Fr. John Pimenta SJ
1914 - 2008

Fr. John Pimenta will always be associated with the Retreat House of Bandra. It was there that he spent about 50 of the 60 years he lived as a Jesuit. He entered the Society as a young priest, having served as Secretary to Archbishop Roberts. From very early in his Jesuit life he developed a keen interest in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and felt this much-neglected Jesuit ministry held the key to a more solid formation of the Catholic laity. Some time after he entered the Society on May 30 1947, he made known his desires to the then Superior of the Bombay Mission and was appointed Director of the Retreat House in 1958, while still residing at St. Peter's Parish. In l984 he was appointed Superior and Director of the first Community of the Retreat House on the Mount, and later he remained there as a member of the community for almost the whole of his life. He would have preferred to live and die in the Retreat House but as his health declined in later years he was transferred to the Jesuit Nursing Home at Vinayalaya where he died on January 18, 2008. With his death we can say that the first phase of the history of the Retreat House was over.

On the occasion of his Platinum Jubilee as a Jesuit last year, he told the members of the Retreat House community that he loved his Jesuit vocation because he felt God wanted him to be a Jesuit. He believed that God had given him the opportunity to work with three great men of God-Bishop Andrew D'Souza, and Frs. Raymond Nubiola and Melchior Balaguer. They showed him the way to the priesthood by their genuine love and concern for the poor. Throughout his life he tried to live up to this ideal of the Society of loving the poor.

His ministry was mainly dedicated to the formation of youth and the values of the Christian family. When he was semi-retired from active ministry, he continued to give Marriage Preparation Courses. He could well be considered the pioneer of this ministry since at that time no regular courses were offered as now.

One of his important ministries was writing. Bishop Bosco Penha, in the Foreword of one of Fr John's books, Parents, the Church's Future is in your hands, said, "I am amazed at the capacity of Fr. Pimenta to write articles and books. They seem to flow from his pen in an unending stream. I read his articles in so many papers in Bombay and others parts of India. He has now written one more book which focuses on vocations, a timely reminder to all of us of the constant effort the Church has to make if we are to have a regular supply of priestly vocations." It was a fitting tribute to a man who found the time to write on a wide variety of topics while giving hundreds of retreats at the Retreat House. In all he wrote and published 11 books - 6 in Marathi and 5 in English.

He was a voracious reader. Age and related health problems could not deter him from keeping abreast of news in the Society, the Church and the world. "Loksatta", the Marathi daily, was his window to the outside world, particularly Maharashtra and Mumbai. "The Examiner", "Secular Citizen", "The Herald", "The New Leader", and other weekly magazines were his reading companions during his retirement. To the surprise of many he knew of transfers in the Archdiocese much before the members of his community.

Though Fr. John may have aged, his ability to remember details of past decades was phenomenal. He could give you information about cardinals, bishops and priests of the diocese as well as share the history of the Society of Jesus. We used to tease him saying that by joining the Society of Jesus he missed his chance of being a bishop. Who knows, joining the Society may have been his real reason for evading Episcopal honors?

Fr. John was a man of determination and courage. When his plans or vision were not supported, he persevered, sometimes single-handedly. When he needed funds for the structures at the Retreat House, he raised them with the help of his friends, mainly lay people. The Cafeteria during the Bandra Fair was but one example of it.

The image that comes to mind of Fr. John is that of an oak tree, solidly grounded in the spirituality in which he was raised and which he shared generously with hundreds of people through his retreats, programs and writings. Fr. John's final years in the Jesuit Nursing Home were spent quietly with no complaint about his condition, concelebrating the daily Eucharist whenever his health allowed, and eagerly inquiring about the news of the Society and the Church from the visitors. His mind was lucid till the end. For a man who had been singing his "Nunc Dimittis" for several years, eagerly longing to meet the Lord he had served so well, the end came suddenly. Because his back was itching, he asked the nurse to apply some talcum powder by way of relief. When she turned to bring the powder from the nearby table, he collapsed and breathed his last. It was about 5.00 p.m. of January 18.

During the celebration of his Funeral Mass the next day, the news arrived of the election of Fr. Adolfo Nicolas as the new General of the Society of Jesus. It was a gentle reminder to all of us to turn from our grief at the loss of a Jesuit brother to the new hope and expectation generated for all Jesuits by the coming of a new General and new orientations from the 35th General Congregation, currently in progress in Rome. Fr. John must be following all the news with his usual interest from his heavenly home. Along with all our Jesuit companions who have gone ahead of us, may he continue to intercede for the work of the Society and the Church, especially through the Retreat Ministry.

- Fr. Dan Ferrando, SJ