The Rotti Press is the only printing press in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

owned by the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Karachi The Archdiocese of Karachi is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in India. It was erected on 20 May 1948 under as a then-suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdioces ...

. The press is located in Blenkin Street,

Saddar Saddar ( ur, ), also known as Saddar Bazaar, is a neighbourhood in Karachi, Pakistan. The locality was developed as the primary commercial district during the period of British-era rule in Karachi. As a result, Saddar contains the large concentr ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

. Ali, G. and Ali, M. St. Patrick’s: A journey of 175 years. Archdiocese of Karachi, 2018.

History

“Dor Mhoineache Rotti” a Konkani language publication first out in 1915, was published by the Rotti Press by Fr. Vincent Lobo. This is how the press got its name. The press was started with Rs. 30,000 by Fr.

Salesius Lemmens Salesius Lemmens, was a Dutch Franciscan friar who served as the Apostolic Prefect of the Catholic Church in Karachi, then a part of British India. He died at the age of 37 in a drowning accident. Early career Lemmens came from a large family and ...

OFM. In 1936, Bro Herbert Hessing OFM, an expert in printing, arrived in Karachi. New printing machines arrived three months later and the press took off. It became one of the leading presses in Karachi. Many young men were trained in the printing trade and gained jobs around the country. Later the press was modernised using German, Swedish and American machinery. In 1937 the Franciscans built the Saint Francis of Assisi Church building on Pilgrim Road. The press was located on the ground floor of the church building. The press has a long history of publishing books on philosophy, history, religion, education and culture. The press currently also publishes the

Christian Voice, Karachi ''The Christian Voice, Karachi'' is an English-language weekly newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Karachi, Pakistan. It was founded in 1950 by Fr. D'Arcy D'Souza. This is the second oldest Catholic publication in Pakistan after the ' ...

an English-language weekly newspaper and a weekly Urdu-language paper Agahi. In October 2010, the Rotti Press printed two books - Tofah (Gift) and Yasu (Jesus) to be used for Sunday School instruction in Pakistan. Five thousand copies have been printed each for all dioceses nationwide. The books were launched by Archbishop

Evarist Pinto Evarist Pinto (born 31 December 1933 in Goa, Portuguese India) is the former archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan. Education He was educated at St. Thomas High School, Goa, India. In 1960 he started studying for priesthood at the St. Pius X Minor ...

of Karachi.UCANews 29 October 2010
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References

Catholic Church in Pakistan Printing companies Printers {{Publish-company-stub