Parish Priest

2023-

Reverend Father Bala Yeruva

Family: The life story of Fr. Bala Yeruva, the beloved Parish Priest of Immaculate Conception Church in Ravipadu, is a testament to his unwavering faith, humility, and dedication in serving God and his flock entrusted to his care.

Born on September 19, 1968, in the serenity village of Patibandla, Fr. Bala Yeruva was the youngest of eight children born to Chinnappa Reddy and Amruthamma. Growing up in a faith filled devout family, Fr. Bala was instilled with values of love, compassion, and a strong sense of community from a tender age.

The journey of Fr. Bala in service to the Lord began by entering the minor seminary in Guntur, later at St. John's Regional Major Seminary in Hyderabad. He embarked on a path of spirituality and academic excellence, immersing himself in theological studies and preparing to dedicate his life to the priesthood. After 12 years of formation, he was ordained on 5th April, 1995 by the Most Reverend Gali Bali.

Experience as a Priest: His early years as a priest were noteworthy by his genuine compassion and eagerness to serve the Lord. Fr. Bala commenced his priestly ministry as an assistant priest in Immaculate Conception Church in Ravipadu, where he first began to touch the lives of the faithful through his sermons, guidance, and acts of kindness. His devotion to Blessed Virgin Mary became a cornerstone of his spiritual life. He often led and participated in the charismatic prayers, fostering a deep relationship with God among the faithful he serves.

Throughout his 29 years of journey as a priest, Fr. Bala held various pastoral assignments with an open heart, namely from Ravipadu to Pastoral Center in Numbur, and thereafter Phirangipuram, Vegendal, Bapatla, Nagaram, Thubadu, Emani, Siripuram and at present Ravipadu parish. Fr. Bala carried the light of faith and hope to different corners of the Andhra region. His dedication to his pastoral duties was surpassed only by his humility and down to earth nature, making him easily approachable and beloved by all.

Presently, Fr. Bala stands as the Parish Priest of Immaculate Conception Church in Ravipadu, the very place where his priestly journey began. His leadership is marked by simplicity, profound faith, and an unshakable trust and ardent lover of his faithful. He continues to be a pillar of strength and support for the people as he serves tirelessly attending to their spiritual and psychological needs.

Fr. Bala Yeruva's life is a living example of what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus, someone who walks with humility, serves with love, and prays with unwavering devotion. His life inspires us to take up our own journeys with faith and compassion, reminding us that through our service to others, we find our greatest fulfillment and draw closer to the divine.

Siblings: Fr. Bala's siblings also found their own paths of service within the church. His sisters namely Reverend Sr. Paulis, St. Ann’s congregation, Phirangipuram, Reverend Sr. Marina, and Reverend Sr. Bala Sundari, congregation of J.M.J embraced religious life, while his brother Reverend Fr. Joji Reddy, though no longer with us, also answered the call to priesthood.

May the blessings of the Almighty radiate through his smile, helpful through his hands and shrine through his heart to the flock of Immaculate Conception Church, Ravipadu.

2020-2023

Reverend Father David Raju Maddineni, C.Ss.R.

Family:  Born into a very religious family.  Whole family had the practice of going to mass and confession regularly. Besides the rosary recitation in the church every evening at 5.30pm, recitation of the family rosary too has been a strict practice at home before the evening meal.  They are five siblings: three brothers and two sisters. The older sister is a nun in the congregation of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Two brothers and one sister are married and all of them are doing well. One of the eldest brother’s son is also a Redemptorist. He has finished his doctorate in canon law in Ottawa,Canada.  The younger sister’s daughter is also a JMJ nun doing her masters in theology in Louaene University, Belgium.  All the other children are doing jobs like soft ware engineers, teachers, Doctor etc.

Experience as a Priest:  After the ordination in 1982, He had done one year pastoral year during which he is taught how to write sermons and preach to different groups of people, priests and nuns. He was sent back to his native state where he had worked until 1995 fulfilling various responsibilities, like formator, missioner and parish priest.  In 1995 he was asked to go to Kenya as a missioner and he accepted the responsibility willingly.  He has worked in Kenya from 1995 to 2000 as a missionar, formator and superior of the early community in Kenya.

In 2000 he was asked once again to go to Zimbabwe to work with the British Redemptorists as the Kenyan students were going to Zimbabwe to study philosophy. In obedience to his superiors, he accompanied the young Kenyan students to Zimbabwe.  He had worked there tirelessly for five years as formator, associate pastor and missionary preacher.  Fr. Ronald M’cAnsh and Fr. David worked hard to manage two churches, a 1000 families in each and 40 students studying for priesthood.

In 2005, he returned to India with the intention of settling down in India, but his superiors in Zimbabwe and South Africa requested his provincial in India to send him to South Africa as the Novice Master. Fr. David had agreed generously to go to South Africa although he had decided to stay back in India.  A few weeks after this he had a heart attack and had a by-pass surgery.  After recovering from this major surgery he went to Rustenburg diocese in South Africa to take up his responsibility as novice master.  He had worked in Rustenburg for two years.  During this time, he not only taught the young men every single day,but also went to preach retreats to sisters occasionally.

After two years, there were no students to enter noviciate from three countries – Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa.  So He went back to Zimbabwe to help in a suburban parish, Borowdale. After a year he had gone to Rome, U.K. and Ireland to do sabbatical studies.  Fr. Davd had returned to India in 2008. In 2009 he was asked to pionier a new parish and Redemptorist foundation in the diocese of Vijayawada.  He had done a lot of work during 5 and half years he worked there.  He built a presbytery, bought land and brought sisters of St. Lucy to start a school in the rural area.

After this he was sent once again to London to help Redemptorists in Clapham parish for two years from 2015 to 2017. He once again returned to his mother province in Sept 2017.  He has been working in Tenali last 2 and half years.

In short, Fr. David has a wide range of experience within India, Africa and UK doing parish ministry, preaching to nuns and priests. He has also built small churches, parish house, and also worked for the poor who were hit by serious cyclone in 1990 in the coastal region of Andhra Pradesh.

Fr. David comes from the same community as of Ravipadu people.  They have a Catholic history of 300 years since their ancestors were converted by the Jesuit missionaries in the 1700’s.

Fr. David belongs to the congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists).  St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, an Italian, founded the Redemptorists in 1732 in Naples to serve the most neglected and the poor.