Indian Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil passed away
(October 26, 2009) Indian Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil of Verapoly and President
of Kerala Bishops Council, passed away Monday morning. The 71-year old archbishop
who also headed the Latin-rite bishops of Kerala state, died of kidney failure at
Lourdhes Hospital in Ernakulam. The funeral is scheduled for Wednesday, at Verapoly’s
St Francis Assisi Cathedral. The revered teacher and scholar of Hinduism and Indian
spirituality was born in Pallipuram, Kerala, on May 12, 1939, and joined the Discalced
Carmelite order in May 1956. He was ordained priest on March 14, 1966. He acquired
a bachelor-degree in Economics, Licentiate in Philosophy and a Master-degree in Indian
Philosophy from the University of Kerala, the Pontifical Athenaeum in Poona and Banaras
Hindu University in Varanasi respectively. In 1972 he began started teaching at
the Pontifical Urban University of Rome and obtained a Ph.D from the Pontifical University
of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome in 1978. In 1986 he became Dean of the Faculty of Missiology
at the Urban University and from 1988 to 1994 where also served as rector. Kerala’s
state Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan praised the late prelate for his efforts in
fostering inter-religious harmony in the state and in helping resolve several social
issues. Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference
of India, CBCI, the apex body of the Catholic Church in India, said Archbishop Acharuparambil
had led the Kerala Church with dedication and conviction. "He never compromised on
Church teachings and was very much concerned about the poor," the cardinal's condolence
message said. Major Archbishop Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis of Trivandrum, who heads
the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, said that Archbishop Acharuparambil led the Church
through difficult times in a state led by a Marxist-led government.