Introduction to Fr. Franco, our Vice-Provincial!

By Fr. Tim Zak, SDB

(New Rochelle, NY – August 15) – Fr. Piedade Francisco Pinto, better known to all as Franco, is originally from Goa, India (INB Province). He will be 55 years old next month.

He made his first profession on May 24, 1987, in Nashik, India. He studied philosophy at Divya Daan (the Salesian school of philosophy affiliated with the Salesianum, Rome), sociology at Bombay University and theology at Kristu Jyoti in Bangalore. He has also studied electronics and spiritual direction.

He was ordained a Salesian priest on December 20, 1997, in Panjim, Goa. After his ordination, Fr. Franco was vice-principal of Dominic Savio Boys Home in Bombay, administrator of the provincial house for one year, and then province vocation director and an assistant at an institution for children living on the streets.

In 2003, Fr. Franco transferred to the SUE Province since most of his immediate family has lived in the USA since 1988. Since his arrival, he has been a province vocation animator and coordinator of the Don Bosco Retreat Center in Stony Point, NY.

In addition to now being vice-provincial of the SUE Province, Fr. Franco is also currently the SDB director of the Salesian presence in Tampa. In his service of authority, he has brought together the leaders of the various works (school, parish, retreats, residence for elder SDBs, communications, youth ministry and ethnic ministries) into a dynamic educational pastoral community (EPC). He has also been a successful fundraiser for the local works where he was assigned.