Established in memory of the first Bishop of the Diocese of Palayamkottai, the foundation carries his ministry — education, healthcare, and pastoral care — from the United States to India, Africa, and beyond.
One Bishop's heartbeat, carried into many missions — a hope we refuse to let end.
To continue Bishop Iruthayaraj's Christ-centered mission by promoting education, healthcare, and pastoral care for those in need.
To build a society where faith meets compassion, and every individual has access to opportunity, dignity, and hope.
Three continents held together by one heart.
Chaired by the Bishop of Columbus and led by our Co-Founder & Executive Director, the foundation is registered in Ohio as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and stewards its mission from here.
The Diocese of Palayamkottai, where Bishop Iruthayaraj served for twenty-six years, remains the heart of the mission — his mortal remains rest in the Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier, Palayamkottai.
From that heart, the mission now extends across one diocese and three archdioceses in India — and, quietly, into even more:
In Africa, the foundation is helping build up the local Church. In Zambia alone this has meant a borehole for clean water, a presbytery extension, a remote forest-village church, and basic ablution & toilet facilities for the parish. Pastoral support now also reaches Nigeria and Uganda, with Tanzania on the horizon.
On 23 October 2001, Union of Catholic Asian News carried the account of Bishop Iruthayaraj’s funeral in Palayamkottai — the thousands who came, the priests he had ordained, the villages he had first walked into, the schools he had opened, the poor he refused to forget. It remains one of the most vivid records of his life in ministry.
