Vatican Council 'expert' Fr Neuner dies at 101

(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, 4^th 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.