When Fr. A. S. Antonisamy was the Assistant Parish Priest of Our Lady of Rosary Church, Eraiyur, during 1972-1974, he met with a boy with a goat.
Upon enquiry, he understood that his mother stopped him from going to school and asked him to work in the field of a landlord from whom she had borrowed money for high interest. His further enquiry revealed that there were many such children who were victims of family indebtedness.
This incident prompted to study on indebtedness further. A detailed study was conducted on indebtedness in Eraiyur and surrounding villages in Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu, South India, during 1973-1975 by Fr. A. S. Antonisamy. It was revealed that out of 1200 families studied, 940 families were in debt. This revelation triggered further enquiry in to this matter.
When shared this shocking reality with Most Rev. Dr. V. S. Selvanather, then Archbishop of Catholic diocese of Pondicherry & Cuddalore, he advised Fr. A. S. Antonisamy to study the matter further and also to visit Ranchi to understand the work of Chota Nagpur Catholic Cooperative Credit Society Ltd.
Based on the rural surveys conducted earlier, a campaign of awareness and education was initiated. As a result, people were organized into groups called ‘Fraternal Life Communities’ (1980) and thrift and credit activities.
Coady International Institute, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, conducted three seminars in collaboration with the PMSSS in the following years with the respective subjects viz.,
- 1980 – Development through Education and Cooperatives,
- 1981 – Membership Education and Credit Unions, &
- 1983 – Program Planning for Socio Economic Development
Coady International Institute conducted a fourth seminar (1989) in association with ‘Fraternal Life Communities’ on Evaluation of the Fraternal Life communities.
In 1994 a federation of all ‘Fraternal Life Communities’ was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and it was renamed as the “Fraternal Life Sabha (FLS)”.
In 2009, Family Development Cooperative Thrift & Credit Society Ltd. (FAMCO) was registered as a Multi-State Cooperative Society under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002.
The following persons were instrumental in conceiving FAMCO:
1. Most Rev. Dr. V. S. Selvanather (Late) (1975), Archbishop, Pondicherry-Cuddalore Catholic Archdiocese
2. Most. Rev. Dr. Anthony Anandarayer (2009), Archbishop, Pondicherry-Cuddalore Catholic Archdiocese
3. Fr. A. Adaikalasamy (1975), Vicar General and Procurator, Pondicherry-Cuddalore Catholic Archdiocese
4. Fr. A. S. Antonisamy (1975), Assistant Parish Priest and Director, Pondicherry Multi-Purpose Social Service Society (PMSSS)
5. Fr. A. Dhanam, Procurator (1988), Pondicherry-Cuddalore Catholic Archdiocese
6. Mr. M.Aloysius,Training Manager, Holy Redeemer’s Service Training Centre (1985), PMSSS
7. Fr. R. Ratchagar (2002), Director, PMSSS
Currently the activities of FAMCO have been spread in three states namely Tamil Nadu & Karnataka and the Union Territory of Puducherry. So far 322 groups from the 3 states, which cover 6495 families, and 111 Individuals have joined as members in FAMCO.
