By Jose Kavi

New Delhi, July 31, 2020: Jesuit Father Francis Gonsalves takes over as the new president of Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV), a pontifical institute in Pune, western India, on July 31, the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus.

Appointed by Rome-based Jesuit superior general Father Arturo Sosa, Father Gonsalves says God’s Spirit will provide the staff and students of the institute the ‘Jnana’ (wisdom) to spread the Good News of the ‘Deepa’ (light) of the World: Jesus Christ.

On the eve of taking over the new post, the 60-year-old ever smiling priest in an email interview shared with Matters India about his life and plans for the one of the oldest seminaries in Asia. The installation ceremony will be livestreamed at 12 noon on YouTube.

Matters India: Congratulations for the new appointment. What are your plans for JDV? What challenges do you foresee in the new assignment?

Father Francis Gonsalves: I plan to strengthen JDV’s triple focus: (a) to enlighten men and women to think creatively, constructively and even critically within the local, national and global church; (b) to empower staff and students to raise a prophetic voice for the voiceless poor against evil and injustice in civil society; (c) to equip ‘ours’ to promote dialogue and fruitful interrelationships with all peoples, religious traditions, disciplines and ideologies to create a better church and world.

The first and obvious challenge is that, on the one hand, I see myself as a ‘pandemic president,’ sitting in a coronavirus hotspot with our past securities and sureties destroyed and our future plans and dreams hazy; but, on the other hand, as a Christian-Jesuit-theologian, amidst the masks, sanitizers, handwashes, lockdowns and crucifixion of my people upon ventilators, I see signs of hope in the resurrection in JDV and all around us, worldwide. I’d like to tap JDV’s potential to be a hotspot of the Holy Spirit helping us to rise—citius, altius, fortius—faster, higher, stronger. More than any claims to competence or charism, I believe that God’s Spirit will give us the ‘Jnana’ to spread the Good News of the ‘Deepa’ of the World: Jesus Christ.

There has been so much criticism about current seminary formation especially in the wake of scandals involving Catholic priests? What has gone with the formation? What are your views on this?

There has always been criticism about seminary formation in the past, present, and, I guess, there will be in the future, too. I’m cautious about two extremes: first, looking backward with nostalgia, saying, “Those were good days, but today …?” second, daydreaming of an illusory future, saying, “Priests should ideally be like A, B, C” … Both these stances are illusory, impractical. There were, are, and will be good-and-bad priests always since we, ordained ministers, are humans with feet of clay and urges just like everyone else. We are no different from denier Peter, doubting Thomas, or persecutor Paul. It is only when we, ordained priests, can sincerely say: “Yes, I love you, Lord!” (Jn 21:15,16,17) and are convinced about Him saying: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5), that we become instruments in God’s hand. Pope Francis is absolutely right in saying that the biggest sins of all priests are clericalism and careerism; it’s difficult to make seminarians and priests aware of the dangers of power-play and money-making.

Is JDV the oldest seminary in modern India (including its Kandy past)?

JDV is the grandchild and brainchild, so to say, of the Father of ‘Catholic Social Teaching’ of the Church, Pope Leo XIII who, way back in 1893, saw the need for Asian ‘sons of the soil’ to run the ‘Papal Seminary’ at Kandy, Sri Lanka. The 20th century offspring of this farsighted ‘Father’—namely, the elder Papal Seminary shifted from Kandy to be near to its Jesuit brother, De Nobili College, in 1955, and its avatar in 1972 renamed ‘Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth’ (JDV) to indigenize more fully—are certainly the oldest, extremely experienced institutions of philosophy and theology which have catered to thousands of students over 125 years.

How many dioceses and religious congregations are represented? How many students are there in this academic year?

In terms of diversity, past and present, JDV is a kaleidoscopic delight. First, it has staff and students from all three sui iuris (self-governing) Churches of India—Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara. Second, it has representatives from 101 religious congregations—53 of women and 48 of men—plus from 97 dioceses and archdioceses. Third, its present 27 resident staff come from 3 dioceses and 7 congregations: SJ, OIC, SVD, CSC, UMI, RJM and OMI, with 55 visiting professors from elsewhere.

Fourth, Papal Seminary and JDV can take legitimate pride in having given the Church in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan more than 70 archbishops and bishops, including four cardinals—Valerian Gracias, Joseph Parekattil, Joseph Cordeiro and Baselios Cleemis—and some 7,000 priests. Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the current patron of JDV and its vice-patron, Bishop Thomas Dabre of Pune, lectured here earlier.

Fifth, among JDV’s women staff, Prof. Rekha Chennattu is currently General Superior of the Assumption Sisters while Prof. Evelyn Monteiro, was a General Councillor in the Holy Cross congregation. Thus, JDV has played a significant role in terms of its contribution to the Church, at large.

At present, there are 732 students —498 in Theology and 234 in Philosophy. Of these, 127 are postgraduate students. Additionally, JDV has ‘Affiliated Institutes’ in Kolkata, Goa, Karnataka, Gujarat and Mumbai.

How has the lockdown and coronavirus affected JDV? Have you started the new academic year? Are you planning online classes as in the secular world?

Yes and No! Yes, because the campus houses are empty, no students physically present. However, not really, since JDV was most probably one of the first Catholic Ecclesiastical Faculties (CFI) of India approved by the Congregation for Catholic Education (CCE), Vatican, Rome, that began posting what we call ‘study modules’ online so that our students would not sit idle or waste a year, but begin their studies. We began doing this already from June 8. There were some apprehensions at the start since we, the professors, had to learn new methodologies of online teaching/learning.

However, we soon got familiar with computer platforms like Google Classroom, Google Meet, Zoom, Webex and so on. We do have some problems with students who are living in remote areas in India without proper access to Wi-Fi and other computer facilities. But, on the whole, there is much satisfaction both, on the part of the staff and the students. Personally, I believe that the whole world is a Classroom; hence JDV is where any JDV student is, since one can learn and teach wherever one is—more so with the technology available today.

Please tell us about yourself.

I was born (on July 23, 1960), in Bandra West, Mumbai, and studied in a Jesuit school next door: St. Stanislaus. I was seventeen when I joined the pre-novitiate and completed my B Com in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. I joined the Gujarat Jesuits in July 1981, and was ordained a priest in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on December 20, 1992, amid the violence of the destruction of the Babri Masjid.

I worked among the Adivasis of south Gujarat as a deacon and young priest and then left for Rome to do my Licentiate in Theology at the Gregorian University. On my return, I began teaching Systematic Theology at Vidyajyoti, Delhi, from 1997. While teaching, I did doctoral research at the University of Madras (2001-2005). During my 18-year stay in Delhi, I was director of Field Work (1998-1999); Registrar (2007-2008); Book-review editor of the Vidyajyoti journal (2007-2013); and Principal (2009-2013). I was also the ‘Animator for Tihar Jail Fieldwork’ (2007-2013).

I served as executive secretary of the Indian Theological Association during 2011-2013 before going abroad for a ‘change of workplace.’ I taught theology at the Sogang University, Seoul, South Korea, in the Fall of 2013 and at the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, affiliated to the Santa Clara University, USA, in the Spring of 2014.

I was transferred to JDV in June 2015. Since then I have been moderator of the Master’s program, chairperson of the Doctoral Committee, and Dean of Theology. Currently, I am also the executive secretary of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), having been appointed in May 2018 to serve till May 2022.

I have authored seven books and edited eight others. I have also functioned as a journalist in the national secular press, having contributed every fortnight since April 2010 articles on religion, spirituality and social-justice issues in a column called ‘Mystic Mantra’ for two national newspapers: The Asian Age and The Deccan Chronicle. Besides this, I have published over 200 scholarly articles in various publications in India and abroad.