Mysuru: Fr Gilbert Aranha (55), the Executive Secretary to the CCBI Commission for Ecumenism has been appointed as the Executive Secretary to the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (OEIA) of Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC). He is the first from Karnataka to be appointed to the FABC as secretary. This has come as a great honour to the church in Karnataka.
Born on April 1, 1964, Fr Gilbert was ordained on May 27, 1988 and holds a doctorate and Jurisprudence in canon law from Pontifical Urbaninan University, Rome. He also holds a diploma in canonical administration from Pontifical Congregation for the Clergy, Rome and a licentiate in ecumenism from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome. Fr Gilbert also has masters’ degrees in history and political science from the Mysore University.
Fr Gilbert has served the Catholic Church in several capacities during his priesthood. He as an associate priest of St. Theresa’s Church, Mysore South, from 1988 to 1997 and as director at the social work centre, Mysore CCF, between 1990 and 1997. He worked as a lecturer of political science at St Philomena’s College in Mysore between the years 1995 and 1997. He also served as parish priest of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception, Kudlur and of St Peter’s Church, Bogadi, Mysore from 2007 to 2013.
Fr Gilbert served as an associate priest in the parishes of Taranto and Vicenza in Italy and chaplain at St Martin’s Hospital, Genova, Italy. He also served as an associate priest in Springfield Diocese, Massachusetts, USA and archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, USA and Judge of the Archdiocesan Tribunal of Kansas City and chaplain at St. Francis Hospital Kansas, USA and Newman Centre, University of Massachusetts, USA.
Presently, Fr Gilbert is also serving as a Secretary and Co-Convener of the Theololgical Forum of United Christian Prayer for India, UCPI.
