By Thomas Scaria
Mangaluru: Father John Fernandes, founder president of the Catholic Priests’ Conference of India (CPCI), died in Mangaluru on July 3, the feast of Saint Thomas. He was 85.
The funeral is scheduled at 9:30 am on July 4 at St.Joseph the worker Church, Vamanjor, Mangaluru.
Father Fernandes, a priest of Mangalore diocese, had made a mark as a renowned human rights activist and a promoter of interreligious dialogue.
He had led a number of movements for justice for Dalits, farmers and villagers while serving as pastor of rural parishes under the diocese of Mangalore.
He also fought for the rights of the Catholic diocesan priests in India the leader of CPCI, which was once the national forum of priests influenced by liberation theology.
As a dialogue activist he had addressed several meetings of the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS), the umbrella organizations of the Hindu nationalist groups, as an invitee on topics related to interreligious harmony.
He was the recipient of the Herbert Haag Award for Freedom in the Church from Lucerne, Switzerland in 2007.
Father Onil D’Souza, the director of the St. Anthony’s poor homes where Father Fernandes spent his last days, said he was “deeply touched by his passion for the poor, his secular approaches and sense of justice all through his priestly life.”
Father Fernandes was born in Udyavara in 1936 and ordained a priest for Mangalore diocese on March 30, 1963. He studied philosophy and theology in Pune and Innsbruck, Austria. He obtained his doctorate in Theology from the University of Trier, Germany, and Licentiate in Philosophy from Pune.
Father Fernandes was the former professor and head of the Chair in Christianity in the Mangalore University and served as a theology professor at the St. Jospeph’s major seminary in Mangaluru for two decades. He also served as the director of Mangala Jyothi, Diocesan Biblical, and Catechetical Centre, Mangaluru.
A press release from the Mangalore diocese hailed Father Fernandes as a renowned interreligious dialogue activist. He was engaged in dialogue with the leaders of other faiths, it added.
“For him, humanity came first rather than religion. He organized several programs to unite people of different faiths and had good relationships with the people in society irrespective of their religion,” the diocesan newsletter wrote about Father Fernandes.
Father D’Souza said his association with Father Fernandes was from his seminary days when the elderly priest served his parish in Belman. He said Father Fernandes helped confirm his decision to be a priest.
“I saw in him not only a devotional priest but also a social activist,” said Father D’Souza, who headed the diocesan social service wing for years.
Rony Arun, a writer and a musician in Mangaluru, told Matters India that Father Fernandes was a “father of the common man who always stood for justice.” He played key roles in ensuring a just wage for the workers employed in Church institutions also.
The CPCI was started in October 1987 to give diocesan priests a forum to share their views and experiences. It began with 500 members from 85 dioceses.
The priests’ conference wanted the Church to be open to radical options, willing to give up preconceived notions, and ready to share power with other people, especially laity.
It insisted that the priest should build “Kingdom communities” going beyond the Church and in collaboration with people of other faiths and secular ideologies who struggle for a new society.
The radical priests led by Father Fernandes wanted the Church to become servant of the Kingdom community and the priests the servants of the people of the kingdom.
Such radical views did not go down well with the bishops, who started another forum for diocesan priests called the Conference of Diocesan Priests of India (CDPI).
RIP. Another priest died whose dreams never came to light in his life span. I asked, number of diocesan priests, what is CPCI? none of them know it (they all know only ICU in which they are breathing their last) it is not properly introduced to diocesan priests nor it’s role in the church. While all know what is CRI. CRI members are generally addressed as poor religious. Infact in many dioceses CRI members are controlling the office of CPCI or bishop’s who were formerly a provincial or CRI leaders etc. CRI members are only poor in matters of eating vegetables (instead they eat 6days a week non veg. Due to virues of poverty) and poor in following evangelical virues many chastity and obedience as of Lucy Kalapura’s version of it as she says they were taught in novitiate period.
Diocesan Priesthood is very passionate in public but their dreams are only under carpet trembled by the politics of the “Holy Bishops” who gained this post by tactics under the glimpse of humility, gentleness etc.
Diocesan priests are divided by bishops into his team and the rest -slave priests. This “his team” around 10 members in a diocese selected in synodal level know everything but they don’t want the CPCI. The majority of the slave priests who really need CPCI are blocked by this ten chains of the diocese in various models as advisors, pressure groups, treathening team etc.
Chhotebhai like knowledgsble persons should help the priests to know about this locked chain of Diocesan priests.
Respectful farewell to Father John Fernandes. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and let your perpetual light shine upon the departed soul.
Right! Now the Conference of Diocesan Priests of India (CDPI) – national and diocese units too struggling to live up to the constitution promulgated and approved by the Conferences of Bishops of India, due to the highhanded behaviours from some Bishops. Matters related to this needed to be addressed adequately by all concerned to safeguard the rights and dignity of the diocesan priests. Lay leaders of your genre and calibre would certainly be able to straighten this widely wished thing. Good luck!
The CBCI cleverly diluted the CPCI by forming its own pittu organization of diocesan priests, thereby defeating the very purpose of the CPCI. In the recent past I have forwarded important letters to the CPCI at its designated address, but got no response. It seems to be in the doldrums, like all other “recognized” organizations of priests, religious, women and laity.The church in India is the poorer for it.