Mangaluru: St Aloysius College former Rector Fr Ronnie Prabhu passes away

Bellevision Media Network

Mangaluru, 19 Aug 2015: The seventy-five-year-old Fr Ronnie Prabhu, former rector of St Aloysius College, here passed away on at St Philomena Hospital, Bengaluru on Tuesday August 18 owing to cancer.

 

Fr Ronnie was born at Kodialbail, here on April 9, 1940. He was graduated from St Aloysius College, here and joined Society of Jesus in 1957. He had bagged a gold medal in his master’s degree in philosophy which he completed from Dharwad University. He zealously served the Congregation with earnestness and was a devout religious.

 

 

He was ordained priest on February 23, 1970. He served as rector of St Aloysius College here from 1980 to 1986, and during his tenure, he was instrumental in establishing the St Aloysius Boys’ Home and St Aloysius Industrial Technical Institute. In 1986, he took over as rector of St Joseph’s College, Bengaluru and from 1992 to 1998; he served as rector of Mount St Joseph College, Bengaluru.

 

From 1998 to 2004, he was the Provincial Superior of Karnataka Jesuits, during which he initiated the Jesuit Mission to Manvi in Raichur and Vijaypura. As the Provincial, he was instrumental in starting a CBSE School for the underprivileged in Raichur district which has now bloomed into a full fledged college. He served as director of Fatima Retreat House in Mangaluru.

 

He was appointed as PRO of Archdiocese of Bengaluru 3 years ago, and at the time of his demise was serving as PRO of all the dioceses of Karnataka, the Karnataka Region Catholic Bishops’ Council and the Karnataka Jesuits as well. 

 

He was known for initiating inter-religious dialogue with Aashirvad Centre for interfaith dialogue which he set up in 1970 and where conducted annual meets. He maintained excellent rapport with leaders of Lingayat and Okkaliga communities and also with Pejawar Swami, Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade and religious heads of other faiths across Karnataka. In his death, the state has lost a champion of religious harmony.

 

Fr Ronnie was recently nominated for the IIPP Award for ’Outstanding Community Leaders of Mangaluru’ which he was to receive sometime this year.

 

The funeral Mass will be held at St Joseph’s Boys’ High School Chapel, Museum Road, Bengaluru on Thursday August 20 at 9.00am. The mortal remains will be laid to rest at Mount St Joseph, Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru.