Robert D'Silva (7 June 1925 – 15 October 2015) was a Pakistani

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

Biography

He was born in Karachi, Pakistan. He attended

St Patrick's High School, Karachi , motto_translation = Through hardships to the stars , location = Saddar Town, Sindh , city = Karachi , province = , country = Pakistan , coordinates = , established = , foun ...

, where he was a classmate of BJP President

L.K. Advani Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. Advani is one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a longtime memb ...

. He studied theology in

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the 330th most populous city in India with a p ...

from 1944 and was ordained a priest on 24 August 1952. Since then he has held many appointments including parish priest of Christ the King Church,

St. Lawrence's Church ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

and parish priest of St. Patrick’s Parish. In 1985, D'Silva who was then the parish priest of St. Anthony's Church, built and expanded the St. Anthony's Boys School to become a full-fledged Matriculation school. In 1994, he lobbied officials to seek permission to build an Old Priests Home on a Civil Lines plot of land owned by the

Archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. In 2000 the Old Priests Home was completed. A beautiful Chapel inside fulfilled the spiritual needs of the first residents, Frs. Robert D'Silva, Melito Dias and Joseph D'Mello. From 1995 to 2001 D'Silva was the parish priest of Fatima Parish. The Father Robert D'Silva Golden Jubilee Invitation Inter-school cricket tournament was named in his honour in 2002 to celebrate 50 years of his priesthood. D'Silva has led many pilgrimages to

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to th ...

, as well as to the Marian shrine in

Fátima, Portugal Fátima () is a city in the municipality of Ourém and district of Santarém in the Central Region of Portugal, with 71.29 km2 of area and 13,212 inhabitants (2021). The homonymous civil parish encompasses several villages and localities o ...

. In 2004, he led a group of 300 pilgrims to the Indian state of Goa for the decennial exposition of

Saint Francis Xavier Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: ''Franciscus Xaverius''; Basque: ''Frantzisko Xabierkoa''; French: ''François Xavier''; Spanish: ''Francisco Javier''; Portuguese: ''Francisco Xavier''; 7 April 15063 December 1 ...

's relics in Old Goa. At the time he is once again the parish priest of St. Lawrence's Church in Karachi. His last posting was as Assistant parish priest of Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Karachi. He died in Karachi on 15 October 2015.

References

St. Patrick's High School, Karachi alumni 20th-century Pakistani Roman Catholic priests Pakistani people of Goan descent People associated with Shillong 1925 births 2015 deaths {{Pakistan-reli-bio-stub