The history of the Society of Jesus Mary and Joseph reveals that the team of our first missionary stalwarts from Holland, landed on the Indian soil, on February 19, 1904 and by 24th February reached Guntur. Thus Rev. Fr. Mathias Wolff S.J., founder of the Society of Jesus Mary and Joseph landed his ‘cubs ‘in the land teeming with plenty of prey, to work like devouring wolves for the salvation of souls”. Sisters rendered their services with cheerful countenances, beaming with joy, in spite of the formidable problems they had to face as pioneers.

The image of Christ the Teacher was stamped on the spirit of the apostle and the first disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Remember, I will be with you till the end of life” [Mt: 28:19, 20]. The mandate of Jesus, accepted and lived literally by our venerable Founder Fr. Mathias Wolff S.J., was passed on to our early sisters. It has come so powerfully and seriously to the heart of every JMJ sister, that for most JMJs their motivation for becoming a JMJ is to involve in Catechetical and Evangelical work. Even in Holland, pastoral preceded the education apostolate.

Our Dutch pioneers who landed in India 116 years ago started this ministry straight away through their life of sacrifice as an example. They co-operated with the Bishop and the priests in every type of pastoral and catechetical work in the local Church. They regularly visited and instructed the Christian and Non-Christian Communities in the far of villages, and also in urban areas. They usually stayed overnight with the poor, in the villages, adjusted themselves wonderfully with very many inconveniences like travel, culture, food, shelter, language, climate and weather. Their presence was a blessing to the people and in particular they found in the sisters loving mothers who had genuine interest and concern for the people and shared their struggles and problems. A notable feature of the sisters from the beginning was their ready co-operation with the parish priests in catechizing and preparing neophytes for the reception of the sacraments. Their expressions of love and sympathy won the hearts of the people. This apostolate is one of the aspects of the Charism of the Society of JMJ and hence a regular apostolate.

Right from the beginning the sisters started visiting the poorest of the poor in the villages and tried to acquaint themselves with their culture and problems. They used to spend a few days in each village with the people to bring happiness by satisfying their material, human and spiritual needs to a great extent. Sr. Joanette Oomen, familiarly known as ‘ Manthrala Ammagaru’ spent most of her missionary career in these villages. The sisters used to go in search of His flock devout as well as the lost. When the priest accompanied them, they prepared the faithful for the sacrament of Confession and the Eucharistic Celebration. Collaboration and co-operation with the local Church is the distinctive feature of the Society of Jesus Mary and Joseph. Each province makes available, personnel, time, energy, sometimes money and material for this primary task of the Church. They go from house to house and prepare the children for communion and confirmation. They impart instructions to married couples and those yet to marry, regarding the duties and the responsibilities of life.

There have been innumerable personalities –JMJ sisters – from Holland, Rome, Australia, Africa, Indonesia and India who spent themselves for the cause of direct Evangelization. For them no obstacle was too great, no trouble too much, no distance too long, and no sacrifice too painful as they were gripped by the Spirit of Christ to bring the Good News of Salvation to the poor and the abandoned. Sr. Joanette Oomen inspired and enthused many Indian sisters to follow this most important ministry of the Church. There have been many stalwarts among the JMJs who continued and passed on the legacy to the present generation of sisters. Late sisters Ignatine Yeruva, Francisca Kondaveeti, Theresita Thumma, Wilhelmina Nagothu known to all, as “Avvammagaru”, Agatha Thumma and many others, of happy memories, are models, in this all important task of every religious sister. In the past, every candidate who joined JMJ had her exposure to this task during her years of Aspirancy, the second year Novitiate, junior sisters in their Juniorate period, summer camps in the Parishes, the villages, for children, youth and family welfare. It is inspiring to note that Sr. Margaret Vatambedu spent herself in carrying out this task assigned to her for years quite successfully and made many a people happy, even when she was blind during the last two years. Such was her indefatigable zeal for the Kingdom of God. Later Sr. Willibroda Kocherla was assigned completely to this task. Hence the work is continued with equal efficiency, nay, with more vigor and enthusiasm under the able guidance of the zealous pastor and devout leader Rt. Rev. Mgr. P.  Balaswamy Bishop of Nellore. Thus diverse forces worked together, under the dynamic leadership of sisters Seraphine, Elizabeth Helsloot, Pelagie, Arnoldine, Immaculate, Scholastica, Josephio, Alphonsa and Helen.

Sister Johanna Francisca toiled unceasingly, till she was fagged out, and brought thousands to the Lord. As she was ailing for some time, Sr. Theresita Thumma, having retired from her teaching and administrative career offered herself to bridge the gap. She has turned out a lot of good work by visiting the already converted people in the villages of Guntur Parish, reviving their faith and practice of religion, under the able guidance of the zealous priest Rev.Fr. Rayanna Yeruva. She spent days and nights with the people. She made use of audio-visual aids for her mission. Her spirit of sacrifice was awe inspiring and motivated the young priests to toil on equal footing. She took keen interest in the day- to –day problems of the poor and tried to settle many an issue.

To co-ordinate and stabilize this apostolate, the JMJ Catechetical Centre was set up in 1980 at Nallapadu in  Guntur District with Sr. Ignatius Yeruva as the Director and Sr. Paulus Jujigiri as the full time Co-coordinator. With the division of the single JMJ Province in India into three Provinces in the year 1987, each Province continues to do this work in its own set up, wishing that the life of each JMJ Sister is a ‘ Good News’ for those who come in contact with her.

In Guntur diocese, the work of instructing people and preparing the children for the reception of the sacraments was done with great zeal, by Sr. Agnes Kakumanu. The JMJ sisters have been visiting the villages of Guntur along with Traditional apostolate of Education and Health Care in  Durgi and Kondramutla .Our JMJ sisters, Josepha Rachamalla, Rosario Kadasani, Jacintha Kailas and Alphonsa Kambam were very much interested in the Catechetical work along with the Social work. There were a few sisters in Guntur viz. Sr. Mary Thomas Maliekal, Sr. Inigo Guntupalli and in Ramachandrapuram Sr. Shantha Pudota and Sr. Anna Gertrude Narisetti, carrying out this work in a small way.

In 2004 Evangelization Work was established as a separate sector by Sr. Stella Maris, the then Provincial Superior of Guntur Province, in JMJ Prashanth Nilayam, with all the equipments, vehicle, separate office and a prayer room, with Sr. Inigo Guntupalli as the coordinator and Sr. Rosily Kanjilakkadan as the secretary and Sr. Hrudaya as a member. In 2011, Sr. Pauline Joseph took up the responsibility as a Co-coordinator. Sr. Mangala Mary joined the team in 2010 and took up the task of being the secretary. In the beginning there were three members carrying out full time work of evangelization. Later Sr. Vijaya Saripudi, Sr. Mary Kommareddy, Sr. Jaya Mary Tutipati and Sr. Rekha Jakkula joined for full time Evangelization work. The Evangelization team continues its mission in the villages of Andhra Pradesh and some parts of Tamil Nadu. In 2016, Sr. Mangala Mary became the Coordinator and Sr. Vijaya became the secretary. Now the team consists of four members, viz. Sr. Ann Louise Mallavarapu, Sr. Mary Kommareddy, Sr. Rekha Jakkula, and Sr. Mangala Mary Lourdu Samy. Sr. Shantha Pudota and Sr. Jacintha Nagothu are working in Thangellamudi as another branch carrying out the ministry of Evangelization in Guntur Province. All are involved in full time Evangelization work.  In 2019 July 3rd the JMJ .Good News Centre was shifted from JMJ Prasanth Nilayam to Holy Rosary Convent.