New Delhi: The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has mourned the death of George Menezes, a former member of the Pontifical Council for Laity who was best known for his writings and humor.

Menezes, former president of the All India Catholic Union (AICU), died on September 9 in Mumbai, western India, after prolonged illness. He was 88.

CBCI secretary general Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas described Menezes as “one of the Catholic Church’s beloved, courageous and illustrious sons.”

“A prominent Journalist, award winning writer, inspirational speaker and a divergent thinker, Menezes served God and humanity with full dedication and love,” the Church official said in a press release issued on September 11.

Menezes served India as an Indian Air Force officer and as a diplomat with the Indian Embassy in Paris. He had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and became a member of its national executive. However, he left the party after a short while when he found it incompatible with his principles. In a “hard-hitting letter” to the then BJP president Lal Krishna Advani, Menezes lamented the way things were being dealt with in the party, Bishop Mascarenhas recalled.

“He loved the Church with all his heart. He rendered services as a member of the Pontifical Council for Laity, a Member of the “think thank” of Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences and President of the All India Catholic Union,” the prelate says.

Bishop Mascarenhas says the Indian Church had not always agreed with what Menezes said, but “we were absolutely sure that he loved the Church and wanted the Church to love and be loved.”

Menezes died at his home in Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai. The funeral service was held on September 11 at St Andrew’s Church in Bandra.

Menezes was best known for his writings and his humor. His popular books are ‘Pardon, Your Middle is Showing,’ ‘The Naked Liberal,’ ‘One Sip at a Time.’

Menezes, who hailed from the island of Diwar, but lived in Mumbai. He is survived by a son and a daughter.

Mourning Menezes’ death the Catholic Association of Goa hailed him as “an outspoken lay conscience of the Catholic Church in India.”

Association president Edwin Fonseca highlighted his work on compassion and concern for human rights especially against acts on Christians in Orissa, Karnataka and elsewhere in 2008. “George always fought for peace in India, stressing on the need to uphold the Constitution’s multi-religiosity and multi-culture,” Fonseca added.

“Pardon, Your Middle is Showing,” a collection of Menezes’ literary efforts had appeared in The Times of India, Indian Express, The Illustrated Weekly of India, Debonair and Home Life. It carried illustrations by Menezes’ fellow-Goan, Mario Miranda.

His admirers compare Menezes to English writer and humorist P.G. Wodehouse.

In his writings Menezes poked fun at himself. The harassed father, the bald-headed Lothario, the drunken delinquent and the peril-prone writer are familiar facets of Menezes characterization. Menezes admitted in the book that he had “a highly fertile imagination.”