By Jacob Peenkiaparambil
Bhopal, Feb. 26, 2019: Carmelite Father Louis Maliekal, one of the pioneers in contextualized Indian theology, Indian spirituality and Indian liturgy, died of a massive heart attack on February 25 at Bhopal, central India. He was 83.
Father Maliekal died at Devamath Hospital, Bhopal, where he was admitted for treatment for severe stomach pain.
His funeral service will be held at 2.00 pm on March 1 at Mary Matha Church, Bhopal and burial at Yesu Ashram, Padaria, in the same city, according to Carmelites of Mary Immaculate province headquarters.
Father Maliekal introduced Bhajans in the Indian Church by composing the first Christian Bhajan (Om Jagadiswara sadapi chinmaya Jagadeeshwara vande) when he was a student of theology in Dharmaram College Bangalore. In the wake of the renewal within the Indian Church after the Second Vatican Council he played a leading role in the liturgical experiments in the Indian Church.
He is credited with the formulation of the Order of Indian Mass for the Syro-Malabar Church called the Bharatiya Pooja. It is being currently used at Kurisumala Ashram, Kerala, even though the Syro-Malabar Church discontinued all experiments in indigenization and inculturation.
Father Maliekal’s passion for evolving Indian liturgy and Indian theology is reflected in his doctoral thesis Yajna and Eucharist: An Inter-Religious Approach to the Theology of Sacrifice, as a student of the Catholic University of Luvain.
Post-Second Vatican period witnessed many attempts in India for contextualized theological training, especially in the mission regions. The leaders of the Church were convinced that a seminary formation based on the Western style would not equip the missionaries and priests to face the various challenges in the field.
Fr. Maliekal led contextualized theological formation of seminarians in Madhya Pradesh, a central Indian state. As the rector of Khrist Premalaya, Ashta, the regional theologate for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, he adopted the methodology of “Action-Reflection-Action,” taking inspiration from the ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ by Paulo Freire.
The seminarians were sent to villages for a month to live with the people and experience their life situation. They were given the guidelines to reflect on theological issues in the light of the concrete life situation of the people. After coming back from the villages the seminarians were helped to further reflect and theologize.
Thus seminary formation was made student-centred and people oriented. Besides, the seminarians were given the opportunity to visit the villages on weekends and involve in various activities like conducting adult education classes, organizing inter-religious prayers and cultural events.
Father Maliekal also took the initiative to start an inter-religious association (Sarva Dharma Sanghatan) at Ashta in Madhya Pradesh in the early 1980s. This association played a key role in preventing communal violence in Ashta town, a communally sensitive area.
When the CMI Congregation started a contextualized theologate (Samanvaya) in Bhopal in the early 1990s, Fr. Maliekal was chosen to evolve a formation process suited to the North Indian situation. The seminarians were given training in three different contexts: the tribal and rural context of Bastar, inter-religious context of Rishikesh in Uttarakhand and the inter-cultural context of Madhya Pradesh.
His two-volume book on homily, “prem pravachan,” the first of its kind in India, is still being used by many preachers in North India. As a thinker and writer, he has published seven books and around 100 theological articles in several journals, besides presenting papers at national and international seminars. His latest book “Interface of Cult and Culture” is in the press and will be out in April.
Honoring his contribution in contextualized theological formation in India, a book titled Theology on Wheels: A Movement for Contextualized Theological Education edited by Dr. Davis Varayilaan was released on the occasion of the golden jubilee celebration of his priestly ordination on February 10.