(December5, 2009) Jesuit Father Josef Neuner, a prominent theologian at the Second
Vatican Council has died at age 101. The priest died at 11.15 pm on December 3 at
Sanjeevan Ashram, Pune, India, where he had lived for the past 15 years. His funeral
was held on Friday, 4th of December and he was to be buried in a cemetery
in Pune's Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, where he had taught for several years. Church people
have hailed Father Neuner as a stalwart of Church renewal after the Second Vatican
Council. He was one of four experts from India at the council and contributed to
its many documents, especially "Nostra Aetate" and "Ad Gentes". He had worked with
Jesuit theologian Father Karl Rahner and helped codify the Church's decrees on priestly
formation. It was Father Neuner who drafted Pope Paul VI's speech to Hindus when the
pontiff visited India for the Eucharistic Congress in 1964. He also acted as a bridge-builder
between Religious and diocesan priests, between theology and spirituality, Christian
theology and Indian religions, India and Europe, and the Church and the world. Born
on Aug. 9 1908, in Feldkirch, Austria, Fr Neuner joined the Jesuits in 1926 and was
ordained in 1936. In 1938, he came to India where he taught theology for 60 years,
mostly in the Pune seminary. As a theologian, the Jesuit collaborated in preparing
the internationally known "The Christian Faith," a handbook of Christian teachings.
He was also known for his association with Blessed Teresa of Kolkata and was the first
to write about her in German. He was retreat director for her Missionaries of Charity
and helped her integrate some of the darkest spiritual moments of her life with her
work for the poor.