Deacon Raj Srinivasa was born in India into a Hindu, Brahmin family. He is the 7th of 8 children. He arrived in the US in 1979 with his first wife, Gita, and daughter, Nivedita. He encountered the Lord Jesus in a dramatic way in March 1980, after the tragic death of his wife. Our Lord led him to St. Antoninus Roman Catholic Church in Newark, NJ, where he was catechized and baptized in 1982. In 1983 he married Maureen, then a parishioner at St. Antoninus Church. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon of the Archdiocese of Newark on June 11, 2005. He worked as a Financial Services and Technology Consultant for many years before retiring in 2016. He has an undergraduate degree in Mathematics, and master’s degrees in English (from India and Ireland) and in Theology (from Seton Hall University). Deacon Raj has served as a deacon at St Antoninus Church in Newark and Our Lady of Sorrows Church in South Orange. He is also a Pastoral Advocate at the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Newark. His wife, Maureen, is the Ministry Associate for the Archdiocesan Office for Evangelization and serves as the Vice-Chair for the Archdiocesan Women’s Commission. Deacon Raj and Maureen have two daughters: Nivedita (Nivi) is married to Bill Toth and lives in Manhattan; Monica is completing her MBA at IESE in Barcelona, Spain.