August 8, 2019 will be remembered as a historic day in the life of the Redemptorists of India as the very first Indian Redemptorist Priest breathed his last at the age of 97 just a few months short of his 98th birthday.
Fr. Antonio Francis Xavier Rodrigues a true Redemptorist Missionary in every sense of the word. He joined the Redemptorist Congregation as a young priest with the one desire to become a missionary and to grow in his devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help.
Both of these simple yet deeply profound intentions that attracted him to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer were truly fulfilled in his life as a Redemptorist missionary that spanned 71 years. He entered the Redemptorist Novitiate in July of 1947 was professed a Redemptorist Missionary on the 2nd August 1948, a year and a half after his ordination as a priest 12th January 1947.
Fr Antonio or Fr Roddy as we his Redemptorist confreres lovingly called him and to which he joyfully responded has been a true Redemptorist missionary embracing the very spirit of a Redemptorist Missionary proclaiming God’s Word to the abandoned poor, to all those to whom he was sent. He was a pioneer in preaching missions and retreats in Konkani in Goa and
excelled in the language that he brought out a grammar book to enable young clerics master the liturgical language post Vatican II so that they could connect to the simple and poor in their own native tongue. He initiated so many a young Redemptorists later into preaching in Konkani guiding them through the nuances of the language and encouraging them to launch out in the ministry of the Word in Konkani. A true missionary is never confined to his own home land and was soon sent at the end of the 1950s to pioneer in the outskirts of Mumbai, in marshy land where no one would dare to go much less want to go.
Yet Fr Roddy went out and lived for months in simple conditions ministering to a small group of Catholic families mostly Goan immigrants in the city of Mumbai where he guided them and helped them to form a community and parish which would be dedicated to Our Mother of Perpetual Succour, Chembur, Mumbai. He formed a team of young men and women and together they went around collecting funds to build a parish Church and School for boys. Both these projects were truly successful and now stand tall, memorials to the pioneering efforts of our Fr. Roddy. He accepted to be the principal of the OLPS School for a whole term and displayed his talent both as administrator and disciplinarian as he guided the students to excellence in study.
After a decade of work in Chembur he was sent to Goa, his own home land to initiate the Redemptorist Presence in Goa. In a true missionary spirit, he donated nearly three quarters of this patrimony to the Redemptorist Congregation and on that very soil set up the first Redemptorist House which
would become the First Redemptorist Community in Goa, Alto Porvorim and this exactly 50 years ago in January of 1969. He was the first Superior of this community and from this very community launched the Redemptorist mission in Goa. The community still stands tall a testimony to not just the foundation in stone and brick which he laid but to the true spirit of the
Redemptorist Charism
A Redemptorist missionary never sets down roots anywhere but is sent constantly in the spirit of availability for the mission. Fr Roddy was sent overseas to Belgium where he finished his licence in Sacred Theology and then returned to complete a doctorate in Indian Philosophy at the Benares University which he did with much acclaim enthralling the masters of Indian
Philosophy at Benares with his knowledge of the Upanisads. From the active preaching life of a missionary he was sent to the seminary in Bangalore to teach both Indian Philosophy and Sacred Theology which he did with true vigour and enthusiasm communicating to the seminarians the zest for learning and proclamation. He was dean of Theology for a whole term
and helped plan and bridge relationships with St. Peter’s seminary which would later result in affiliation for the Redemptorist Theology Institute. All the while as professor of Philosophy and Theology Fr Roddy continued to proclaim the Word through retreats and missions and that brought a pastoral flavour to his teaching.
Returning to Goa after a long period of teaching Fr Roddy dared to do the unthinkable. On the little plot of land remaining of his property he began an Institute DASYA to reach out to various groups of people in the spirit of service, the hand maid of the Lord. Dasya offered simple but homely accommodation and services for people to make retreats, conduct courses and take a welcome rest. Just a couple of years ago with his failing health and slowing down brought about by age Fr Roddy offered Dasya to the Redemptorists of the V. Province of Majella and gifted the remaining property to the Redemptorists so that the mission of the Redemptorists
could continue and take the vision he worked for forward. Fr Roddy has served joyfully wherever he was sent and accepted with due obedience what his superiors asked of him.
Assistant Parish Priest, Principal of the School, Mission preacher, Director of Konkani missions, local Superior, Professor, Dean of Studies, a whole term as Vicar Provincial in the Bangalore Province, founder and managing trustee of Dasya, the list is endless. Fr Roddy brought to all these offices the many gifts the Lord had showered on him and he used these gifts in the spirit of St. Alphonsus for the one purpose of proclaiming the Word of God as a Missionary. A writer with a fine sense of the present situation where he used
his philosophical mind to speak on issues affecting Goa today in the newspapers, in Church journals and he published a very good grammar book in Konkani for seminarians and an Introduction to Theology which made theology not just a science for seminarians and clerics but a resource for lay people to appreciate the gift of faith. He translated the novena booklet to
our Mother of Perpetual Help in Konkani and that is the one prayer found on the lips of so many Goans not just in Goa but the world over.
Fr. Roddy will be remembered for all of this, an amazing missionary, but more as a truly loving confrere. Always ready to sit and chat, have a laugh, share a joke or a funny story, engage in a witty conversation with quick repartee and yet also encourage and support a younger confrere but most importantly the constant presence of fidelity to community life of prayer, recreation,community meetings, reflections, common retreats and seminars. Even at the age of 97 he sought to attend the common Retreat and attended each session of the last V Provincial Chapter in Goa, never missing a session and present much before most came to chapel to pray, Fr Roddy was there seated before the Blessed sacrament in prayer at the chapter, truly an example of the core and crux that makes a Redemptorist Missionary’s life a successful one, union with the Lord in personal prayer. Never ever missed a day’s celebration or participation at the Eucharist till the very end of his life, clearly revealing his deep union with Jesus the Redeemer the source of his life of fidelity as a true Redemptorist Missionary.
What more can I say, a lot more for sure of this amazing Redemptorist Missionary. But, let me just say, as his V Provincial Superior what has always edified and inspired me was his immediate reply to every email I sent, every message I sent to the V. Province, so very involved in the life of the V. Province till the very end when I sat with him on the 26th July. He acknowledged the new developments in the V. Province, went on to ask how the process of being a Province was going on and if he would see it happen, to thanking me for the care provided him in his frailty by the community, to asking permission for simple things and then bowing down for my blessing. He was truly Obedient, a virtue so essential to the life of a Redemptorist Missionary and even if he might not have agreed with me on certain things, if I asked it he immediately said, I obey you as my V. Provincial Superior.
My dear Fr Doctor, for that is what I always called you, the little joke we both shared and laughed about.
My dear Fr. Doctor, You have taught me much, from the time I was a seminarian in Philosophy and through theology and then as a young Redemptorist and later on after my return from Rome as I came to you for advice and blessing. But in the last few years as your Superior you taught me the most with your simplicity, obedience, joyfulness in suffering, trust in divine providence, readiness to sacrifice, willingness to give up and not cling to ones dreams and achievements, humility to ask every little permission, seeking my blessing and always at every visit saying to me, I am praying for you daily a decade of the rosary. Now you can continue to pray for me with Mary Our Mother of Perpetual Help in heaven, with Jesus her Son and Our Redeemer and with St. Alphonsus and St. Gerard Majella and all our Redemptorist Saints, Martyrs and Blessed for me personally and for each of us your brothers in the V. Province of Majella and that first you will see to it from heaven that we will fulfil your desire for us to be a province, and second your desire for us to be truly missionary on zeal and on fire
to bring the Lord’s plentiful redemption to the abandoned.
(The writer is the Vive Provincial Superior of the Redemptorist fathers)
