Father Marreddy Bio

Reverend Allam Marreddy was ordained a priest in 1979 for the Diocese of Nalgonda, A.P. State ,India. He was in the priestly ministry in the Diocese until he came to the Diocese of Charleston, SC on May 18, 2002. His priestly services are offered here for five years. He credits his vocation to his grandmother, mother and parish priest Reverand V. Showry. He had a very difficult childhood with an alcoholic father and lived in near poverty conditions. His mother died when she was 47 years old after tending to her three sons and sickly .husband. His father is still alive and being taken care of by Father Marreddy's youngest brother. These challenges in life formed a strong faith and conviction in his vocation. As he says "God blessed me with a positive self-image". As a boy he was always ready to reach people in need even though he was in material need himself. As a priest he takes the decipleship to Jesus very seriously and works to bring prople to God. His experiences has taught him that attitudes make all the difference in life so he works to change people's thinking and attitudes to be positive towards themselves and trust in the Lord. He has worked in three parishes for 17 years, 3 years as Director of Pastoral Activities in the Diocese and 3 years as principal of a Catholic school in India. He has converted 2,400 people to the Catholic faith from the Hindu religion. He built an 8,000 square feet church in Mattampalli using mostly labor from the parishioners. He also built three other churches and three chapels in different places. He also taught his parishioners to work together for the greater glory of God. His coming to America was an eye opening experience. This country is obviously bountiful and beautiful and blessed by God. The people here are " good, concerned, kind and ready to help those in need". Father Marreddy is also very interested in helping the poor children in Mahboobnagar district in India. Please contact him if you wish to sponsor a poor child.