Father Neuner’s death condoled| Cathnews India

Published Date: December 4, 2009

Tags: Father Edward Mudavassery, Father Josef Neuner, Jesuit theologian, Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Second Vatican Council

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Church leaders in India have mourned the death of Jesuit theologian Father Josef Neuner, saying the demise marks the end of theological era in the country.

Father Neuner, who turned 101 on Aug. 19, died at Jesuits’ Pune provincial house on Dec. 3, following age-related illness, officials in the province announced.

He was buried in the cemetery in Pune’s Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth complex on Dec. 4.

“A theological era has ended with the demise of the doyen of theologians in India,” said Father Edward Mudavassery, Jesuit provincial of South Asia in a condolence note Dec. 4.

“The sphere of his influence as a creative and dynamic theological thinker and writer kept on widening to assume global proportions,” said the head of more than 4,000 Jesuits working in South Asia.

Father Mudavassery recalled the late priest was among four experts (periti) from India at the Second Vatican Council. He taught “generations of students” across dioceses, religious congregations, the priest noted.

Father Neuner’s death has certainly left a void in his province of Pune, Father Mudavassery added.

Brother Mani Mekkunnel, national secretary of the Conference of Religious India, said the late priest’s contribution to the Church renewal after the Vatican II has been “remarkable.”

He has been an authority on the Church renewal and his contribution to the thinking of the post Vatican Church has been probably the foremost in the Indian Church, the Montfort Brother, spokesperson for the country’s more than 125,000 Religious, told UCA News.

Brother Mekkunnel said the Jesuit priest had directed so many Religious congregations especially certain new forms of religious life like secular institutes. He was “their national guide so to say,” added Brother Mekkunnel, who knew Father Neuner personally.

The late Jesuit’s new thinking, especially on the renewal of priesthood, was remarkable. He emphasized priesthood as a ministry in the Church but the Indian Church continued priesthood in the traditional way, the Brother regretted.

“He must have been a bit frustrated,” Brother Mekkunnel said adding Father Neuner used to say the Church’s attempt to re-understand the priesthood was “somehow not happening.”

The late priest spent most his years in Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV) teaching there.

JDV president Jesuit Father Job Kozhamthadam, in his condolence speech, said Father Neuner was “an extraordinary person who lived an ordinary life.” He was a person who “never stopped relishing every minute of his life, diffusing that joy among the people around.”

Born on Aug. 19, 2008, Father Neuner joined the Jesuit novitiate of the South-German Province in Feldkirch on Sept. 15, 1926, despite being the only male child with four sisters. He was ordained a priest in 1936, and made his final profession as a Jesuit on Feb. 2, 1944.

India was his first love. He came to India on May 31, 1938. He loved India as his true home, and began to familiarize with its culture and traditions and took pains to learn Sanskrit. For his doctoral dissertation at the Gregorian University, Rome, he chose “The Idea of Sacrifice in the Bhagavad Gita” as his theme, Father Kozhamthadam said.

Father Neuner “has scored very high both on the number of years he lived, and the quality of the accomplishments he achieved,” he said adding that his senior confrere was “was an extraordinary Jesuit who lived an ordinary life.”

Many of his colleagues and companions referred to Father Neuner as a “bridge-builder” since he was blessed with an uncanny aptitude to combine in his life and works elements that are often deemed un-combinable, he added.

He placed his mission before any personal ambitions. During the Second World War, being from a German-speaking country, he had to spend 7 years in prison camps in India. However, instead of giving in to despair and anger, he made use of those years to familiarize with Indian scriptures and traditions.

Father Neuner was a born theologian, who showed outstanding talents at theologizing creatively, constructively and contextually, Father Kozhamthadam said.

Source: UCAN

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