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Remembering Father Francis Dibrito: The writer-priest who bridged Tukaram and Jesus

Jul 26, 2024 07:24 AM IST

Fr. Dibrito’s oeuvre was reflected his array of concerns from social justice to Christianity to environment and education to human rights

Mumbai: Renowned Marathi litterateur, social crusader, green activist and Catholic priest Father Francis Dibrito died at his Vasai residence on Thursday morning after a prolonged illness. He was 81.

Renowned Marathi litterateur, social crusader, green activist and Catholic priest Father Francis Dibrito
Renowned Marathi litterateur, social crusader, green activist and Catholic priest Father Francis Dibrito

Despite the torrential rains, several of Fr. Dibrito’s admirers, including writer Veena Gavankar, publisher Ashok Mule, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi chief Hitendra Thakur and poet-writer Simon Martin, were among those present at the funeral.

Fr. Dibrito’s oeuvre was reflected his array of concerns from social justice to Christianity to environment and education to human rights. He wrote eloquently about the Marathi culture and way of life. His style has been often described as “stark and elegant.”

His Marathi translation of the Bible--a 1,200-page tome combining both the New and the Old Testament-- was published in June 2010 and received rich praise from Marathi writers and critics in addition to the Sahitya Akademi Award.

Noted Pune publisher Dilip Majgaonkar who has published some of Dibrito’s finest works, called his prose deeply nuanced but also added that there were “chinks” in Dibrito’s authorial armour, possibly on account of his priesthood. “He refrained from taking a firm stand on modern values and also refused to come clean on many contradictions which have contaminated all religions,” said Majgaokar.

Another writer who did not wish to be quoted by name recalled how Dibrito had a tough time defending the church when social activists, at a meeting held in Vasai several years ago, grilled him on the questions of abortion, live-in relationship and same sex marriage.

Several of his peers remembered him for his sustained efforts to bring an Indian ethos to Christianity. “He would often begin his sermon with Christian hymns and move on to the devotional poetry of Jnaneshwar and Tukaram, the medieval saint-poets of Maharashtra,” said one of them.

“Dibrito described Tukaram as a bridge which links him to Lord Christ. If the Christians of Vasai where he lived and preached are true to their soil, their language and culture, it is largely because of Father Dibrito,” he added.

Born in Girij, a tiny Vasai village in December 1943, Dibrito did his matriculation from a local convent school, St. Joseph’s and opted for Marathi as the medium of instruction.

‘Naahi Mee Ekala’ (I Am Not Alone), Dibrito’s autobiography, describes his childhood days in Nandakhal, an idyllic village in Vasai tehsil, in pre-Independent India where life moved at a leisurely pace. “Vasai was to Father Dibrito what Mumbai was to Arun Kolatkar,” said theatre person and writer Vishwas Sohoni.

Dibrito spent 11 years in St. Pius, a Goregaon seminary, poring over heavy books on Christian theology and the Bible. Armed with a Masters in theology, he returned to Vasai and joined the local church. Soon, he took charge of ‘Suvarta’, the diocesan Catholic monthly magazine and brandished the editor’s blue pencil for 25 years, said Martin, his co- editor.

“Actually, ‘Suvarta’ used to be a kind of pamphlet which discussed local problems, erratic water supply, bad roads. On the sunny side it kept its readers informed about wedding receptions, arrival of new babies, and specialised in mushy obituaries abut local worthies. Father Dibrito turned the boring in-house journal into a literary magazine of considerable repute. He published short stories, essays and book reviews,” said publisher Ashok Mule.

When he was in Rome for a five-year stint in the 1980s, Fr. Dibrito delved deep into Christian theology at St. Gregorian University. He observed the post-Cold War Europe trapped in sweeping socio-economic changes, recession and the steady onslaught of technology. He returned to Vasai (‘Home, sweet home’ as he would often say) with yet another Master’s degree in theology. Dibrito accompanied Mother Teresa when she called on Pope John Paul II, recalls Martin.

But even greater than his sermons and his writings is Fr. Dibrito’s contribution to Vasai’s ecology at a time when rampant construction threated its idyllic beauty. He launched the Harit Vasai Sanrakshan Samiti to oppose CIDCO’s plan to open up large tracts of land in Palghar and the Virar-Vasai belt to builders, that left local inhabitants deeply worried about rampant urbanisation and ecological degradation.

The ‘80s campaign marked a watershed in Maharashtra politics in that the neta-builder lobby came under a close scrutiny by media, NGOs and opinion makers.

Playwright Vijay Tendulkar, academic-critic Pushpa Bhave and firebrand Janata Dal leader Mrinal Gore would often trek to Vasai to address massive public meetings called by Fr Dibrito. Simultaneously, Anna Hazare launched his anti-corruption crusade targeting ministers in the Shiv Sena-BJP government and ‘Suvarta’ became the mouthpiece of the people’s movements.

After the crusade lost its steam the Vasai priest returned to the pulpit and his writing desk authoring more than 15 books, including an account of the prolonged turmoil in Jerusalem. In 2019, he was elected president of the 93rd Marathi sahitya sammelan, in Osmanabad.

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