The Diocese of Sale extends its warmest, most joyful welcome to Missionary Society of St. Columban priest, Fr Robert McCulloch SSC, as he visits our parishes to share stories from his mission and raise funds for Columban projects in Pakistan.
Born in Alexandra, Victoria, Fr Robert grew up across our neighbouring Victorian parishes before answering the call to the priesthood and being ordained a Columban missionary in 1970. In 1978, he set foot in Pakistan—a journey that would evolve into over four decades of heroic, life-changing service to the poor and marginalised in Sindh Province.
A Ministry of Healing and Dignity
The scale of Fr Robert’s work in Pakistan is breathtaking. He first ministered to Catholics in the Punjab rural towns of Narowal and Sheikhupura. Then, after moving to the Sindh province in 1983, he worked with semi-nomadic Hindu tribal people in the Thar desert and ministered to Catholic people living in intense poverty in the slums of Hyderabad city. His hands-on leadership has transformed local healthcare and education.
As a healthcare pioneer, Fr Robert helped establish Pakistan’s first mobile medical outreach which every year since 2010 provides free primary health care to more than 50,000 impoverished rural labourers. He also helped commence Pakistan’s first home-based palliative care unit through St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Hyderabad, providing support to cancer patients. This legacy earned him the Government of Pakistan’s Extraordinary Achievement Award, presented in Rome after he established a Palliative Care Day Centre. During crises, he has mobilised food aid, medical treatment, and housing for families during floods.
Fr Robert has also focused on preserving culture and building a community legacy. Working with the Parkari Kohli tribal people, he collaborated with linguists and several other missionaries to preserve the Parkari language as a written language and to design a written script for their language. He launched the first newspaper in this new written language.
He also established the Catholic Centre of Academic Excellence and Catholic Youth Development Centre for Catholic children in Hyderabad. He is chair of the Pakistan Episcopal Conference’s committee for the translation of official Church texts from Latin into Urdu which completed the Urdu translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2013 and the translation of the Missal used at Mass on 30 November 2025. His liturgical expertise led Pope Francis to appoint him as a Vatican Consultor to the Congregation for Divine Worship. For his decades of service, he was awarded the Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam—one of Pakistan's highest civilian honours given to a foreign national.
How the Diocese of Sale Can Support the Mission
The Columban Missionaries in Pakistan continue to work under challenging conditions, focusing daily on evangelization, education, healthcare and human rights. Fr Robert has returned to his home state to ask for our solidarity. As he visits our parishes, let us welcome him with open hearts. Your support will directly fund St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, free palliative care programs, and schools giving impoverished children a chance at a brighter future.
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