Bangalore 4 May 2020 (CCBI): Rev. Fr. Savarimuthu Arulsamy (82) the former Deputy Secretary General of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India passed away in the early morning of Monday 4 May 2020 due to massive cardiac arrest at Bethany clergy home of the Kumbakonam diocese, Tamilnadu.
The funeral Holy Mass was celebrated at Bethany clergy home chapel by Most Rev. Antonisamy Francis, the Bishop of Kumbakonam on 4 May 2020 at 11am. Due to the countrywide lockdown to control the Covid-19 pandemic the mortal remains were taken to his home village at Vizhapallam in Ariyalur district, Tamilnadu and buried on the same day at the cemetery of the St. Sebastian Church, Vizhapallam at 3pm.
Fr. S. Arulsamy was the Deputy Secretary General of the CCBI from 1991 to 2002 and was the instrumental in opening the CCBI Secretariat buildings at Delhi and Bangalore. He was the second Deputy Secretary General and a visionary leader who also assisted the Office Bearers of the CCBI as the Secretary to the Boundary Commission and Chief Functionary of the Conference for more than eleven years. He was born on 31 March 1938 at Vizhapallam a small village in Ariyalur district, Tamilnadu. He studied philosophy and theology at St. Peter’s Seminary, Bangalore from 1958 to 1965. He was ordained priest on 22 April 1965. He holds doctorate in sociology and licentiates in liturgy and systematic theology.
He served the diocese of the Kumbakonam as the assistant parish priest at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Kumbakonam and parish priest at Thiruvalanthurai, Ramanathapuram, Alambakkam, Ayyampet and Gabrielpuram parishes. He was the professor of Systematic Theology at St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bangalore and professor of philosophy at Arulanandar College, Madurai.