By Vinod Sushil Soreng

Chennai, Sept 19, 2020: Father Erik Breye, the legendary Jesuit from Belgium, passed away on September 18, leaving behind a rich legacy of scholarship, higher learning and individual life of holiness perfected by simplicity and humility.

He was 80 and was a Jesuit for 61 years and a priest for 48 years. He served St. Albert’s College Seminary Ranchi for nearly 55 years. Meanwhile, he also taught Theology of Grace and Christian Anthropology at Regional Theology Centre, Tarunoday, Kanke, Ranchi.

The first encounter I had with Father Breye was way back in 1996 when I had just completed my graduation at St. Xavier’s College, Bombay and was getting ready to appear for the entrance exam for a Master’s degree in English at the University of Bombay.

Having enjoyed a short break I made my annual retreat (for eight days) under him. What an amazing experience I had, listening to him and interacting with him for eight glorious days, I cannot describe that in words.

He was soft-spoken (extremely sweet voice), warm, friendly, fatherly, epitome of grace and simplicity and overall, a holy man. His brilliance as a scholar of theology never got to him, he was always down to earth. Those eight days that I spent with him are very precious to me and I would like to treasure them for the rest of my life.

He would come to my room to give me the points for reflection for the whole day; it felt as if I was having a spiritual conversation with the divine. He would say, Vinod, it is God who has been accompanying you and working in you, I am just a very small vehicle. I still reckon that was the best annual retreat I have ever made.

My second serious interaction with him was when he engaged lectures on Theology of Grace and Christian Anthropology at Regional Theology Center, Ranchi, Jharkhand.

He was an eloquent speaker and a great orator. When he spoke, we felt like listening to him on and on and wished he never stopped talking. Very complex theological concepts were made to look ridiculously effortless and much easier to understand. He had a great sense of humor.

While responding to some of our questions, he would jokingly say, “Please do not ask me this, I do not know, because when Jesus Christ was alive, I was not there!” (He would eventually clarify our doubts all the same). Over the years I would meet him every summer I went back to the province for our province conventions. He would be extremely generous in his words, appreciative and encouraging; charming as he had always been; one of the nicest persons one could have a conversation with!

While pursuing my doctoral studies in England, Father Breye came to know that I was doing my doctoral research at the University of London, he sent a small note via email saying, “Well, Belgium is not very far away from London, just an hour by flight.”

He wanted me to visit his “Didi (elder sister) and Jijaji” (brother-in-law) in Belgium. And I did visit his elder sister and brother-in-law in the summer of 2013. It was indeed one of the best experiences of my life meeting his “Didi and Jijaji”, that’s what he fondly called them. They were magical, warm, hospitable and real gems and his home, a very small traditional Christian home, where love reigned supreme.

When his brother-in-law came to receive me and my cousin, Father Raymond in Brussels, he greeted us by saying, “Namaste and Jai Yesu” and also added that he was the “Jijaji of Jesuit Father Erik Barwa”, of Ranchi Jesuit Province. On behalf of all my province men, a rich tribute to one of the greatest human beings I have ever met in my life. He will be missed, his work ethic and commitment will be difficult to emulate but his legacy will live on and inspire the generations of Jesuits in Chotanagpur to be great ambassadors of love, peace, harmony, justice and reconciliation with qualitative service and commitment of a highest class and distinction.

Rest in Peace Fr. Breye. Hats off to you for all that you have been to us.

(Vinod Sushil Soreng is a Jesuit from Ranchi Jesuit Province. Currently, he is a professor at the Jesuit Philosophy Seminary “Satya Nilayam”, Chennai, Tamil Nadu).