Bangalore: Father Ronnie Prabhu, former provincial of Karnataka Jesuits, renowned retreat preacher and promoter of interreligious dialogue, died Tuesday in Bangalore. He was suffering from cancer for some time. He was 75.

The death occurred at St Philomena Hospital in Bangalore, capital of Karnataka state, where he was under observation in the Intensive Care Unit for the past two days.

Fr Prabhu was diagnosed with terminal abdominal cancer in January. Earlier in May, he had undergone surgery at Narayana Hradayalaya. He had a tough time since then.

He passed away at 6:45 pm. Those present said he was cheerful to the end and died with a smile on his face.

His funeral will be held at 9 am on August 20 at St Joseph’s College chapel, Bengaluru, and the burial will be held at Mount St. Joseph Jesuit house at Bannerghatta.

At the time of his death, Fr Prabhu was the public relations officer for all the dioceses in Karnataka.

Fr. Ronnie Prabhu was born on April 9, 1940, at Kodialbail in Mangaluru. He studied at St Aloysius College and joined the Society of Jesus on July 1, 1957. He always secured distinction in studies, and even bagged a gold medal in his master’s degree in philosophy which he completed from Dharwad University.

He joined the Society of Jesus as he felt he was a ‘pampered child of God,’ and felt that his life’s mission was to bring love, joy and peace into the hearts of the people.

He was ordained a priest on February 23, 1970.

He served as rector of St Aloysius College from 1980 to 1986, and during his tenure, he set up the St Aloysius Boys’ Home and Industrial Technical Institute. In 1986. He took over as rector of St Joseph’s College, Bengaluru and from 1992 to 1998, he served as rector of Mount St Joseph College, Bengaluru.

From 1998 to 2004, he was the provincial of Karnataka Jesuits, during which he initiated the Jesuit Mission to Manvi in Raichur and Vijaypura. As provincial he was instrumental in starting a school under the Central Board of Secondary Education for the underprivileged in Raichur district which has now bloomed into a full fledged college.

He served as director of Fatima Retreat House in Mangaluru.

He was appointed public relations officer of Bangalore archdiocese three years ago. He was also the spokesperson of the Karnataka Region Catholic Bishops’ Council and the Karnataka Jesuits as well.

Fr Prabhu faced death with a smile

Fr. Prabhu was known for his interest and passion for development of an interfaith dialogue.

In 1970, he set up the Aashirvad (blessing), a center for interfaith dialogu, and conducted annual meets there. He was known for initiating inter-religious dialogue with Aashirvad centre for interfaith dialogue which he set up in 1970 and where conducted annual meets.

He maintained rapport with leaders of Lingayat and Okkaliga communities and also with Pejawar Swamiji, Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade and religious heads of other faiths across the state of Karnataka.

In his death the state has lost a champion of religious harmony, reported newskarnataka.com.

Fr. Prabhu served as the rector of St. Aloysius College, Managlore, after the centenary celebrations. He brought in a fresh look that made a lot of difference, starting a Konkani Centre and an Industrial Training Institute.

He also served as rector, St. Josephs college Bengaluru, and Mount St. Joseph, a formation center for Jesuits at various times.

He also found practice of yoga and pranic compatible with the Catholic faith. He had some Buddhist forms of meditation and taught them. He, however, held that he rejected whatever is pantheistic or monistic, whatever does not accept a personal loving Trinitarian God.

Fr Ronnie was recently nominated for an award for ‘Outstanding Community Leaders of Mangaluru’ which he was to receive sometime this year.