20 Sep. 1925 – 7 Nov. 2015
Born in a religious-minded family on 20th September 1925, Fr. Walter followed his brothers Edward and Vincent in joining the Society of Jesus (then Goa Mission), while three of his sisters became members of other religious congregations.
After graduating in Arts and being a lecturer at Lingaraj College, Belgaum, for a few years, he entered the Jesuit Novitiate on March 18, 1951 at Vinayalaya, Andheri. After following the customary stages of Jesuit formation, he was ordained a priest for the Pune-Belgaum Mission on May 3, 1960 and completed his tertianship at Salamanca, Spain. Marked out for his academic performances, he completed two Masters Degrees in Arts and Education at Boston University, U.S.A.
Then began his academic services in various Jesuit institutions. As teacher and Principal of St. Paul’s he is remembered for his strict enforcement of discipline and promotion of excellence in learning, summed up in his memorable phrase, ‘I expect teachers to teach and students to learn’. This was backed up by his example of personal commitment to all his school responsibilities. Here he also took care of the spiritual animation of college students in AICUF.
As founder of St. Vincent Night College of Commerce, Pune, his zealous efforts to educate the Catholic youth ‘to earn and to learn’ through value education classes, First Friday Mass, annual retreats and personal visits to the families of the students have borne fruit in vocations to the Society. He is appreciated by the poor people to whom he reached out through on-going education in the only Catholic Night College of the Pune University. He has borne with great fortitude the difficulties of administering such an institution. He also obtained Post-Graduate recognition for this college. During this period, he completed his doctoral studies related to ‘Planning Economic Development for Education’ with a sense of determination, optimism and faith in the Lord. He also ventured on Post-doctoral studies on ‘The Economic Miracle of South Korea’, which was published in 1995. His publications are a testimony of his hard work and commitment to the Lord through academic research.
Parents remember him with affection for his friendly and persuasive ways, fatherly concern for their children whom he has formed to be responsible adults in family life. He has been faithful to the mission of the Society in various responsibilities entrusted to him. So also, his brothers, Fathers Vincent and Edward, who have gone to their reward, have done yeoman service in the Goa and Pune Provinces. He is remembered for his pioneering spirit in the educational field, as a professor and research scholar. He was also faithful to the grind of College lecturing and was recognized as a lucid exponent of economics, be it at St. Vincent's, Ness Wadia College, or at Stonyhurst College, U.K.
After he retired, he was sent to Loyola Jesuit Community, Pune. There he continued his research and served as Priest-in-charge at the N.D.A. From there he moved to Snehasadan and continued his research work. Recently he was shifted to St. Vincent’s Residence, where he was praying for the Society and the Church till 7th of November 2015 when he returned to his
heavenly abode. He was 90 years of age and spent 64 years in the Society. May he continue to inspire us, his brothers and companions in mission, to cross boundaries and reach out for new frontiers in our intellectual apostolate. May the Lord bless him and give him kind admittance in heaven. May he experience fullness of life with the Lord!!
No comments:
Post a Comment