Benjamin A. Vima

Benjamin A. Vima has been a diocesan priest for forty years, having been born, bred, trained, and ordained in India, and is now working as an international priest in the USA. He is incardinated to the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had his philosophical and theological studies in India; he holds two master’s degrees, religious and theater communication from the Loyola University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. He, too, underwent the DMin program of Oral Roberts University, Tulsa. Besides serving as pastor in different parishes both in India and USA, he was the founder and the first executive director of Sathangai, an archdiocesan center for Catholic communications in Madurai, South India. He is a liturgical and social music composer and publisher. He has produced and published many volumes of Tamil liturgical hymns under the title Isaithen. A PEOPLE’S THEATRE: For Community Development in Tamilnadu, India was his first book, which was to be used as a guide for all development theatre workers in India. Besides many booklets of his homilies, he has published another book, My Dear Ecclesia, a compilation of his Letters for Parish Weekly bulletins. He has also composed and released a music album of Catholic Masses for English-speaking congregations. At present, he serves as pastor at Sacred Heart Church Parish, Skiatook, Oklahoma, USA.