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.