Maria Emilia Menezes

Who is Maria Emilia Menezes?

Maria Emilia Menezes was President of the All India Catholic Union from 2000 until 2004. She followed Norbert D'Souza and was succeeded by John Dayal.

Maria Emilia Menezes is an eminent industrialist in Goa. She was President of the AICU for four years. When elected in 2000 she was the first woman to hold that post. Soon after her election it was announced that Menezes and Ines Cotta Carvalho, Secretary General of the AICU, were planning to visit Kuwait, Bahrain, the U.A.E. and Oman in October 2000 to raise support for AICU activities. During her tenure the Union grew rapidly. She was an energetic fundraiser, determined to establish a Corpus Fund of one Crore rupees so the AICU would be able to support the Church and related organizations rather than asking them for support.

Following the 2002 Gujarat violence, Menezes and AICU vice-president John Dayal issued a statement in September 2002 voicing profound concern at events in the state. They said Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his rivals were involved in "an aggressive misuse of religious sentiments in their political campaigns".