Fr. Paul Moonjely took charge as the new Executive Director of Caritas India on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. He takes over from Fr. Frederick D’Souza, who served as Caritas India Executive Director for six years.

With Masters degrees in both business administration and social work, Fr. Paul has worked for more than 20 years in the development sector. Prior to joining Caritas India as Assistant Executive Director, he was Executive Director of Welfare Services Ernakulam, a charitable organization in Kerala popularly called “Sahrudaya”. He has also been Director at Lisie Medical & Educational Institutions in Kerala, India. Fr Paul is known for his community development approach and innovation.

A leader should “Know the way, Go the way and Show the way”, said Fr Paul Moonjely, on assuming charge.

Fr. Jolly Puthenpura takes charge as Assistant Executive Director at Caritas, a post last held by Fr Paul Moonjely.

Fr. Jolly has 14 years of hands-on experience as Executive Director of Amravati Diocesan Social Development Society and two years of experience as Forum Director of Western Regional Forum covering Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat. He has done his Ph.D. in Catholic Social Teachings on the topic “The Principles of Catholic Social Teachings; their Relevance and Influence on the Catholic NGOs of Maharashtra”. He was instrumental in making Amravati Diocesan Social Development Society a front-line NGO of the Vidarbha Region of Maharashtra. He was also a consultant to various social sector organizations in Maharashtra.

Both priests formally took charge under the watchful eyes of Bishop Lumen Monteiro, Chairman of Caritas India, CBCI Secretary General Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas and CBCI Deputy Secretary-General Msgr. Joseph Chinnayyan.

About Caritas India

Caritas India is the official development arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. Propelled by the commitment to preserve the dignity and sacredness of human personality, Caritas India serves the underprivileged sections of the society, hailing from socially excluded communities, the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes & religious minorities by exercising preferential actions for the most marginalized.

Over the years, Caritas India has diversified her interventions in the areas of Humanitarian Response and Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Adaptive Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihood, Anti-Human Trafficking, Peace-Building and Community Health. With a network of more than 200 partners across India, Caritas India reaches out to the most marginalized through humanitarian and development programmes.