Three Indian priests die of Covid-19

At least three priests have died of Covid-19 in recent days in India.

The latest was Father Lucas Rayappan, an environmentalist from Gujarat Jesuit province. He was 59.

He died on January 27 at Shalby Hospital in Ahmedabad, western India. Father Rayappan was the manager of St. Xavier's School, Loyola Hall in Ahmedabad at the time of his death.

Rayappan was the founder of the Gujarat Jesuit Ecology Mission (GJEM), which was established to care for the protection of the ecology.

"We have lost our dear Father Lucas Rayappan, a Jesuit with so much energy, a founding member of GJEM, a son who loved his Mother Earth," said Father Jothi Xavier of Gujarat Province.

Rayappan has gone away too soon, a life well lived buttressed by values that he stood for that will remain testimony for the time to come. He was an educationalist who believed in imparting environmental concerns to students, explained Xavier.

The turning point in Rayappan's life, he often used to say, came from watching former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore's environmental film 'An Inconvenient Truth.' It inspired the Jesuit to implement environmental education in school—first in St. Joseph's High school, Vadodara, and later in Rosary High School in Gujarat.

Rayappan took an active interest in implementing the diverse environmental activities organized by GJEM. 

"He also supported all of us in its execution. He was down-to-earth and open to organizing meaningful activities related to the environment," said Xavier.

Some of the major programs we have organized together are the LEAF program from 2014 to 2019, green teachers program, solar exhibition, children's film festival on the environment, establishing terrace garden in St. Joseph's High school, solar energy installation, campaigns against firecrackers, junk food and plastics, an exhibition on 'Best out of Waste' and many other programs related to the environmental awareness.

LEAF is an innovative and transformative environmental education program that consists of outdoor workshops on the issues in ecology. Under this program, GJEM has trained more than 2000 students from 14 schools in Gujarat.

"It is difficult to spiritualize the sudden departure of Father Rayappan. The only way we can fill the void is to renew our commitment to education and the environment. It was his dream to make meaningful environmental education in all the Jesuit and other Catholic schools. GJEM remains committed to fulfilling his wishes in the coming years," said Xavier.

Rayappan's funeral service and burial was on January 27 in the Catholic cemetery in Ahmedabad.

Two days earlier to Rayappan's death, another Jesuit priest in Tamil Nadu, south India, died of Covid-19 as well.

Jesuit Father Jeyaseelan Thomas Barnabas, a canonist, lawyer, and former theology professor, died on January 26. He was 69.

He had a massive heart attack and was brought to a hospital. Before that, he had a cold and fever for some days and tested positive. 

The third priest was Father Sushant Kumar Mantri, a member of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales, or Fransalians, who died on January 16 in Karnataka, south India. He was 50.

The death came during his treatment at KLES Doctor Prabhakar Kore Hospital and Medical Research Centre in Belagavi (formerly Belgaum), Karnataka.

It can be recalled that during the second wave of Covid-19, at least five bishops, 295 priests, and brothers, along with 265 nuns, died in India.