Fr Girish Santiago SJ has been named by Fr General Arturo Sosa SJ as the new Superior of the Myanmar Jesuit Region. He succeeds Fr Mark Raper SJ who has been Superior of the Myanmar Jesuits since 2011. With his appointment, Fr Girish becomes the first Superior since the Myanmar Mission became a Region dependent to the Philippine Province in March 2021.
Born in Tamil Nadu, India in 1967, Fr Girish entered the Society of Jesus on 25 July 1986 in Gujarat. He pronounced his First Vows on 31 July 1988, and was ordained as a priest on 18 October 1997. He made his Final Vows on 15 August 2005.
Fr Girish has a PhD in Social Science specialising in the care of persons with disabilities, serving to “enable the disabled” within the Church’s call to the New Evangelisation. In 2000, he founded Unteshwari Sammilitalayam, a centre for the promotion and implementation of inclusive programmes for and with persons with disabilities in Gujarat. In 2006, he was chosen by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as one of 24 delegates to an international cooperation programme on Special Education. His work in transcribing the New Testament of the Gujarati Catholic Bible in Braille earned him recognition from the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment.
In 2016, Fr Girish was missioned to Myanmar, where he currently serves as Consultor to the Regional Superior, Delegate for Social and Pastoral Ministries, and Assistant to the Director of St Luke’s College, a socio-pastoral formation centre of catechists in Myitkyina, Kachin State. At the college, he animates the staff and students to reach out to the displaced, disabled, and disadvantaged.
In addition to all these roles, Fr Girish is a proficient writer and international speaker. His most recent book, “Let’s Learn Kachin”, is on learning the local language and his mission in the northern part of Myanmar.
Interestingly, Fr Girish has strong family ties to the country. Most members of his family were born in Burma, but left during difficult times in the 1960s. Some of his extended family members still live in Myanmar. He takes over as Regional Superior during a most challenging time for the country.
“I thank Fr Girish for his generosity and availability to serve the Myanmar Region and the Society,” said Philippine Provincial Fr Primitivo Viray Jr SJ. He also expressed gratitude to Fr Raper for “over 10 years of dedicated service to Myanmar, leading it through especially difficult times which are far from over”.
The Myanmar Region is considered a special mission of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP). In his memo to the conference announcing the appointment of Fr Girish, JCAP President Fr Tony Moreno SJ commended to everyone’s prayers the intentions of Fr Girish, Fr Raper, and the Myanmar Region. He thanked Fr Girish for “his readiness and generous availability to take on this tough mission given its very difficult circumstances” and Fr Raper for “his engaging accompaniment of the Myanmar Region since 2011 and his various leadership roles as a Major Superior in the Conference spanning more than two decades”.
Fr Girish will begin his new mission as Superior of the Myanmar Jesuit Region on 25 March, the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord.