In 1974, Bishop Bertrand Boland of the Diocese of Multan – Pakistan, visited our Sisters at Nayakakanda, Sri Lanka and requested Sr. Mary Joseph Deegan, the Provincial Superior, to send a group of Sisters for the pastoral care of the women in the parishes of his diocese. A few days later, Bishop Armando Trinidad, Bishop of Lahore also visited Nayakakanda. He was urgent in his request for Good Shepherd Sisters for his diocese. The Superior General, Sister Marie Bernadette Fox and her Council granted the necessary permission to establish houses in the Diocese.
First, Sister Mary Joseph Deegan -the Provincial Superior of Sri Lanka visited Multan and Lahore diocese with Sr. Mary Bernard Wanigasekera and spent a couple of days in a village called Fatimapur, situated 170 miles away from Multan City. Returning to Sri Lanka with great enthusiasm, Sister Joseph Deegan invited volunteers for a Good Shepherd mission in Pakistan. Entrusting everything to Divine Providence, Sister Joseph Deegan named four Sisters.
17th September 1975 was a great day for the Sisters of the Province. On that day the pioneers:
- Sister Dominic Savio Silva
- Sister Paulinus Jeyachandra
- Sister Kalyani Appuhami
- Sister Yolande Fernando Sister Paulinus Jeyachandra
Boarded the National Flight for Karachi, and from there to Multan. On their arrival, the Sisters were given a grand welcome at the Airport. Arrangements had been made that the sisters stay at St. Mary’s Convent in Multan for three months under the guidance of Sister Benedicta O.P
The documents of the Province in Sri Lanka record “On the 10th of January 1976, the first Convent of the Good Shepherd Sisters in Pakistan was officially opened at Fatimapur- a poor village in the diocese of Multan. In 1982 Cardinal Joseph Cordeiro (Archdiocese of Karachi) requested Sr. Gonzaga the Provincial and the Council to open a house for unwed mothers and young girls. By then our Sisters had made a lot of progress in Fatimapur and felt they could move to another place. Therefore a new foundation was established in Karachi and the Sisters moved out of the village. It turned out to be providential since two priests took up residence in the town. In Lahore – a big city, a community of three Sisters began their missionary work in October 1977. Among them were Sr. Nirmala Abeyasinghe and Sr. Lucy Murugesu, who left for Pakistan on 10th October 1976. In 1989, the Good Shepherd Sisters established a house in Multan. In 1988, a House of Formation was opened in Karachi. The Novitiate was opened on 7th December 1989.