By Ingrid Albuquerque-Solomon –
It could have only been the Hand of God.
Else, why was I going to pay my last respects to someone I’d never known or met in my life, or his? Having just returned from a personal outstation trip, it was a woeful weekday Wednesday alright, a pile of accumulated assignments that curled my brow and all I wanted to do was tackle it w.i.e. so I could get back to normal weekday routine.
Then I got this request from a former parish priest (from my Mumbai days), Fr Joe Pereira: The Yogic Priest, who asked if I could go on his behalf and offer a flower at the funeral of a priest called Fr Clement Campos, C.Ss.R. who had just died. Fr. Joe could not attend himself, obviously, since his message came from China where he had probably gone to teach Yoga. Well, you probably are aware of the kind of relationship Catholic families have with Parish Priests – they become friend, mentor, and guide and spend a lot of time helping a family survive turbulence, and rarely do they ask for anything in return. After a friendship of over 35 years, through which he has stood by us staunchly through our best and worst moments, it was the first time Fr. Joe ever asked for a favor. His wish became my command. I told the pile on my desk to “wait” and set out to oblige my friend.
I had contended without other influences. To start with, the Holy Spirit. When looking for a flower in the garden, I felt a sudden “drive” (I can think of no other word that fits in) and called up Ferns and Petals to deliver their best orchid wreath. I printed “From Fr. Joe Pereira & the Kripa Rehabilitation Center-India” neatly, and set out for Holy Ghost Church. My reckoning was that since a priest had died, the funeral service would see a handful of nuns and priests and maybe some relatives to do the needful. My plan was to lay the wreath respectfully and return home.
On reaching, I found myself wading through a sea of cars, the church was bursting at the seams, and the additional seating all around the church was all occupied. Two archbishops, over 70 priests at the altar to say the Mass, people, people, and more people – like what was happening, who exactly was the church bidding adieu to? There was no question of putting my wreath and rushing off; the usher politely informed me to wait until the service was over.
The only chair available was somewhere in front of one of the tented annexes; I quickly claimed it and found myself looking straight into a smiling facing from the LED TV screen that enabled me to forget everything else and participate in one of the most beautiful masses ever. From to time to time, the majestic and good-looking face returned to smile at me, and remind me that he had “fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith” (that famous verse of Apostle Paul from 2 Timothy 4:7 that we all hope we will be able to say when we are about to die).
I was transfixed, I learnt more, not only through the homily, but through the eulogies that followed, that here was a soldier of the cross who had full right to use the verse from 2 Timothy. Fr. Clement had been ready to die, so ready, that during his final days, when priests and well-wishers visited him with ‘Good Friday’ faces and misty eyes, he had to comfort them, rather than the other way around. He planned his entire funeral. He said to one weeping priest, “You will say the homily,”; he chose the readings he wanted read at the funeral service; every hymn that he wanted sung by the astounding choir conducted by Ms. Marianne, and how he wanted it to be a celebration and not a time of weeping and mourning.
Even though the life he has left behind as a legacy to the community is incredible, I am not going to go ga-ga over it because now, knowing his record and all it stood for, I know he would not like that and he certainly did not include it in his plans for his funeral service. We have to thank the Giver, not the gift, and today I want to thank God for the gift of Fr. Clement Campos to this world, empowering him and equipping him to become a treasure, no less, to the Catholic Community in India. As you follow the track of his life, from first breath, it is easy to see the presence of God right through:
- After fourteen children, when Lena Campos found she was with child again, she whispered to God that if the child turned out to be a boy, she would gift him for the service of God as a priest
- On 29 December, 1946, a boy did show up! Clement knew at a very young age that he wanted to be not just a priest but also that he would only join the Redemptorist Congregation. He had just finished school, his father would have preferred him to wait a while before decided, but his mind was made up
- On being ordained a priest, he worked in the difficult areas of north India, places like Lucknow where he had to preach in Hindi
- He had a clear goal for each step he took. After his Masters in Theology at Pune, when he was sent to Rome to specialize, he received a calling within the original calling: Bio-Medical Ethics was going to be his area of concern
- On his return, armed with a degree from the Alphonsian Academy in Rome, he nonetheless submitted to every role assigned to him by his superiors over the years – roles as Vicar, Counselor, Rector, Co-Pastor, Editor, Dean, Prefect, Pastoral director to train young priests for his ministry etc etc etc
- Since music flowed through his arteries and veins, he did not treat that divine gift lightly but as a composer and singer, he used music to evangelize, to great success. His beautiful composition and the most famous one, “The World stands in need of Liberation my Lord” crying out to God to bring justice and liberation to the poor and downtrodden, is a hymn likely to bless the Church of Christ ever after
- He not only did a ‘pre-marital counseling’ module with young couples but journeyed with many of those couples through the turbulent seasons that followed
- This does not mean he did not have lighter moments of ‘unwinding’ – he loved Cricket, and even as his health was going down, down, down, he enjoyed the India vs. England test match that was taking place during his last days in August, and according to today’s Archbishop of Bangalore, Rev Peter Machado (they were at seminary college together), they used to exchange “notes and jokes.”
- However, if you took the time to glimpse into Fr. Clement’s heart you would realize that the roles that set him on fire was when he was made President of the Association of Moral Theologians of India, member of the bioethics forum, and co-founding member of the Association of Catholic Doctors in Bangalore.
His last article was published recently in Theological Studies, one of the most prestigious international journals on Moral Theology. It is “On care for our common home” and in keeping with “Laudato si” (in which Pope Francis critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, laments environmental degradation and global warming, while calling all people of the world to take “swift and unified global action.”)
On these issues, it was always Fr. Clement to the fore. As part of the Bioethics Forum, Archdiocese of Bangalore, he worked with the team that submitted the Catholic Response to the “Supreme Court Verdict on Advance Directives and Passive Euthanasia.”
In fact, his final public commitment had been in July this year, where he attended a national workshop on “Moral Theology in India Today.” The dilemma was what directions moral theology in India is taking and how it should develop responding to the Indian situation, keeping its uniqueness but at the same time maintaining dialogue with the global context. From June, Fr Clement had begun to experience severe backaches. A priest who accompanied him and saw his great discomfort, asked why he did not simply cancel his attendance. His reply was, “How can one cancel at the last minute; where will they be able to find a replacement at such short notice?”
At the workshop, as President of the Association, he gave his viewpoint without any hesitation: “In our theological expositions we often fail to sufficiently incorporate an important source of moral wisdom and discernment, namely, the human experience.” According to Fr. Clement, of all the experiences, “the one that is most relevant to moral theology is the experience of suffering. Theological ethics should respond to suffering with compassion, rooted in the virtue of solidarity.”
He stood up and spoke, and (knowing of his back pain), a colleague and friend, Dr. Olinda Timms asked him to sit and deliver his views. He said to her, “I am better off and more comfortable standing.” With a start, she realized then that the pain that had invaded his body had nothing to do with the back, but it was something else. Sure enough, within a few weeks of intensive scans and tests, on 25 July (which happened to be the 47th anniversary of his Ordination), the tests confirmed it was pancreatic cancer which had spread to the bones.
His response? That very day he sent a message to the province, the bio medical association, to all his friends and family members informing them of the doctor’s verdict. In a clear, concluding sentence he said he had accepted his cancer as “God’s invitation to a new way of participating in his Redemption.”
After that, the agony was immensely acute, and very quick. When going through deep spasms of unimaginable pain, he would close his eyes and say, “I offer all my suffering for the Congregation and for our Mission, for healing and reconciliation.” When the end came, it was an enviable one – his entire family was around his bed, thanking God for his life, as they tearfully released him into the waiting arms of Jesus the Redeemer.
Ready to die? More than ready, I would say.
I came back from the funeral service of someone I had never known or met, as a changed person. Looking at all this humble servant of God packed into his life – and considering how we keep procrastinating, pushing God’s nudges aside for another day, when we feel it will be more convenient, I would say this is a wake-up call for all of us.
What are the things you need to do before you too can claim you have ““fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith”?
My own list would run over several pages.
Ingrid Albuquerque is an author, journalist, trainer, and Bible teacher. She is part of the mainstream media for over 47 years.