Fr Sebastiao to be consecrated bishop on Feb 18

Panaji: Fr Sebastiao (Seby) Mascarenhas from the Society of the Missionaries of St Francis Xavier, popularly known as the Pilar fathers, will be formally consecrated Bishop on February 18 at Baroda.

Ex-superior general of the society of Pilar and brother of Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, Fr Sebastiao, 63, was appointed Bishop of Baroda by Pope Francis recently.

He will celebrate his very first Mass as Bishop in Goa on February 25 at Our Lady of Candelaria Church, in his ancestral village of Camurlim in Salcete.

Fr Sebastiao has served his Society and the Church in various important ministries, including as professor and as rector at the All India Mission Seminary at Pilar, Provincial Superior of the Mumbai province of the Society of Pilar, Superior of the Mission of Daman of this Archdiocese and finally as Superior General of the Society of Pilar.

He will now join his brother Bishop Theodore, 62, in the episcopal service of the Universal Church.