Church mourns death of Jesuit missioner credited for rural development

Church people in India mourned the death of veteran Jesuit missioner Fr Michael Windey who died of a liver ailment at Luven in Belgium on Sunday, September 20.

Fr Windey - an outstanding administrator and practitioner of rural development - founded the Village Reconstruction Organisation (VRO) that has built thousands of dwellings for the poor in Guntur, Hyderabad, Rajahmundry, Nellore and Kadapa.

The Belgian priest born on April 28, 1921, contributed much of his life for the empowerment of the poor and needy.

The 89-year-old missioner worked in India for more than five decades and launched the VRO as an ecumenical and interreligious organization for rural development, inspired by the Gandhian vision for integrated village renewal.

The organisation was founded on June 6, 1969 in the wake of a disastrous cyclone in Coastal Andhra. It was a relief organisation which in the later years became a development-oriented organisation.

Father Windey "believed in the Gandhian way of developing villages, and understood the Indian ethos and culture," the UCA News quoted Father Anthoniraj Thumma, secretary of the ecumenical Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches, saying. "He was more Indian than Belgian, and we will miss him and his social service."

According to the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), Fr Windey served in more than 6000 villages and has constructed about 500 new villages that accommodated more than 27,000 poor families. Additionally, he has trained more than 5,000 volunteers both nationally and internationally.

The Society of Jesus, the missionaries group which runs Loyola chain of institutions in the country to which he belonged, is making efforts to bring his body for burial at Alwal in Andhra Pradesh, according to his last wish. Fr Windey went to Belgium two months ago for treatment.