On June 16, 1967 Srs M. Elena and Thecla travelled to Delhi with joy. For they would be the pioneers to plant the Daughters of St. Paul in the Capital of India.

Sr. Thecla relates her experiences: "Srs. Virginia and I had gone to Delhi for visiting families. We stayed with a family in Defence colony arranged by Fr. Tempra SSP. We had our meals from the Society of ST Paul. During those days Sr. Maria Elena came to see us and the place. At that time I did not know we were planning to open a house. After our mission there we returned to Bombay.

"Again after a few months Sr. Maria Elena and I went to Delhi. We stayed in a flat. It was a furnished flat of a family who had gone to Australia for a 3 month holidays. It was providential, I must say. So that we could take our time to look out for a place, which was suitable for our living. During our stay, Fr. George D'Souza from the Karol Bagh Parish provided our meals. The parish too was functioning from a flat.

"We did not waste any time. We would go for family visiting in the morning and return home for lunch. After lunch and a short rest, we would check with the property dealers, for we wee intending to buy a flat for us. The mass was usually in the evening. So everything worked out for our convenience. In the morning we used go to the Church for prayer and mediation too.

"We saw many houses. Finally, we saw a flat in Karol Bagh for Rs. 500/- per month. It was on the first floor. I enjoyed my stay there. We were very happy with our mission of visiting the families. We also visited Embassies and offices. Very soon Srs. Regina D'Silva, Mary D'Souza, Miriam and Margret were added to the community. Sr. Maria Elena was appointed its first superior."

"In the new house we had no furniture but we used the boxes for the display of books in the house. We were always on the lookout for a Book Centre but we could not find a suitable place".

In November 1973, the Community of Delhi shifted from Karol Bagh to East Patel Nagar, the present house. Our long desired dream of opening a bookshop in the capital was realised on January 25, 1991 when the small bookshop was blessed by Archbishop Angelo Fernandes. The Centre was situated in Prasad Nagar. Six years later the centre was closed down as the area was not viable for a bookshop. Then in 2000, we found a place in Ajmal Khan Market shopping centre and thus the present Book Centre was inaugurated on 4th Nov. 2000

We reach out to the people of North through Book Exhibitions and visits to schools. We also take part in the Delhi Book Fairs, which is annual feature. We organise Bible weeks and display books and other audiovisual material in the diocesan parishes. We have a mobile bookshop in the Cathedral premises, which looked by a lay collaborator. The Diocesan Community Centre library DCCL is looked after by Sr Ashrita and they also organise variety of programmes for various age groups.

Enquiry:Pauline Book and Media Centre at: delhibc@paulineindia.org

Contact DCCLibrary: dcclibrary@vsnl.net