Church mourns death of pioneer Vincentian missionary

By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi: The Church in northern India has mourned the death of a Vincentian priest who opened new mission areas in Agra archdiocese and Meerut diocese in Uttar Pradesh state.

Father Thomas Emprayil died of Covid-19 at 9:55 am on May 8 in St Joseph’s Hospital in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. He was 79.

He was admitted there on April 23 with some dry cough but without any symptoms of Covid, says Father Joshy Paul Kottackal, head of the Vincentians’ Delhi province. He had received two doses of vaccination, the provincial explained. He later developed breathing problems.

His funeral services were conducted on May 8 at Christ the Redeemer Church in Budaun, a mission parish started by Father Emprayil in Agra archdiocese. Father Emprayil was buried in one of the tombs he had prepared near the Budaun parish church, some 240 km southeast of New Delhi. His nephew Father Bobby Thomas Emprayil, a missionary in Manipur, led the services in the presence of a few Vincentian priests.

Father Emprayil “was an exceptional missionary with a sense of purpose. In him we have lost an exemplary priest,” said Archbishop Raphy Manjaly of Agra in his condolence message. The prelate hailed the Vincentian missionary as “a man of integrity and clarity of vision” he added.

Father Mathew Kumblummoottil, a senior priest of the archdiocese, hailed Father Emprayil as “a great person,” who was loving, simple and generous. “A great loss indeed. Such a great missionary comes by rarely,” he said mourning the death.

Father George Tharayil, another archdiocesan priest, described Father Emprayil as a “truly committed missionary with integrated personality. “We have lost a zealous priest,” he added.

Father Emprayil was born on November 30, 1941, as the fifth among seven children. His two sisters who were nuns and a brother had died earlier. He took his first vows in the Kerala-based Vincentian Congregation in 1965, and was ordained a priest on December 18, 1969. After ordination he worked in the Satna diocese in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh for four years.

In 1974, he went to Rome for his doctoral research in Missiology from Gregorian University. His doctoral thesis published in 1980 was entitled “The Emerging Theology of Religions.”

On his return to India, he worked for the congregation in several parts of the country.

According the provincial, Father Emprayil lived frugally. “He was not much bothered about his food and shelter. He opted to go to villages to stay with them sometimes even risking his own life,” Father Kottackal told matters India on May 10.

In 1993, Father Emprayil reached the Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh to start a mission under the archdiocese of Agra. His missionary zeal since childhood and doctoral studies in missiology guided his pioneering works in the area, explained Father Kottackal. The archdiocese also gave the missionary freedom to plan his mission strategy.

He worked in Budaun for 17 years before moving to Chandausi, a mission area under Meerut diocese.

In both mission, he launched interreligious dialogue to explain to local people about Christianity and Christ. He also opened a dispensary in Budaun to present the healing ministry of the Church.

He started De Paul Catholic Mission School in Hindi medium in 1996 in a temporary shed at Budaun, in collaboration with the Franciscan Clarist Congregation sisters.

Another project was the literacy mission to reach out the villagers. Father Emprayil visualized the mission providing education without buildings.

“A table, a desk and a blackboard were the only furniture that was in the school. The village panchayat or some individuals provided the place for the new way of education which could dispel doubts of many who had the wrong idea about the Christian Missionaries,” Father Kottackal explained.

The new project received the support of villages, parents and teachers who kept the antichristian movement away. “He believed that the guarantee of safety of a missionary is the people around him.”

The new form school charged the monthly fee of just 10 rupees from a student and paid 600 rupees to his teachers. He managed this with the fees and support from his province and friends and relatives, Father Kottackal said.