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Cyril Desbruslais | |
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| Born | 21 December 1940 Calcutta |
Cyril Desbruslais SJ (b. 21 December 1940, Calcutta) is an Indian Jesuit priest, a playwright and Professor of Philosophy at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, India. [1]
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Cyril Desbruslais | |
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| Born | 21 December 1940 Calcutta |
Cyril Desbruslais SJ (b. 21 December 1940, Calcutta) is an Indian Jesuit priest, a playwright and Professor of Philosophy at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, India. [1]
 | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(August 2022) |
Desbruslais was born in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India, on 21 December 1940. He was born to Cyril and Maisie Desbruslais. He has a sister named after his mother. Another sister, Marina, was born two years later but she died of tuberculosis at the age of eighteen months. Desbruslais has stated, "She has always been my little baby intercessor in heaven. Mum and Dad died, also of TB, in the early 1950s (it was a fatal illness, in those days). We were brought up by a very loving uncle (my Mum's brother)."
Desbruslais was schooled in Calcutta with the Jesuits (St Xavier's), then with the Irish Christian brothers in a boarding school in Asansol. He gained his Bachelor of Commerce at St Xavier's College (Calcutta) and worked for a year at Remington Rand of India, before joining the Society of Jesus. His uncle Vernon Desbruslais was also a Jesuit. [2]
While studying theology at De Nobili College, Pune, India in 1971, he started a youth group, "Searching in Service and Unity", (SSU). [3] He wanted to support young people, to hold inter-faith celebrations and develop young people's charitable impulses. [4] [ citation needed ]
Desbruslais was exposed to liberation theology during his theology studies (1971-1974) at JDV and was deeply moved by it. In particular, he was inspired by the work of Ernesto Cardenal.
As Gustavo Gutiérrez had stated, liberation theology was not a re-hashing of the old doctrinal theses with a new emphases, as in Jürgen Moltmann's Theology of Hope. Instead, he saw liberation theology as a radically new hermeneutic - "a theologising from the underside of the boot."
Shortly after, the 1975 International Synod of Bishops spoke of the inseparable link between authentic faith and action for justice. General Congregation XXXII of the Society of Jesus spoke of the "inseparable link" between faith formation and building up God's kingdom.
Desbruslais knew that India is 98.5% non-Christian, thus liberation theology would be able to galvanise, at most 1.5%[ attribution needed ] of the population for faith-inspired action for justice. He believed that the country needed a united action for justice and liberation by all Indians, inspired with a common vision, and went about forming a dialogue with young people from all religions across India.
Based on these dialogues and taking a phrase from the medieval Francisco Suárez SJ: "common human nature, adequately understood", he thoughtfully formulated an understanding of four essential conditions of being human: 1. Embodiedness, 2. Social Dimension, 3. Rootedness in the world and 4. Capacity for Transcendence (the ability to go beyond the space-time boundaries). As such, he saw that it was not absolutely necessary to believe in God or be religious to be human; but as long as a person was spiritual and open to transcendence, they were living fully their humanity. [5]
He has influenced figures including Shashi Tharoor, former Minister of External Affairs, [6] and General Shankar Roychowdhury, former Chief of the Army Staff. [7]
Desbruslais has written and directed yearly plays with current social themes since 1972. Believing that theatre can change mindsets and attitudes, his plays tackle subjects including nuclear disarmament, globalisation, terrorism, consumerism and religious dogma. "Through the messages embedded in our plays, SSU is promoting out-of-the-box thinking among the young and is abating - if not removing - hatred that's making us all such violent beings," he says [8] [9] Some of his plays include:
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