Bishop From India Visits The Diocese Of Evansville
Most Rev. A. Arokia Sebastin Durairaj SVD, bishop of the Diocese of Khandwa in India, visited our diocese recently to meet the family of the late Father Jerry Ziliak who served as pastor of St. Mary Parish in Karpur, which is in the Diocese of Khandwa.
Father Ziliak grew up on a family farm at St. James, in Gibson County, and entered the Society of Divine Word Missionaries at age 13. He was assigned to India, where he served as a missionary from 1948 until 1997.
He returned from India to the retirement home of Divine Word at Techny, Ill., where he lived to be 92. He died in 2012.
Father John Boeglin, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Jasper, invited Bishop Durairaj to visit Father Ziliak’s relatives in southwest Indiana. Bishop Durairaj hosted Father Boeglin a year ago in India, and took him to St. Mary Parish in Karpur, where Father Ziliak served. Bishop Durairaj was extremely grateful to meet Father Ziliak’s relatives in Gibson County.
