By Jessy Joseph

New Delhi, April 14, 2022: Emeritus Bishop Joseph Pathalil, the first prelate of Udaipur diocese in Rajasthan, died April 14 after a long illness. He was 85.

The death occurred at 12 noon at Paras KJ Hospital in Udaipur.

A message from Bishop Devprasad Ganawa of Udaipur said his predecessor had developed some breathing difficulties in the morning and was rushed to the hospital. “Due to a cardiac arrest, he breathed his last,” Bishop Ganawa added.

The funeral is scheduled on April 19 in Udaipur, known as the city of palaces. The bishop’s body is now kept in a mortuary.

Bishop Pathalil was born on January 26 1937, at Nedumkunnam in the Kottayam district of Kerala, a parish under the archdiocese of Changanacherry.

He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Ajmer on September 21, 1963.

He served three different mission stations — 3 years in Maska Mahuri as assistant parish priest, 6 years in Ambapara as the parish priest and 12 years in Holy Spirit Church, and Dungarpur, according to a communication from Father Stephen Alathara, deputy secretary general of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.

On December 3, 1984, Pope John Paul 11 appointed him the bishop of Udaipur, which was carved out of the diocese of Ajmer. He was ordained a bishop on February 14, 1984.

He led the diocese for 27 years and resigned his post on December 21, 2012. He was a priest for 58 years and a bishop for 37 years.

Bishop Ganawa urged his people to “gratefully remember his selfless service to the church and pray for the departed soul.”

The Catholic Church “is now on a strong footing in South Rajasthan” because of “the dedicated and steadfast work by committed and pious souls like Joseph Pathalil,” says Sunny Sebastian, former vice-chancellor of Jaipur’s Haridev Joshi University of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The veteran journalist, who has worked in Rajasthan for nearly four decades, says Bishop Pathalil had sincerely tried to identify with the tribal population he served spiritually in the south Rajasthan districts of Udaipur, Dungarpur and Banswara.

“Bishop Pathalil was an unusual prelate by Indian standards. He was so unassuming and down to earth that anyone would have had mistaken him for an ordinary preacher,” Sebastian, a Catholic, told Matters India.

“Bishop Pathalil nearly dressed like them — but for the cross he wore around the neck as a locket — and spoke in their language, Vagadi,” added Sebastian, the bureau chief of The Hindu newspaper during 1985-2013.

Sebastian recalled an attack on Bishop Pathalil during an anti-Christian campaign by the radical Hindu groups in the tribal belt. “When I came to know about it later, I asked him as to why he did not complain about the hooligans chasing him and pelting him with stones, he gave a mild smile and said, ‘Why aggravate the situation with personal grievances?’” Sebastian added.

Bishop Pathalil always tried to promote interreligious harmony in southern Rajasthan.

On August 31, 2009, the prelate led a delegation to visit the head of an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Krishna in Udaipur. The visit to Mahant Murali Manohar Shastri helped boost Christian-Hindu relations in the region, the delegation later claimed.

The Hindu leader had broken his leg in a fall a month earlier. The city and surrounding areas had witnessed Hindu-Christian tension.

Bishop Pathalil on May 16, 1994, opened “Maitri Sadan” (house of friendship), a center open to people of all faiths. It was aimed at accelerating evangelization works as well as promoting dialogue and communication.

The bishop said the center would be a meeting place for people of all religions to share experience and grow in friendship.

Predominantly a Hindu city, Udaipur, some 750 km southwest of New Delhi, is a main tourist attraction in India.