Br. J.B.Pinto, 1962

This has been sent by our GMS alumni, Delhi in their series,
know your fellow Goethalites.

Radheshyam

Heads the world wide organisation of the Christian Brothers
and is currently based in Rome.
There are thousands of educational institutions accross the
globe and quite a few have a reputation in there counties.
Quite a few are over 100 years old.
The revenues (fees) generated from the Schools would put
the organisation in the billion doller club or more.
Assets are worth billion of dollers.
Recession or no recession, the organsiation runs without
much of a nightmare that most of CEOs are going through.

Thank you for your email and for asking me for my profile.
I really do not think I have achieved all that much --
I have just been in the right place at the right time.
I know of so many others who have done so much with their
lives and who have lived it fully. However, I will put
something down to start the project you are involved in.

I finished my Senior Cambridge in 1962 when Br.
Ponise was Principal and Br. H. B. Dineen was my class teacher.
At that time I was living in Mount Carmel just above Goethals.
This was the training Institute of the Christian Brothers.
I completed my initial training in mid 1965 and taught
for a year in our Orphanage in Dum Dum.
Then I was sent to Shillong to do my graduate studies
in St. Edmund's College, which is also run by the Christian Brothers.

I subsequently taught for some years in a couple of our
schools (DumDum and Mount Abu) and then did my Masters
through Gauhati University and taught in the college in Shillong.
At this time I was appointed to the Provincial Council for
India (1978), became Principal in St. Patrick's Asansol
and St. Columba's Delhi.

In 1987 I was appointed Provincial in India, a ministry
I carried out for nine years. During this time I was also
elected the President for the Religious of India (Priests,
Brothers and Sisters). It was a real awakening for me, because
I became aware of a much larger India than that of the
Christian Brothers Schools. I got involved in all sorts
of issues at the national level and was invited to many
organisations and institutions.

In 1997 I was elected to the Congregation Leadership Team in
Rome, one of a group of five that manage the affairs of the
Brothers world wide. In 2002 I was elected the world
leader of the Brothers and I was re-elected to this post in 2008.

In a nutshell that has been my life.

But what really matters to me is the universal search for God
and the way in which such a search leads one to be more human
and more involved in the lives of people.
The Brothers are getting more involved in justice issues and
the rights of the child. Education is much more than just schools.
There is so much to be done for people made poor.

I can see how people tend to create comfortable images of God,
images that allow them to live lives according to their dictates
rather than a Divine Mandate. Very often we shelter behind the
dictates of organised religion. So my life is now dedicated to
sharing a larger God with my Brothers and Sisters.
I know that my Indian background helps me very much in this and
I am grateful for so much.