The Salesian Province of Dimapur, comprises a good portion of the Northeast of India: Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and upper Assam. Hundreds of thousands of young people spread across vast hilly terrain, are served through 47 Salesian houses in which 288 confreres carry on the Salesian mission with tremendous dedication. In 2022 the Northeast region celebrated 100 years of the arrival of the first Salesian Missionaries to the territory. The Province of Dimapur was bifurcated from the Guwahati Province in 1982.
Fr Joseph is a missionary from the southern State of Kerala. He left his homeland and reached Shillong at the age of 13 after spending one year with the Salesians at Vaduthala. From the age of thirteen, he has lived in North East India, starting at the Savio Juniorate aspirantate in Shillong. He made his novitiate in Shillong. He studied philosophy at Salesian College Sonada and theology at Sacred Heart Theological College Shillong. He was ordained priest in 1983, a year after the bifurcation of the Province of Dimapur from Guwahati. Till then he was a member of the Guwahati Province. Describing his providential journey, Fr Pampackal says: “I consider it a blessing of God that I was called to serve in the wonderful and flourishing missions of the 4 states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur.”
He has variety of rich experiences in the Province. He served nine years at the helm of the Province as Economer of the Province (2000-2009). He has served in various mission settings: as Dean of Studies in the formation house of Salesian College - studentate of Philosophy, as Headmaster in Don Bosco school Jorhat, as administrator at Dibrugarh and Imphal, as Rector at Tinsukia and Maram, and as in-charge of a new mission at Rangajan. He has also served as Provincial Secretary.
Fr Pampackal holds a Master’s degree in economics, a Bachelor’s Degree in Education and a Diploma in Salesian Spirituality from the Institute of Salesian Studies and Spirituality, Berkeley, California, USA.
At the time of being nominated, Fr Joseph Pampackal is serving as the Rector of the Maram Don Bosco School and Parish community. He is in his Golden Jubilee year of first profession. The current Provincial, Fr Kuruvachira describes him as “a man of deep faith, a convinced religious, a person with thorough knowledge of the Province and the confreres, an able administrator, a man of vision and hard work with great love for Don Bosco and loyalty to the Congregation.”
Fr Joseph Pampackal will be succeeding Fr Jose Kuruvachira who has been serving as Provincial of Dimapur since August 2018. Fr Josph Pampackal will be the 8th Provincial of the Dimapur Province.
