The great missionary Late Fr.George Kunnath CMI Passed away on 31-Oct-2012

 Rev. Fr. George Kunnath CMI (72), the great missionary of the Kutch passed away on 31-Oct-2012 at the Lilavathy Hospital, Mumbai at 8.05 am.

 He was admitted to the hospital three days ago as he was found lying unconscious on his bed early morning at the CMI house in Mumbai. He was suffering from Diabetes and Parkinson’s disease since a few years. Incidentally he was in Mumbai for a routine check up on his way to Bangalore to attend a meeting. Doctors said that he had a massive brain hemorrhage during the night.

 Rev. Fr George, belonging to the CMI St. Xavier’s Province, Rajkot was born in 1940 at Karimannoor, near Thodupuzha, Kerala, and was ordained priest in 1969. His first appointment as Priest was in Dharmaram College, Bangalore, the major seminary of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate. There he was designated to manage the huge dairy farm of the seminary. After his service in Bangalore for nine years he was appointed Prior of the Monastery at Vazhakulam. And it was from here that Bishop Jonas picked him up for his future glorious service in the Diocese of Rajkot in 1981.

 Father George is a person whom the people of Kutch will never forget. He was a great missionary who took the message of the love of God to the poor and suffering people of the hard terrains of Kutch, geographically as big as Kerala, as part of the social work department of the Diocese of Rajkot. The blind, the deaf, the lame, the poor, the marginalized and the mentally challenged in great numbers found new energy and life in him. A winner of many, church, state and national awards, he was considered by the locals as the uncrowned king of Kutch because of the amount of welfare work he did and the influence he had in the society and with the Government.

 The Kutch Vikas Trust (K.V.T.) of which he was the founding Director, which post he held until his death is a registered Charitable Trust based in Raidhanpar, Bhuj, in the District of Kutch 220 kilometers from Rajkot was formed by 1981 by the late Bishop Jonas Thaliyath. Financed by the CHRISTOFFEL BLINDEN MISSION and the ANDHERI HILFE, its aim was the integral development of the Kutch region.

 The main work of KVT is spread in the 250 acres of land belonging to the Trust. The major work are integrated education centre and hostel for the blind children, General Dispensary, eye specialization hospital , Rehabilitation of the blind, AIDS care, agricultural training centre, Dairy farm, fish hatcheries, fisheries cooperative societies, etc. From here they reach out to scores of villages for medical camps, water shed programmes and advocacy and awareness programmes. The devastating earthquake of 2001 brought the true mettle in the person of Fr Kunnth. He worked hard , got the assistance of funding agencies and built countless houses for the victims.

 He was actively involved in the following Government and Non Governmental bodies:

- Reproduction and Child Care committee of Government of Gujarat 

- Committee for Child Labour Abolition 

- Hariyali Project a Lead NGO in Gujarat 

- Fisher Peoples Association 

- National Association for the Blind, Kutch, 

- Blind welfare Council , Kutch, 

- Federation of the Blind, Kutch 

 Fr George Kunnth/s foresight and vision for future was instrumental in the founding of seven other mission stations in the region of Kutch which are now doing much needed service in the social and academic sectors in the following places:

Lakhpat 

Dayapar 

Mandvi 

Naliya 

Nadapa and 

Mundra. 

Since 1998 Fr George has received a dozen awards from the state and National Governments, for his outstanding services for the rehabilitation of the blind, marginalized and the poor.

He received the following awards:

1998 Van Pandit award from Government of Gujarat 

2001 Award for outstanding service to the disabled from the Government of Gujarat. 

2002 Award for remarkable service to the earthquake affected people 

2003 Bharat Excellence Award for outstanding service to the marginalized and poor 

2004 Best Employer of Disabled Award by Government of Gujarat 

2006 National Award for Best Employer of Disabled in the year 2006 

2007 Award for outstanding service for the welfare and development of 

the disabled in Kutch by Kutch Blind Welfare Association. 

2008 Social Apostolate Award by CMI Congregation for the outstanding

 service to the needy and disabled. 

2009 Gujarat State Award for the Welfare of the Blind and Disabled by 

Gujarat State Branch of NAB 

 Dressed always in simple attire, and keeping a smile always in his lips, Fr George Kunnath was a boss with a difference for the over 150 staff at KVT that included priests, sisters and lay people belonging to different religions. He reached every spot where KVT’s work was underway, met each staff member and worker and gave appropriate directions to one and all.

His idea of the mission was the following:

 “Let the people feel the Good News of Jesus from our selfless activities, rather that from our lips. They will start asking questions why we are here. The third or fourth generation of missionaries will hopefully, see some disciples of Jesus from this soil. In the meantime, the people have begun to say among themselves, ‘we please our gods by feeding the cows, but these Christians do so by serving us.’”

 Fr. George has 5 brothers and 6 sisters, one of whom is a nun in the Presentation congregation. Indeed, Fr George Kunnath’s life is an invitation to all of us to shed any sort of lethargy in our lives and embrace of life of action for the suffering and the needy in whose forms Jesus appears to us every day.

May his soul rest in peace

News And Photo 

Rev. Fr. Sebastian Kalathil

Deepti Printers And Publication And Communication, Rajkot.

And

Rev. Fr. Jerry Sequeira S.J.

GSP, Anand.