Founder
Very Rev. Dr. JOSE KAIMLETT
(5 May 1941 - 27 June 2018)
Rev. Dr Jose Kaimlett, the Founder of Heralds of Good News, was born on 5th May 1941, at Palakattumala in the diocese of Palai, Kerala, India. Father Jose had his lower primary schooling at Palakattumala, and high School at St Francis High School, Marangattupalli. In June 1955, he completed his education and joined the minor seminary of the Diocese of Palai. And after completing the minor seminary studies, he joined the missionary diocese of Vijayawada. Having completed his philosophical and theological studies at Sacred Heart Seminary, Poonamallee, a greatly esteemed and flourishing centre of learning, where Father Kaimlett proved to be an outstanding student, he was ordained a priest on 18th April 1966. In 1969, he was appointed as the parish priest of Bhimavaram West. In 1970, he started the mission centre at Akiveedu, a sub-division of Bhimavaram.
In 1971, he was transferred and appointed as the headmaster and correspondent of St. Ambrose High School, Nidadavole. There, he started St. Joseph orphanage for the destitute children who would otherwise have no opportunity of any type of schooling. In 1976, when the Diocese of Eluru was bifurcated from Vijayawada, Father Jose Kaimlett was appointed administrator of the new diocese until the new bishop took charge. After that, he continued helping Bishop John Mulagada for a year as the procurator of the new diocese and as a sort of one-man curia till the diocese got organised. In 1977, he took a leading role in the relief and rehabilitation work when a killer cyclone hit Vijayawada and the coastal Andhra Pradesh. In 1978, he was sent to Rome for higher studies, where he obtained a doctorate in Canon Law in 1981.
On his return from Rome in 1981, Father Jose devoted his time and energy to the development of the diocese and collaborated most faithfully with Bishop John. During the course of time, inspired by the Holy Spirit, Fr. Jose Kaimlett founded Heralds of Good News in 1984, Sisters of Good News in 1992, and Missionaries of Compassion in 2003.