austraLasia #3470
Legendary Asian theologian Karotemprel dies
SHILLONG: July 21, 2014 -- A legendary theologian in northeast India died July 20 Sunday evening, 4.50 pm, at Woodland Hospital Shillong. Salesian Fr (Dr) Sebastian Karotemprel succumbed to a fall he suffered on Sunday 29 June. He was 83 years old. The funeral will be held in Shillong, on July 23 at 1 p.m. His younger brother, Bishop Gregory Karotemprel, will preside at the funeral.
Author of several books and keynote speaker at national and international conferences, “Dr Karotemprel has left behind a legacy of theological authenticity, academic rigour and indefatigable labour,” says Salesian archbishop Dominic Jala of Shillong, after paying homage to his diseased confrere in the hospital.
Fr. George Malekal sdb, Provincial Superior of the Salesian Province of Silchar to which Fr Karotemprel belonged, says, “Fr Sebastian has left his own indelible mark on the Church and society.”
The national president of the Conference of Religious India (CRI) and the Salesian Provincial of Guwahati Fr V.M. Thomas Vattathara describes Fr Karotemprel, “a legend of our times, a loyal and committed Salesian, an erudite professor, an institution builder, and an active collaborator in the major missionary works in Northeast India.”
A member of the Salesian provinces of Guwahati and now of Shillong, Dr Karotemprel was closely associated with some of the major projects of the Salesians in Assam like the Don Bosco Institute Kharguli and the Assam Don Bosco University Guwahati.
Dr Sebastian Karotemprel was the first Dean of the Sacred Heart Theological College Shillong which was re-opened in 1976 and professor of Theology of Mission at the Pontifical Urban University, Rome, and served two terms as member of the International Theological Commission.
He was also member of the Theological-historical Commission for the Great Jubilee Year 2000.
In 2009, Dr Karotemprel’s former student professors at Sacred Heart Theological College published a 300-page book of essays in homage to the outstanding theologian entitled: Be my witnesses: essays in honour of Dr. Sebastian Karotemprel, SDB.”
Fr Karotemprel was also former President of Sacred Heart Theological College, Shillong where he taught for some 40 years. He was instrumental in building up the state of the art modern library at the college and was responsible for the infrastructure expansion of the college.
Besides setting up the seven storey Don Bosco anthropological museum in Mawlai Shillong show-casing cultural artifacts of the seven states of northeast India, Dr Karotemprel was the founding editor of the first Indian Missiological Review. He started it in 1978 and it continues under the name “Mission Today”.
Retired Bishop Gregory Karotemprel of Rajkot is his younger brother and his only sister is Adoration Sister Maria Karotemprel, Provincial of SBAS, Ujjain Province.
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AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2011 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
Legendary Asian theologian Karotemprel dies
by C.M. Paul
Author of several books and keynote speaker at national and international conferences, “Dr Karotemprel has left behind a legacy of theological authenticity, academic rigour and indefatigable labour,” says Salesian archbishop Dominic Jala of Shillong, after paying homage to his diseased confrere in the hospital.
Fr. George Malekal sdb, Provincial Superior of the Salesian Province of Silchar to which Fr Karotemprel belonged, says, “Fr Sebastian has left his own indelible mark on the Church and society.”
The national president of the Conference of Religious India (CRI) and the Salesian Provincial of Guwahati Fr V.M. Thomas Vattathara describes Fr Karotemprel, “a legend of our times, a loyal and committed Salesian, an erudite professor, an institution builder, and an active collaborator in the major missionary works in Northeast India.”
A member of the Salesian provinces of Guwahati and now of Shillong, Dr Karotemprel was closely associated with some of the major projects of the Salesians in Assam like the Don Bosco Institute Kharguli and the Assam Don Bosco University Guwahati.
Dr Sebastian Karotemprel was the first Dean of the Sacred Heart Theological College Shillong which was re-opened in 1976 and professor of Theology of Mission at the Pontifical Urban University, Rome, and served two terms as member of the International Theological Commission.
He was also member of the Theological-historical Commission for the Great Jubilee Year 2000.
In 2009, Dr Karotemprel’s former student professors at Sacred Heart Theological College published a 300-page book of essays in homage to the outstanding theologian entitled: Be my witnesses: essays in honour of Dr. Sebastian Karotemprel, SDB.”
Fr Karotemprel was also former President of Sacred Heart Theological College, Shillong where he taught for some 40 years. He was instrumental in building up the state of the art modern library at the college and was responsible for the infrastructure expansion of the college.
Besides setting up the seven storey Don Bosco anthropological museum in Mawlai Shillong show-casing cultural artifacts of the seven states of northeast India, Dr Karotemprel was the founding editor of the first Indian Missiological Review. He started it in 1978 and it continues under the name “Mission Today”.
Retired Bishop Gregory Karotemprel of Rajkot is his younger brother and his only sister is Adoration Sister Maria Karotemprel, Provincial of SBAS, Ujjain Province.
Click here to comment on this item, or here to assist with Glossary. You will need to enter 20eao02 when asked for a password.
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2011 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
