COVID delays priest’s return to Texas
By Sam Waller
Father Prakash Dias took a rather convoluted path to his post as priest at Albany’s Jesus of Nazareth Catholic Church and Breckenridge’s Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church.
A visit home to his native India turned into a nearly year-long ordeal to return to work.
Dias, a native of Honavar, Karwar, Karnataka, India, originally planned a 30-day visit, leaving in late April last year. He finally returned to the United States on Feb. 10 after nine months and 10 days.
During that time, his efforts were hampered by government-imposed lockdowns and travel restrictions on the part of both the U.S. and India, the countries that had the two highest rates of COVID-19 infection.
“Most were imposed by government order and the President’s proclamation banning travel to noncitizens and those not holding green cards,” Dias said. “Since I do not have a green card – I’m still on a visa – I could not come.”
Bureaucracy also played a role in delaying the priest’s return to his parishioners.
“Even the attorneys working for the Fort Worth Diocese tried reaching out,” Dias said. “The standard message was ‘We’ll get back to you.’ They got back to me in December.”
Dias entered the seminary in India in June 1999 and was ordained April 24, 2013.
“It took many years of training, going to the parishes, different mission work we have to experience, and then mainly studies,” he said. “I studied philosophy for two years and theology for four years. I also studied history, economics, geography, lots of studies.”
He came to Albany and Breckenridge in September 2019. Before moving to Texas, the priest spent two years in India before being assigned to a parish in Fort MacMurray, Alberta.
“It was very cold – minus-50 – but when it got hot, it was too hot,” Dias said. “The whole town caught on fire – 2,200 houses burned – and we had to evacuate for a month. That’s how my ministry ended there.”
In 2017, Dias began serving as one of two priests covering parishes at Bridgeport, Decatur, and Jacksboro.
“The order asked me to go to Texas,” he said. “I said, ‘Give me a warmer place.’ They said, ‘Texas is pretty warm’.”
After taking his current assignment, Dias did not visit his family for nearly a year-and-a-half before making his ill-fated visit.
“When I went home, I thought it was for just one month,” he said. “I knew there was COVID, but I had not traveled back home for so long. My mom was calling and wanting to see me.”
Upon his arrival in his homeland, Dias visited a U.S. consulate to fill out paperwork that would enable his return. Then travel restrictions intervened.
Adding to Dias’ troubles was that his family lives in the state of Goa on India’s west coast, while the consulate was in Hyderabad on the eastern side of the country. Travel was made impossible by a lockdown that lasted three months.
“Everything was shut,” he said. “For the first three months I was there, you couldn’t even come out for shopping because of the restrictions.”
Then Dias tested positive, requiring futher isolation.
“I had to quarantine myself for 14 days,” he said. “I rented a house all by myself. I had somebody drop off groceries so I could cook.”
While awaiting approval to return to the U.S., Dias took a temporary posting at Pallotti Jyothi Niwas, a seminary in Candor, Goa, operated by the Pallottine order, of which he is a member.
“It was a wonderful experience there,” Dias said. “Since my ordination, I have not been in the priest community much. This was a blessing in disguise.”
During his absence, the Albany and Breckenridge parishes were served by substitutes.
“The diocese made sure the parishioners had a priest to help,” Dias said. “Every weekend, they would send somebody here. Sometimes, there was no priest but there’s a deacon in Breckenridge. He would come and conduct services, but not the masses.”
Once back in the U.S., Dias had a lot of catching up to do.
“It’s been like learning everything all over again,” he said. “I have forgotten many things, like in the office. I kept asking myself how I did this last time.”
Dias said the ordeal helped strengthen his faith through his time at Pallotti Jyothi Niwas.
“I was able to do a lot of spiritual activities,” he said. “The novitiates do not have a lot of outside people involved with them. They are kind of secluded and they have prayers all the time – early morning, midday, noon, evening, night. It’s a community of praying, and that was a beautiful experience.”
Dias said he was also heartened upon learning how much he was missed by his parishioners.
“People were were writing emails, sending me Christmas greetings and cards, saying ‘we miss you’,” he said. “They told me I helped them truly learn how to appreciate a priest. It made them aware of how difficult it is when there is no priest.”
