The unstoppable Rev. Fr. Romuald D'Souza SJ
The unstoppable Rev. Fr. Romuald D'Souza SJ
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| Fr. Romuald D'Souza SJ. Photo credit: Historia Domus |
Romuald was born in Aldona, Goa on on 20 December 1925 to Dr. Tito Fermino de Souza and Alina Ana Maria de Souza. He was the eldest of six children. After him was born Wilfred de Souza (1927), surgeon, long-time MLA and former chief minister of Goa. The third child, Orlando (1928) became an aviation engineer with Caltex in the USA. The fourth is Michael (1933), a former principal of St Michael's High School in Anjuna. The fifth, Sr. Noemia (1935), was the Principal at Nirmala Institute, Bombay and Director of the College of Home Science and Polytechnic, Bombay. The youngest Arnaldo died tragically at the tender age of twelve years.
After the birth of the first three boys, the patriarch Dr Tito sailed to Kampala, Uganda to set up his medical practice. After a short while, he was joined by his wife and the two younger boys while Romauld stayed behind with his grandparents in Aldona, Goa because he had started his schooling in Portuguese. In the summer of 1936, he too joined the family in Kampala and had to quickly learn English to continue his education. He did his matriculation in 1942 and returned to India for further studies.
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| Family portrait. Young Romuald is at the far left in the front row. |
Inspired by his uncle, Fr. Faustino de Souza, parish priest of Sancoale, Goa to become a man of the cloth, he joined the Society of Jesus on July 1, 1945, at Vinayalaya in Bombay. If you were a fly on the walls of Vinayalaya, you would undoubtedly be struck by the austere silence broken by chants of students studying Latin and Greek declensions and sacred texts. Through it all there was a sense of purpose, a healthy balance of spiritual and temporal demands as each tried to find their unique calling to be of service to the community at large. The story of Blessed Joseph Vaz made a great impression on the young Romuald - as was evident when he put up a small skit during his noviciate (the first stage of Jesuit formation) on the miracle of abundant rain coming to the rescue of the parched city of Kandy (Ceylon, now Sri Lanka) at the intercession of the Blessed Joseph Vaz.
He went to Sacred Heart College in Shembaganur near Kodaikanal for his studies in Philosophy. As part of his vocational training, he taught at Loyola High School, Margao in 1949-50 and at St Paul’s High School, Belgaum in 1953-54. He then studied Theology at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium and was ordained there as a priest in 1958. His Jesuit superiors being prescient of his leadership qualities selected him to get his Master's degree in counselling from Fordham University, New York City and later at Columbia University, New York City, USA.
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| Louvain 1958: Ordination ceremony |
He was now ready to start his ministry which saw him going from strength to strength building educational and research institutions that inspired and uplifted young boys and girls to realise their full potential. His enthusiasm was infectious, his courage boundless and his dreams big. Where others saw problems and obstacles, he saw only opportunity.
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| Louvain 1958: Fr. Romuald is in the centre of the middle row. Photo credit: Historia Domus |
He returned to India in 1962 and took over as principal of St. Vincent's High School, Poona in 1967 and served till 1972. This was his first foray as an educationalist at an elite school. Fr. Romuald took the Ignatian question to heart: How can I serve God better? How can I use my talents and skills for the betterment of the people of India? In Jesuit parlance this is called the seeking - magis - of the more or the better, not for self-aggrandising but for the greater glory of God (in Latin, Ad majorem Dei gloriam!)
As a School Principal, he immersed himself in the education curriculum, promoting social awareness among the staff and students. Fr. Romuald had a way with words, he was just at ease with young and old as he was with the uneducated and the highly erudite. Being a trained clinical psychologist, he was a very patient listener. He used his sharp intellect and acumen to craft his message in a way that his audiences found interesting, relatable and relevant. This proved to be invaluable in getting everyone on the same page to accomplish the task at hand. Last but not least, he backed up his big dreams with an indefatigable spirit and an unflinching belief in the Almighty.
Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it ~ Marion Wright Edelman
Soon word of abilities reached Rev. Fr. Pedro Arrupe SJ, the 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus in Rome, who appointed Fr. Romuald to become the Provincial of the Goa-Pune Province. This proved to be quite transformative for the province. Rather than ease into his role, sensing a thaw in Indo-Portuguese relations, Fr. Romuald had the great vision and foresight to kickstart plans for the Xavier Centre for Historical Research (XCHR) in Miramar in 1977 (since relocated to Alto Porvorim). His dream became reality on November 4, 1979, when XCHR was inaugurated with the eminent scholar Fr. John Correia-Afonso SJ from the Heras Institute in Bombay becoming its first director. Fast forward to the present day, XCHR is a pre-eminent research institution in Asia reputed for its focus on Indo-Portuguese issues, besides publishing books related to the Portuguese in India and Asia, Goa, the Jesuits and other historical themes, organising seminars and talks.
Tonight ... I feel alive ... And the world I'll turn it inside out, yeah ... So don't stop me now. Don't stop me ... Lyrics of the song by Queen
Fr. Romuald gets the credit for taking the Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr (TSKK) from concept to reality. In 1978, Goan Jesuits felt the need to start an institution to teach their scholastics the local Konknni language but Fr. Romuald, being the visionary he was, knew there was a far greater need. Together with Pratap Naik, a young Jesuit scholastic confrere, he developed a blueprint for a research centre for the scientific study and promotion of Konknni language, literature and culture to the public at large and decided to name it after the sixteenth-century English Jesuit, Fr. Thomas Stephens (1549 - 1619), a renowned Konknni linguist and Marathi poet. Their bold plan was enthusiastically endorsed by the Rev. Fr. Pedro Arrupe SJ. Today TSKK is a well-known Konknni language research, educational and cultural centre offering all sorts of workshops, seminars, competitions and language courses for students of all ages and backgrounds.
In the seventies, the Society of Jesus underwent a renewed ideological focus as the General Congregation 32 (1974-75) articulated its mission as the service of faith and the promotion of justice wherein a “preferential option for the poor” became its rallying call. Growing voices within liberation theology reinterpreted the Christian faith through a socioeconomic analysis of poverty and its accompanying injustice to the poor. By the 1980s, Jesuits started re-evaluating their ministries in the light of social justice norms. Jesuit business schools became the cause célèbre of the times, as an increasing number of Jesuits considered them too elite. Founded by Fr. Quinn Enright SJ in 1949 in Steel City Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India with the foresight and cooperation of TISCOs General Manager and Union leaders, Xavier's Labor Relations Institute (XLRI, now Xavier School of Management) is the oldest business school in India. In 1982 there was a need to inject social awareness into the XLRI curriculum. Fr. Romuald was picked for this onerous task. His protestations concerning his lack of professional management exposure fell on deaf ears and he was given his marching orders.
To his immense credit, he was able to reorient the program during his tenure as Director from 1982 to 1987 and set it on a path of growth in social awareness. He also taught business ethics, management of stress, psychometrics and organisational behaviour. But he always was more than a teacher; he was an educator, a confidante, a counsellor and a mentor. He always strived to make management education relevant to the times using his international experience, his innovative thinking and meticulous planning. In his interactions with students, he laid strong emphasis on building competence as the hallmark of success. In his dealings with the staff and faculty, he always stressed professional excellence, never compromising on quality and integrity. He said, "Education is not just giving content to students. It is helping them to acquire knowledge and skills. They must question why things happen, and the way they happen. Only then can change happen." A key characteristic that sets apart XLRI students from the other management schools is magis - a quest for the best, never to settle down for mediocrity and always aspire to excel.
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela
Continuing his stellar record of establishing educational institutes, in 1987 he founded the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar and was its Director till 1993. What started as a social contract with the Government of Odisha and the Odisha Jesuit Society in 1987 is now a world-class business school which provides quality management programs and develops futuristic managers with strong ethics and values.
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| Goa 2018: Fr. Romuald with the Dalai Lama at the Silver Jubilee of GIM Photo credit: Historia Domus |
Flush with success, he was called back to serve his homeland Goa. Never one to rest on his laurels, in 1993 he founded the Goa Institute of Management (GIM) at Ribandar just outside Panaji Goa and served as its director till 2004. From a small beginning in 1993, with 6 faculty members, teaching a single class of 24 students in a rented premise of Salgaocar College of Law in Miramar, GIM has since grown to 75+ full-time faculty members conducting six courses with an intake of over 900 full-time students on a 50-acre campus with world-class infrastructure.
Fr. Tony D'Silva SJ fondly recalls, 'When Fr. Romuald aged 68 came to Goa in 1993, people thought he had retired from his career as a management guru. But to everyone's surprise, Fr. Romuald said he wanted to start a Business school in Goa. He rented out a room in the local law college, worked out of the backseat of his car on a typewriter and with a handful of students kick-started an all-new MBA institute, the Goa Institute of Management (GIM). A few years later, Fr. Romuald's visionary zeal was evident when he planned to purchase 25 acres of land in the distant taluka of Sankhali (bordering Karnataka) to expand the GIM. Several people pooh-poohed Fr. Romuald's ambitious plans. However, the good priest stood firm and today, the sprawling campus of the Goa Institute of Management (GIM) boasts of a top-notch residential business school which is ranked in the top 20 institutes of India.'
Fr. Romuald also founded the now defunct Marian Institute of Health Care Management (MIHM), Panaji which was set up to train leaders for enterprises and public systems in the health care sector which includes health service providers, pharmaceuticals, insurance and biotechnology.
Noting that the suicide rate in Goa is far higher than the national average, he conceptualized a post-graduate-level course in 'wellness counselling' to start counselling in schools that were approved by the Goa University and imparted through the Nirmala Institute of Education (NIE), Panaji. Life had come full circle for Fr. Romuald D'Souza, who was professionally trained in counselling with degrees from Fordham University and Columbia University, New York and in the sunset of his illustrious career he would go back to these roots. A zealous believer in the adage that every child has qualities that must be developed, he said, "We need to treat children in a way that makes them believe they are worth something; that they have talents and skills that are worth something." He fervently believed that wellness counselling would address this crisis, adding "We must strengthen our young people. Instead of disciplining them, give them confidence. Show them their strengths and help them build on those strengths."
Fr. Roland Coelho SJ recounts the time when Fr. Romuald had setting up the Postgraduate program at NIE. Facing a crisis he said, "I've got just 5 students and I need at least 12 to pay the salaries of the staff." And in the same breath he continued, "If God wants it, it will happen." "Thoschench te!" was one of Romuald's favourite Konknni expressions, which translates to 'That's how it is'. An acceptance of reality, tempered by the belief that everything is possible in God's time. A few weeks later, he happily announced: "We got 22 students this year!"
He gave generously of his talents and time, serving as a member of various academic organisations, like the Association of Management Development Institutes of South Asia, the All India Board of Management Studies, the Government of India, the Executive Council of the Goa University, the Academic Council of Utkal University. He was a professional member of the Academy of Management United States, the International Council of Psychologists and the American Psychological Society.
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On 26 January 2010, the Government of India, awarded Fr. Romuald the Padma Shree, India's fourth highest civilian award, for his exceptional service to the country in the field of Literature & Education. He earned myriad sobriquets including “Father of Indian Management Education", the "Founder of Founders”, "Social entrepreneur" and "Institution Builder" - and he surely earned his stripes.
When asked about the secret of his longevity, nonchalantly he said, "Carry on doing your work. You must have something to do."
Dr Chicot J Vas, a Dublin based medical student representing the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS) recalls meeting Fr Romauld, representing Overseas Student Catholic Organization (OSCO), at a conference of Pax Romana in Vienna in 1958. The two student representatives got to know each other very well over the 3 month period. At the end of the conference, Chicot was despairing at the predicament facing them both - having literally spent their last Austrian schilling, he was at the end of his tether. Fr Romauld was quite sanguine and reassured his friend, "If the good Lord looks after the birds of the air, he will surely look after us". As they were strolling along, they stumbled on the residence of Archbishop Franz König of Vienna (1956-1985, appointed Cardinal in 1958) who was hosting the conference. This inspired Fr Romauld to pay the Archbishop an impromptu visit. In the course of the conversation, the Archbishop inquired about their plans. When he heard that they were broke and therefore headed home, the kind Archbishop would have none of it. He gave them funds to go on a holy pilgrimage to Lourdes, France before returning home, adding, "You'll never get this chance again." Fast forward fourteen years - it's 1972, Fr Romauld is now Principal at St Vincent's High School when Dr Vas happened to be in Poona. On a whim, he decided to visit his old friend. It was a busy school day so the secretary came to ask Dr Vas his name. Jokingly he said, "Tell him - If the good Lord looks after the birds of the air, he will surely look after us". The puzzled secretary did as was told, and instantly Fr Romauld identified the visitor and rushed out to meet him with a warm smile. Such was the indelible human connection he was able to establish.
Probably, the most heartfelt tribute to Fr. Romuald comes from his sister Sr. Neomia who has this to say: There was a difference of ten years between Romualdo and me and I have always regarded him as a revered older brother whom I loved much but saw very little. Romualdo was never effusive or demonstrative in his affection for the family. Yet when necessary he never failed us. When he was Director at XLRI Jamshedpur he came to stay with my mother in Delhi during the last fortnight of her life celebrating mass in her room. She had the consolation of receiving the Holy Eucharist from her son’s hands. He came home again to be with us for a week when my mother died in June 1990. His wit and humour helped me see beyond the obvious and appreciate God’s mercy and goodness. I was present for his Silver Jubilee celebration in 1993 at the Jesuit House in Panjim, Goa and his Golden Jubilee at the Basilica of Bom Jesu in Old Goa in 2008. He was a silent but strong pillar of support to us in our moments of crisis. When Wilfred passed to eternity in 2015 Romauld was in Goa. He spent eight days with us and shared our grief. He believed that the realities of life however painful and unpleasant not be hidden, even from little children. We were debating whether his granddaughter, Mia, who was just 3 and a half years old should be allowed to see the body in the coffin. It was Romualdo who insisted that she remain in the house present at all the proceedings and even the funeral. My brother would intercede for me and continue to inspire me with his quiet wisdom, clear thinking and firm decisions. He presented us, Daughters of the Heart of Mary, with a great gift - The Wellness Counselling Course - which he started at Nirmala Institute of Education and directed for four years, almost to the last day of his life. This is now taught at GIM as a course in Management of Health Administration
On Romauld's 90th birthday, GIM faculty member R Vernekar said, "He (Fr. Romualdo) taught us that age is, to a large extent, quality of the mind. It is only when you have left your dreams behind that you are old. Let us salute our youthful Rev Fr. Romuald D'Souza and continue to do him proud."
On 1 November 2019, after decades of dedicated service to society he started his eternal life. His funeral held on Sunday, 3rd November in Holy Family Church, Porvorim, Goa was very well attended by dignitaries, clergy, students and well-wishers. At his funeral service the then Provincial of Jesuits in Goa, Rev Fr. Roland Coelho SJ had this to say about Fr. Romuald, "I submit to you today that the greatness of Romuald was not so much in his awards or educational achievements and successes; rather it was in his being faithful to God. He answered the Lord's invitation to a life of detachment, a life of discernment, and to a life of excellence for God's greater glory. I believe that the Lord has now called him to eternal bliss with these words from Scripture: "Well done good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord."
Adeus padre! Ad maiorem Dei gloriam !!
True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery
References
3. Fernandes, Joaquim. “Meet the Tireless, Ageless Institution Builder.” Goa News - Times of India, 11 Jan. 2015, timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/meet-the-tireless-ageless-institution-builder/articleshow/45838046.cms
4. Malkarnekar, Gauree. “Fr Romuald D’Souza Passes Away at 94" Times of India, 1 Nov. 2019, timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/71853162.cms.
5. “XCHR: Xavier Centre Of Historical Research – Research Institute in Goa.” About US - XHCR, xchr.in/about-us. Accessed 4 July 2022.
6. “Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendra - Holy Family Church.” Holy Family Church, Alto Porvorim, Goa, www.holyfamilychurchgoa.com/thomas-stephens-konknni-kendra. Accessed 4 July 2022.
7. “XLRI - One of the Best Management Schools in India.” XLRI - Xavier School of Management, xlri.ac.in/about/heritage.php. Accessed 4 July 2022.
8. “Goa Institute of Management.” About Us - Goa Institute of Management, gim.ac.in/institute/about-us. Accessed 4 July 2022.
9. “Xavier Institute of Management.” About - Xavier Institute of Management, ximb.edu.in/about. Accessed 4 July 2022.
Well written. He was my school Principal in 1972 when I passed my SSC. He introduced us to the open book concept of exams. He also introduced Project work which took us away from rote learning to hands on experience and inquiry. In Catechism class he taught us to question and not accept everything blindly. A man ahead of his times. He shared an excellent rapport with the students and one would find him during school breaks sitting outside the classrooms surrounded by students having a banter.
ReplyDeleteVery inspiring for an individual who is now in academia and reminiscing the several interactions with him while a student at St. Vincent’s High School in Pune India.
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