For the month of July, the Rev. Balaswamy Thippabathini, a priest from India, lived and served in my parish, Our Lady of Grace in Hoboken.

It was the first time I had an opportunity to speak at length with someone with first-hand knowledge of what I have thought for a long time: The future of Catholicism is in India, a country of more than 1.3 billion people.

In two Indian dioceses, "Father Bala'' told me, seminaries had to be closed -- not because they do not have candidates. Rather, there weren’t any more openings to place the new priests once they would be ordained.

And, while at one time, the New York Province of Jesuits was the largest in the world, now there are more Jesuits in India – over 5,000 – than in any country in the world. It has become the largest religious order of men in India, and the seminarians there represent a quarter of Jesuit seminarians worldwide.

Thippabathini, 38, was taught by the Franciscan Sisters of St. Clare in his Vijayanagaram grammar school, in the state of Telangana, and said that they and the Carmelites are the largest orders of women religious in the country.

“My grandmother was a catechist and my family was very religious,” he said.

In the fourth generation of his family to be Catholics, Thippabathini is one of six siblings; one sister is a nun. He entered Holy Cross seminary high school, run by the Capuchins, and then went to Vignananilayam College. He was ordained in 2010.

From 2012-14, he was assigned in the U.S. and worked at St. Mary Hospital in Passaic, residing at Mt. Carmel Church there.

“It was my first experience in a hospital,” he said, noting that he spent time with patients near death. “It really helped me spiritually as a young priest.”

Then he worked in the Capuchin Ministry of Caring in Wilmington, Delaware, helping the homeless and people with AIDS in soup kitchens.

“It was very new to me,” he said.

Returning to India, he decided he did not want to live community life and has allied himself with the Institute of Voluntas Dei. Through it, about 22 priests in his region are sent out to work in different Catholic institutions in need.

A priest in India earns about 15,000 rupis monthly -- $250 in U.S. dollars.

Thippabathini acknowledged that there are still castes from Brahmin to untouchables but “they are coming apart.” It predominates in the rural areas where there is less education.

Catholicism has grown in India from the earliest days of Christianity when St. Thomas went there in the first century. Today, its Syro-Malabar rite (as opposed, say, to Roman Catholicism) is practiced all over the world. Even St. John the Baptist Church in Jersey City used to celebrate it for the large Indian community in the Square area.

Jesuit St. Francis Xavier went to Goa in the 16th century. Portuguese and German missionaries evangelized northeast India in the 18th century.

Finally, Thippabathini credited U.S. missionaries for their sacrifices. But he said that Protestants have the greatest growth, strongest in southern India, because they are willing to go into faraway territories.

Once he returns to India next month, Thippabathini will await an assignment but would like to return to the U.S. He is in awe of the industry and education here.

“I like the systems,” he said.

Thippabathini believes Indian people associate miracles with the saints. They read the Bible regularly, he said, which promotes “strong faith in the family.” And they make pilgrimages to the shrines of “Our Lady,” the Blessed Mother.

Though India is overwhelmingly Hindu (80 percent), it is 13 percent Muslim and about 3 percent Christian so there is potential for tremendous growth in Catholicism. Their clergy and religious are overwhelmingly young and vibrant, like Thippabathini, which promises a bright future.

The Rev. Alexander Santora is the pastor of Our Lady of Grace and St. Joseph, 400 Willow Ave., Hoboken, 07030, FAX: 201-659-5833; Email: padrealex@yahoo.com; Twitter: @padrehoboken.