Bonnie Mendes

Bonnie Mendes is a Catholic priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Faisalabad in Pakistan.^[1] He was ordained a priest in 1962. He has a doctorate in social sciences from the Philippines.^[2] The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) was founded in 1985. Fr. Mendes served as the Executive Secretary till 1995.^[3]

In 2002, he was elected head of a newly formed peace network that aims to mend India-Pakistan relations. The Punjab Peace Network, comprises 4,000 organizations of the Punjab province.^[4]

In 2005, Father Mendes was chosen for an ACHA Star award. The Association for Communal Harmony in Asia is based in Portland, Oregon, United States. It has been handing out awards annually since 1995 to people in Asia who have been promoting peace and interreligious harmony. The jury cited Father Mendes, founder of the Human Development Centre in Toba Tek Singh, for his work in support of marginalized and unprivileged groups such as women, children, low-paid workers and religious minorities.^[5][6]

In 2005 he was also National Chaplain of the Christian Teachers' Body of Pakistan.^[7]

He is also Co-editor, along with Mgr Shaheen Mathew and Father Inayat Bernard, of a publication AMAL (Action) published by the Youth Association for Leadership and Development.^[8]

Fr. Mendes has been parish priest of the Sacred Heart Parish, Jhang. Later he was parish priest of the Immaculate Conception Parish, Toba Tek Singh.

In 2009 he was based in Bangkok working as the 7th Regional Coordinator of Caritas for Asia.^[9] He also served as pastor to Pakistani Catholic families seeking asylum in Thailand after fleeing religious persecution in their country. He retired from his position in Caritas in September 2011.^[10]

On 7 January 2012, Fr. Mendes celebrated 50 years of priesthood in the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul with a thousand people.^[11]

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