His tenure was marked by the introduction of a number of religious orders offering educational opportunities within the diocese.
[11] Soon after his consecration, Bishop Fernandes erected a structure for a church in Malavalli, a town in the district of Mandya.
[13] In 1979, the Bishop requested the Bethany congregation to set up a convent in Kutta, in the Coorg (now Kodagu) district, to meet local educational and pastoral needs.
[16] Bishop Mathias was able to persuade the Royal Family of Mysore to sell the Rani Thota property to the Discalced Carmelites of the Manjummel Province[17] where they established Pushpagrama in 1962.
[18] Following the Second Vatican Council, which urged that seminarians have graduated before entry into the novitiate, the Society of the Divine Word (Società del Verbo Divino - SVD) in 1972 decided to base their formation house in the city of Mysore, a proposal welcomed by Bishop Fernandes which enabled the establishment of Vidya Niketan[19] in 1974.
[20] Bishop Fernandes is credited with having initiated and guided the project of producing the first inter-confessional Bible in the Kannada language, completed in 1998.