness of the Lord, Jesus Christ. There are many Christians being persecuted in the name of cleansing. We stand against this persuction and the killings, and support programs that transcend the love of the Gospel.

Missionaries of St. Francis De Sales Seminary

Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales 

The Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales live humbly while studying the priesthood. These men studied for years without proper electricity, would walk miles to share their studies and evangelizing in the Archdiocese of Goa & Daman, and hand pick rice for their meals.

Now thanks to your help things are a little easier there.

You helped the missionaries by bringing electricity so they could continue their studies at night. You bought bicycles so they could reach more people in the archdiocese. And thanks be to God, you gave them a tractor! Read more about each story below.

Young adult studying in St. Francis De Sales in India
St. Francis de Sales Evangelism
Side profile of the St. Francis De Sales Institute

Little Way Messengers

Priestly Formation

The mission of The Little Way Messengers is to form future priests to spread God’s message of love and salvation throughout the world. Father Selvaraj aims to achieve this through establishing a religious order and seminary in southern India to form zealous missionary priests and train them in various cultures and languages to be sent to the four corners of the world where there is a shortage of priests under the patronage of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower.

Little Way Messengers blessing the grounds for their seminary in India
Fr. Selvaraj standing proudly at the Little Way Messengers Seminary in India
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