Inayat Bernard

Inayat Barnard
Fr. Inayat bernard in 2014
Nationality	Pakistani
Alma mater	University of the Punjab
Occupation	Catholic priest
Years active	1980 -
Employer	Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore
Known for	Editor of Catholic Naqib
Notable work	Christianity in Punjab
Board member of	National Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue and Ecumenism

Inayat Bernard is a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore in Pakistan.

He is the former parish priest of Our Lady of Sorrows Church, Kasur (55 kilometres south of Lahore), in the Archdiocese of Lahore. He is the rector of St. Mary's Minor Seminary, Lahore in 2016.

Bernard was ordained a priest for Lahore diocese in 1980. He graduated from the Punjab University. Until July 1987 he was editor of Catholic Naqib, Pakistan's largest Catholic newspaper before leaving to study at the Southeast Asia Interdisciplinary Development Institute in Manila, Philippines. He served in Lahore's Mariamabad and cathedral parishes until 1988. Father Bernard is also secretary of the Pakistan Catholic Press Association.

Bernard was appointed rector of the diocese's St. Mary's Minor Seminary in 1988.

In July 1993, Father Bernard was appointed rector of the Christ the King Seminary (Pakistan).

He is co-editor, with Shaheen Mathew and Bonnie Mendes, of AMAL (Action) published by the Youth Association for Leadership and Development.

He is a member of the National Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue and Ecumenism (NCIDE) who organised the lighting of a peace candle and planting of a tree symbolising peace between India and Pakistan.

He is the author of an Urdu-language book “Christianity in Punjab” in which he discusses the birth, formation and expansion of Christianity (1886 onwards) in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is a historical account and voices hope for the future of the local church from the perspective of the laity.

On December 17, 2009 at a celebration of 40 years of Caritas Pakistan functioning in Lahore diocese the Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha appointed him Diocesan Executive Secretary of Caritas.