722 India: Bosco Information Services
MUMBAI MISSIONARY FOR PNG
 
BIS (Bosco Information Service, Mumbai)
 
MUMBAI: 18th Sept -- "When I was 9 years old I was fascinated by a video documentary that I saw of the missions of Brazil," said Cl. Clifford Morais, "Today, I have experienced God calling me to go as a missionary". Cl. Clifford Morais, belonging to the Salesian Province of Mumbai was given a grand public send off at the Shrine of Don Bosco's Madonna on Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 13th as he took up the challenge to answer God's call to go out as a missionary to Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the 133rd salesian missionary expedition of the Salesians.
 
Cl. Clifford joined the Salesians at the age of 31 after his tenure as principal secretary at a leading finance company in India and four years as co-ordination manager at a shipping company. "I used to come to Don Bosco Matunga for the socials that my dad's company organised here and I was attracted to Salesian life when I saw the youth activites of the Salesians on the campus," he said. Cl. Clifford, belongs to a family of five; his aunt is also a religious. He professed in May 2001 and completed his philosophy studies at Divyadaan, Salesian Institute of Philosphy, Nashik. He had expressed his intention to the Rector Major to be a missionary in the foreign missions and received the mandate on 17th May 2003 to go as a missionary to PNG. He will be handed over the Missionary Cross on 28th September at a ceremony in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, Italy. He has been assigned to the Salesian community at Boroko in PNG as a Practical Trainee.