Obituary

Fr. Dr. Kuncheria Pathil: An Ecumenical Theologian Par Excellence

Revd Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam

Let me record a few words of obituary tributes in honour of an ecumenical friend, Fr. Dr. Kuncheria Pathil (83), who has been called to his eternal rest on Oct. 6, 2022. Revd Dr. Joseph Daniel and I visited the CMI Thiruhrithaya Ashram, Changanacherry and offered our memorial tributes to him before his funeral rites on Oct. 8. Our association with Fr. Pathil goes back to a few decades. Fr. Pathil was born on Sept.25,1939 and ordained as a CMI priest in the year 1967. He was professor of Systematic Theology and Ecumenics at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (1979-2008).

For me, his death is a silent grief and a pleasant memory. Someone has rightly said: “What matters in life is not being applauded when you arrive, but being missed when you leave.” Yes, “the remembrance of the righteous is a blessing.” Let me flash back on my memory, Fr. Pathil has left a legacy of excellence in all the places he served. As a true ecumenist, he was deeply rooted in his own Church tradition (Syro-Malabar). He was always ready to branch out like a tree giving its shelter to across Church denominations. During my tenure as the Principal of ISET-ECC and then its director (1995-2006), I had the opportunity to meet Fr. Pathil several times at Dharmaram College, Bengaluru. We had opportunities to travel together outside the country for attending international conferences. As the Director of ECC, I regarded Dharmaram Vidya Keshtram (DVK) as an extended family of ECC. Fr. Pathil and late Fr. Pathrampankal were instrumental in establishing a close link with ECC through the establishment of ISET (Indian School of Ecumenical Theology), a theological wing of ECC. They extended their helping hand to the late Revd Dr. M.A. Thomas, the founder director of ECC, in Whitefield. M. A. Thomas achen and the directors followed always remember with gratitude to their service to ECC. DVK and ECC had initiated a joint doctoral programme in Ecumenical Theology. Fr. Dr. Mathew Chandrankunnel and other faculty members there were always ready to help in its theological pursuits. I had the rare privilege to offer words of felicitation to Fr. Pathil when he was installed as the Director of DVK (2003). I should record my thanks to Fr. Pathil as he wrote a brief article under the caption “M. J. Josph: A man with an ecumenical heart” in my Golden Jubilee Priestly Ordination Festschrift Vol. under the title The Golden Beam (CSS,2015), I have written a lengthy on article on the Mar Thoma Church in the prestigious International Journal Jeevadhara, edited by him. He had the great desire to make known the heritage of other Christian Churches to the wider Christian community and particularly to his own church.

We used to meet at Kottayam after his retirement from DVK. He is a combination of several noble pastoral qualities: scholarship and articulation, ecumenical commitment and allegiance to his own tradition, pastoral and theological acumen. He proved himself to be an asset to the Christian communality all over Asia through his theological articulation and presence. He edited a book on his Priestly Golden Jubilee under the title Church on Pilgrimage-Trajectories of intercultural Encounter (2016) published by Dharmaram Publication, Bengaluru with 587 pages. It is now well read among the theological fraternity. As requested by Fr. Pathil, I wrote a brief review of the book and published in the Malankara Sabha Tharaka. One may come across a bibliographical detail of his published books (15), articles (83) and titles of his editorials in the Jeevadhara. In its foreword, Aloysius Pieris of Sri Lanka commented that it is an anthology of article which take us to backward and forward. The thesis of the book as remarked by Fr. Pieris is this: “The Church needs to be challenged by its own history. The book is ecclesiastically challenging, theologically stimulating and catechistically beneficial”

The FOCUS Journal, published from Texas, is grateful to Fr. Pathil as he contributed a very thought-provoking article under the title “Future of the Ecumenical Movement” (Focus July 2027). As a critic, he concludes his article with a comment: “The centaury long hard work undertaken by the churches in search of visible unity and the target of mutual recognition, intercommunion and a conciliar fellowship among the churches is still elusive and the future of the movement is clouded with a lot of ambiguities and uncertainties.” He makes a prophetic request to the Church. “All churches must move from the center to the peripheries and prophetically involved in the lives of the poor, oppressed and marginalized and thus become agents of transformation of society and instruments of unity among the whole humankind irrespective of religion, culture, caste and creed.”

Revd Dr. G. Varghese a retired priest of the Mar Thoma Church, wrote his doctoral dissertation under the guidance of Fr. Dr. Kuncheria Pathil at DVK, Bengaluru. I am including a few words of appreciation from him to highlight the obituary notes: “Fr. Dr. Kuncheria Pathil was my guru, research guide, mentor and above all a well-known ecumenical theologian. I thank God Almighty for the gift of such a man to community at large. His vision and passion for the study of Ecumenism is expressed through his teachings and writings of numerous articles and books. I am indeed privileged to be the first non-Roman Catholic researcher in the DVK during 1993-’97. I was staying at ECC with my family while Revd Dr. M. J. Joseph was the principal of the Indian School of Ecumenical Theology and Dr. Mithra G. Augustine, the Director.

“I remember with gratitude to God for the care and love he had shown to me as a research student. Whenever I visited him at DVK, he used to receive me at the door and take me directly to the dining hall for refreshment. This was his routine habit His dealings were gentile, but was always strict with his academic requirements. Since my thesis topic was related to the concerns of the Sub-unit of WCC on “Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies,” he asked me to meet Prof. Dr. S. J. Samartha, a former Director of the WCC sub- unit, and gather all the useful information for my thesis. He also expressed his desire that I should make use of the library resources of the WCC at Geneva. Following his directions and suggestions, I could complete my doctoral work successfully. As an accomplished ecumenical theologian, I am proud to say that he has left his footprints on the sands of time for the glory of God“.

“Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime. And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time.”

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).