It gives me an immense pleasure to wish you and your family a very happy Easter! May the peace and joy of the risen Christ reign in your hearts and minds today and throughout your life.

After listening to my earlier melodious musical chords, on this great occasion of the celebration of Easter, I wish to present to you one of the most beautiful divine chords of our catholic church in India who is none other than Dr.Fr.Charles Vas S.V.D.

Science and technology have made miracles. Arts and literature reached new heights. Human creativity reached new possibilities. However, hatred and religious fanaticism, in the name of race, religion and political creed rule the large areas of this globe. We need a prophet to read the signs of the times and to be more authentic in his proclamation. And I'm sure I am not wrong if I call Charles Vas is one such a prophet.

In our home country India, where we the Christians are called as foreigners and our love for foreign culture is questioned, here is Fr.Charles who is a proud son of Konkanni accepting a challenge and proving the critics through Indian music and dance, that we Christians are truly patriotic!

Once again I thank you for your great support and I am sure you will really enjoy listening to one of my best Do..Re..Me..Fa.. musical chords.

Yours in risen Christ,
 Gerry D'Mello

DR. FR.CHARLES VAS S.V.D.
A singing visionary and a dancing missionary

An evangelist through dance! A bhajan chanting Christian priest! That is what Dr.Fr.Charles Vas is who preaches "God experience through song and dance." For him life is a "melody of love" (Prem Ragini), a love song. Song and dance is natural and universal in character. They know no language, religion, race, culture or gender! In them East meets West, and God meets man! The life and works of Fr.Charles are a ballet of these noble expressions!

Childhood and Training :-

Charles Vas was born to devout parents Late Jacob and Late Seraphine Vas on 12th February, 1944 in Omzoor parish in Mangalore Diocese and grew up in an idyllic and silvanic environment. He has one brother who is a High Court lawyer in Mumbai and three sisters and Fr.Charles is fourth in the row. Two of his sisters are religious nuns. As a young boy Charles Vas took to music by instinct like a fish takes to water. He played side drums for the village music band, sang in the Church Choir and developed a penchant for music.

Generously responding to the divine call for religious and priestly life, he joined the Society of the Divine Word (S.V.D.). While pursuing his priestly studies, he engaged himself in a systematic study of guitar and piano during his philosophical studies at the seminary. Soon after his studies of Philosophy, he commenced his formal training under the renowned maestro Ramakrishna Joshi, a disciple of Pandit Vishnu Digamber, a great exponent of Hindustani music.

Charles Vas was ordained a priest in the year 1976, after which he continued his studies and presented his "doctoral" thesis "East meets West" to the Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Miraj, which awarded him a doctorate in music in 1983.

Currently Dr.Fr.Charles Vas is the director of Sangeet Abhinay Academy - a religious institution of song and dance in Mumbai.

Academic Excellence :-