John Shanth Kumar Joseph

My name is John Shanth Kumar Joseph. I am 43 year old living in India. I am very happy to submit my details on the Jobs for Catholics portal.

Personally, the formation of my Catholic faith is motivated by four (4) incidents/inspirations/realisations in my life.

1. My first name ‘John’ was given to me by my baptizer Fr. Jean-Baptiste HARMANDON, a French Missionary. He had sought permission of my parents to give his name, so that his mission of serving communities in India would continue with his name. This inspires and reminds me to always treat my community engagement and social action as a vocation.

2. Second inspiration comes from my maternal grandmother who was rescued by the Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate (SMMI) nuns. Later she converted and baptized. She chose to dedicate her entire life by serving at a TB Sanatorium and later went on to serve at a Leprosy Hospital. This for me was the best example of living the faith and I strive to mimic in my personal and professional life.

3. The third inspiration comes from my parents who convinced the government to provide free land to build a church in my village. Prior to that, we had to walk 5KM every time to attend church and other sacraments. Further, along with various catholic priests, they mobilised the catholic families in and around our village and helped form a parish. My father, mother and later my brother served as the sacristans. This helped me understand the apostolic responsibility of every catholic of creating and strengthening faith communities.

4. In 1996, I joined All India Catholic University Federation (AICUF), a national catholic student movement, dedicated to living the teachings and life of Christ through service of the marginalised and the vulnerable. The engagement, activities and discussions allowed me to understand catholic church’ critical mission within the context of religious, cultural and socio-political diversity of the world. Since then, I have been part of the movement at various capacities. This has taught me to redefine myself as a Catholic in a secular world doing Social Action.

 My experiences and skills are:

a.I have 21 years of working experience with Catholic student community.

b. I have 21 years of experience working with Catholic church partners and collaborators and their stakeholders. I understand church structure, relationships and its functioning. I have worked with Federation of Asian Bishops Conference Departments/Commissions and National Bishop Conferences.

c. I have 15 years of experience working with Ecumenical Movements/Organisations & other religious institutions and organisations.

d. I have fair experience in resource mobilisation & management for faith formation, education, civil society and social development. My experiences include budgeting, allocation, monitoring, accounting, evaluation and reporting.

e. I have 10+ years of coordinating cross-sector and cross-culture organisations, movements, coalitions and alliance.

I want to continue my apostolic mission by working with communities on their rights.

The details of my community involvements, strengths, learning, skills, limitations and my experiments in Social Action/Development work can be found in my CV. References are included in the CV.

In Christ’s solidarity,

John Shanth Kumar Joseph