Jesu’s consecration as archbishop of Keewatin–Le Pas took place in Canada’s north on Jan. 26, marked by traditional drumming and songs and prayers that blended multiple languages, including Cree, Dene, English, French, Oji-Cree and his native Tamil. The appointment places a bishop born in southern India in charge of a diocese that serves Indigenous Catholics across northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, a region described as larger than Texas.
Jesui, 54, is set to oversee ministry to about 49,000 Catholics, “mostly Indigenous,” dispersed across far-flung communities where priests and diocesan leaders often face long distances and limited access. In an interview, he said his immediate focus is not on logistics or administration, but on time with the people—at each parish visit, he said he plans to preside at worship and also be “physically present with them.”
He tied that approach to his view that relationship-building must come first, especially given the damage and alienation that many Catholics have associated with the legacy of residential schools. “For the first year, let us build a relationship,” Jesu said, adding, “With all those residential schools (and their legacy), what kind of Jesus are we giving today?” In his view, the early work of a new archbishop includes listening and steady presence rather than brief visits that do not allow trust to develop.
The need to slow down and build trust was a lesson Jesu said he learned in India as a teenager, when he said parishioners expressed disappointment when clergy came only occasionally to remote villages. “I told myself, if I ever become a priest, I will always be available to the people,” Jesu recalled, describing his commitment to not only serve during Mass but also to greet people afterward and ask whether they need anything, including special prayers.
In Edmonton, Jesu’s earlier ministry at Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples included close work with Indigenous practices and language. Fernie Marty, an elder at the parish, recalled that Jesu learned Cree language and cultural practices and joined Marty on excursions to pick sage, sweetgrass and other traditional medicinal plants. Marty said Jesu “went above and beyond what I thought any normal priest would do,” and Jesu oversaw the parish’s reconstruction after a devastating fire, with features such as a tepee-like structure over the altar and images of Jesus depicted with Indigenous features.
Jesu’s path to the Canadian north began after he joined the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate as a teenager and was ordained a priest in 2000. He described working for years among an Indigenous group in northern India, work he said prepared him for a transfer to Canada in 2007, when he was assigned to remote parishes in Saskatchewan after months of training and acculturation.
He also recounted a near-death experience during his early years in Canada. Jesu said that, lacking experience with winter driving, his car rolled over three times, fell into a river, and began to sink; he said he pressed a button, escaped from the car, and later told a reporter he was “experiencing my own death.” He said he ran for help and eventually flagged down a car, adding, “God saved me to continue my ministry.”
Jesu’s ministry has included responding to what he described as chronic crises in some communities, including drug and alcohol abuse and suicide. He said he often received phone calls asking him to come to health centers due to incidents such as stabbings, suicides, or accidents tied to alcohol, and he said he ached for children he described as “walking on the street aimlessly, not knowing who they are.” He said he joined local elders in healing workshops and later earned a master’s in counseling and spirituality in Ottawa.
Before receiving the archbishop appointment, Jesu served in Edmonton for eight years and was then posted briefly at a pilgrimage shrine. In 2022, Pope Francis visited Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples, where the visit included traditional singing and drums, following Francis’ apology for Catholic complicity in the residential-school system in which children were removed from their families and severed from their cultural and spiritual traditions. Jesu said parishioners were deeply moved by the apology and that many accepted it, while others remained wounded and alienated.
He said that, even after arriving from abroad, he recognizes his role represents both the church and its long, checkered legacy—sometimes without a clerical collar in informal settings because, as he put it, “The trigger is still there.” For those still estranged from the church, Jesu said he hopes to be present and help people see how they can work together while acknowledging their suffering: “How much can I accompany in your suffering?”