Jesuits Mourn Pioneer Missioner

GUWAHATI, Apr. 20, 2010, 11:00 Hrs (UCAN):

Jesuits in India have mourned the death of Father Ambrose D’Mello, a pioneering missioner.

Father D’Mello, who was the first Jesuit Provincial of India, died of cancer on April 18 at Guwahati, Assam. He was 87.

Mourning the death, Father Edward Mudavassery, current Jesuit provincial of South Asia, said that his late confrere had braved great odds to start several missions in India.

Father D’Mello took the initiative to set up the office of the Jesuit Provincial of India to coordinate the works of the Society of Jesus in the country. The office was later renamed the Jesuit Provincial of South Asia.

Father Mudavassery described Father D’Mello as a pastoral-minded priest who helped launch the Anekal mission of the Jesuits in Karnataka state. He led mass literacy programs, rural housing schemes and other development works among mostly dalit (former low-caste) and tribal people, who form nearly 40 percent of the area.

Father D’Mello’s other achievement is the Kohima mission, the Jesuits pioneering work in northeastern India. “He started the mission from scratch. Now it is one of the most vibrant of Jesuit provinces,” Father Mudavassery noted.

He also said Father D’Mello maintained “good relations” with the Church hierarchy in India during his years as a Jesuit superior. He was also a much sought after spiritual director for bishops and Religious. “He guided people even until his last breath,” Father Mudavassery added.

Jesuit Father Walter Fernandes, director of a research center in Guwahati, who was with Father D’Mello during his last years, said his former provincial had encouraged young people to take up new works. He used modern social communication methods to keep abreast of the latest events in the world.

Father D’Mello was born in Puthur, Mangalore, in 1922. He joined the Jesuits in 1943 and was ordained a priest in 1954.