SHILLONG: Eminent theologian of Northeast India, Salesian Father Sebastian Karotemprel passed away at a private hospital on Sunday.
The octogenarian succumbed to a fall he had suffered two weeks ago.
Father Karotemprel had authored several books and was a keynote speaker at several national and international conferences.
“He has left behind a legacy of theological authenticity, academic rigour and indefatigable labour,” said Archbishop of Shillong Diocese, Reverend Dominic Jala.
Father Karotemprel was the first dean of the Sacred Heart Theological College Shillong which was re-opened in 1976. He taught there for over 30 years.
A member of the Salesian provinces of Guwahati and now of Shillong, he was a professor of Theology of Mission at the Pontifical Urban University, Rome and served two terms as member of the International Theological Commission. Father Karotemprel was also the founder editor of the first Indian Missiological Review which he started in 1978 and continues under the name “Mission Today”.
He is also responsible for setting up the seven-storey Don Bosco anthropological museum in Mawlai.