Amlorpavadass, Duraiswami Simon (1932-1990)
Roman Catholic priest and leader of church renewal in India
Born in Kallery, near Pondicherry, Tamilnadu, Amlorpavadass studies at St. Peter’s Major Seminary in Bangalore and was ordained in 1959. The agenda for his life and work was set by his doctoral dissertation at the Institute Catholique of Paris, Destinee de legalise dans l’Inde d’aujourdhui (Destiny of the church in India today), published in 1967. He was founder-director of the National Biblical, Catechetical, and Liturgical Centre (NBCLC), at Bangalore, India (1966-1985), and editor of its journal Word and Worship. He was also secretary to the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India for their Biblical, Catechetical, and Liturgical Commissions. He promoted renewal and research through courses and seminars at the NBCLC and also in the dioceses. In 1981 he founded the department of Christianity in the (state) University of Mysore.
Amalorpavadass was active in many international organizations, including the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians, the International Commission for English in the Liturgy, the World Catholic Federation for the Biblical Apostolate, and the International Association for Mission Studies. He was one of the two special secretaries for the Roman Episcopal Synod on Evangelization in 1974. In the last years of his life he founded the Anjali Ashram in Mysore and promoted Indian Christian spirituality. He died in an automobile accident on his way to a meeting in Bangalore.
This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright © 1998 Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of Macmillan Reference USA, New York, NY. All rights reserved. By Michael Amaladoss, SJ.
Bibliography
D.S. Amalorpavadass, Approach, Meaning, and Horizon of Evangelization (1973), Gospel and Culture (1978)
NBCLC Campus, Milieu of God-Experience (1982)
Poverty of the Religious and the Religious as Poor (1984)
Integration and Interiorization (1990).
Gerwin van Leeuwen, Fully Indian, Authentically Christian (1990)
J. Russell Chandran, ed., Third World Theologies in Dialogue (1991)
Paul PUthanangady, ed., Church in India: Institution or Movement? (1991)