Fr. Antonidass Amirthanathan
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Parochial VicarReverend Antonidass Amirthanathan, HGN (Fr. Dass)
"I was born in a traditional Catholic village named Kallery. Kallery is known as the birthplace of the only Cardinal from our state, Simon Lourd Samy. He served in Rome under John Paul II and Benedict XIV as only the fourth Cardinal from India and the first Curial Cardinal of Asia not from the Middle East. I believe the spark, or inspiration, for my priestly vocation came from my mother’s prayer to St. Anthony. Sadly, her first three children did not survive long after birth. After the death of her third child, my mother prayed to St. Anthony: 'if a son is born, I will offer him to the Lord.' Then she had my sister and me. And the second inspiration to my priestly life is from the Cardinal Simon Lourd Samy because my mother used to take me to church whenever he came home from Rome. "
Fr. Dass, a member of the Heralds of Good News, a missionary society of apostolic life, has served as parochial vicar of Notre Dame du Mont Carmel Parish in Madawaska, Our Lady of the Valley Parish in Saint Agatha, and St. Peter Chanel Parish in Van Buren since October of 2023. His previous assignments, all in India, included serving as vice rector and dean of studies at St. Mary’s Minor Seminary in Kerala; assistant parish priest at Holy Cross Church in T. Nagar, Chennair; as parish priest of St. Sebastian Church in Salem, Tamilnadu; and principal of St. Antony’s Nursery and Primary English Medium School in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. He completed his clerical studies at St. Joseph’s Major Seminary in Khammam, Telangana State and was ordained in 2015.