Fr. John F. Locke, S.J.
The Key To Any Question
Fr. John Fr. Locke, S.J.
“Oops … ! Here we go… Okay, Kiran, now you take this list and check these numbers. Credit all that I have marked into Chicago, and debit the rest from NJS.” Credit Chicago! Debit NJS! What is going on inside the room of this scholar of Buddhism? Well, dear friends, this is what you may overhear if you happened to stand near his office. The debits and credits have nothing to do with Buddhism or history and culture of Nepal. He is probably straightening up a mess of some of the accounts which the houses in the region have sent to his office.
However, if you have a question on Buddhism or history and culture of Nepal, Hinduism, theology, philosophy, how to set up a library, accounts, literature or almost anything under the sun, just stand at his door, which is usually open. He raises his head, “What’s up?” He looks at you through his thick glasses. You hesitate a bit or you lack words. Then a wide smile spreads on his face. Oh boy, now, you are at ease. He knows what you are there for, and the answer is ready even before you ask (This would probably explain the title above).
Fr. John Locke was born in Chicago on January 18, 1933. He and his sister were the only children of his parents. His mother passed away when he was just seven years old. His father lived till 1971. So most of his childhood was under the care of his uncle and auntie along with his father.
His mother was a convert from the Methodist faith, yet she was a strong Catholic, and part of his faith experiences began with her. However, his inspiration to follow the Jesuit life came when he was a student in Loyola University, Chicago. There he came across a few inspiring Jesuits, and he read a couple of books about the Jesuits. The great work the Jesuits were doing, their openness, and their dedication inspired him to join the Society of Jesus.
After completing his school years he entered the Society of Jesus on September 1, 1951 at Milford, Ohio. He did his novitiate and juniorate there from 1951-55. In 1958 he finished his philosophy from West Baden College and reached Nepal as a regent at St. Xavier’s Godavari School. He began his theology in 1961 at St. Mary’s Kurseong and was ordained on March 19, 1964. After completing his tertianship in 1967 at Sitagarha, India, he took charge as the vice-principal and soon principal at St. Xavier’s School, Kathmandu, which he continued through 1969.
Some of his hobbies were music and photography. He tried various musical instruments at school but never stuck with anything permanently. Nevertheless, he was a recognized choir member in the famous Paulist Choir group when he was in primary school, and he continued this career in another choir group in high school. He went on like that till be finally directed the parish choir at Sr. Marys Kurseong.
Over the years he has held positions such as director and superior of Human Resources Development Research Center, Kathmandu; visiting professor (Buddhism) at Vidyajyoti, College of Theology, Delhi (1985 onwards); director or speaker at various seminars nationally and internationally on Buddhism and history and culture of Nepal. At present he is the superior at HRDRC, the treasurer of the Region, and the executive secretary of the Office of Theological Concerns at the Federation of Asian Bishops Conference.
His interest in Buddhism came almost by accident. After completing his job as principal at St. Xavier’s, when he was asked to go for higher studies, he preferred to take Nepali language as his major subject. But superiors thought it better for him to join the Nepalese History and Culture Department at Tribhuvan University for his M.A. while he already had his M.A. in English literature. There, he took the festival Bhotojatra For his Master’s thesis. This introduced him to Newar Buddhism, which was quite different from Tibetan Buddhism. Soon, he found that no research had been done so far about the Newar Buddhism and people were running after the more popular Tibetan Buddhism. He thought that it could be an area to work on and stuck with it till he had his doctorate completed in it. His doctorate thesis was published in 1980 with the title “Karunamaya.” It is a valuable resource reference in Newar Buddhism.
Today he has about twenty publications, most of which are on Buddhism and various cultural studies of Nepal. Some of his other outstanding works are; Godavari Sabda Suddhi (1968), Rato Matsyendranath of Patan and Bungmati (1970), Buddhist Monasteries of Nepal (1985). A good number of articles, too, are written by him for the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Jesuit History, and also for the Cultural Encyclopedia of Nepal.
Having spent forty-two years in Nepal, he is a Nepali citizen now. When he looks back he exclaims, “Kathmandu Valley has moved 700 years within these 42 years! Back in 1958 it was like a village, no cars, no education (only two schools were in the Valley), no university, no contact with the outside world because the people in the Valley could not enter or leave it without a permit, and so on. Today things are different, as you can see, more education, more contact with the outside World. and more opening of the Nepalese mind.”
What is up? Fr. Locke at his office desk.
One of the most remarkable experiences he had as a Jesuit was his meeting with Fr. Pedro Arrupe when he came to Patna in 1967. Fr. John Locke was appointed the official photographer and was asked to move around with the “Great Soul” for full three days. Another high point in his life was certainly his visit to Rome at G.C. 34 as a delegate from Patna Province and meeting all the great Jesuits from all over the world. He also had a chance to have a few words with Pope John Paul II there. In his experience with the people of Nepal, he finds them quire adaptable and welcoming at the personal level even though at the official level there could be a lot of doubts about what we are doing.
Last summer while he was addressing the young scholastics, someone asked, “Where do you think the Nepal Jesuit Society will go from here?” His answer was, “I have no fears for the future as such. All we need is to understand the context and act accordingly. We need not only to maintain the existing works, if they are important, but also to be open to new opportunities if the present works take new directions. It goes along with the original charism of Jesuits, as Nepal would answer the question, ‘Why are there Jesuits?’ the answer is, ‘Jesuits are there to do things no one else is doing.’ For that we must have a thorough understanding of the present situation, the ethos of the country, how the country functions, and what the need of the time is. This knowledge does not come from mere reading of books but by our day-to-day contact with the people of Nepal, as we work along with them, which would require terrific skill in the local language and ability to meet people.”
While speaking he stressed the point of “working with the people of Nepal.” He made it clear that we Jesuits are all foreigners here, and a minority. On our own we can’t accomplish much. So we need the cooperation of the local people. He says that Jesuits are good at running institutions, “telling people what to do,” but not generally the same at working with people. It requires an attitude with which we look at them as equals. When we look at them as equals, the work may not go the way we would like or according to the ideals of Jesuit education. But, according to him, “as we would like” may not be the best way to get things done in Nepal. So much so that we should be bold enough even to allow Nepalese, whom we trust, to guide us.
He was driving at the point that the whole ideology of cooperation with the laity, explained in GC 34, when taken in the context of Nepal, can’t be limited to the cooperation with lay Catholics alone. It also focuses cooperation with the people of all the other religions and a thorough understanding and appreciation of how the Spirit is at work in them in the present situation. He adds that we must be ready to tender help and be part of other groups who are looking for help to do good things for Nepal. Just as we are already doing for our schools and could help poorer schools in Nepal for their better functioning.
One of the areas of his concern is the lack of people for good research work. He insists that if we want to help the poor we need to be well equipped with knowledge in various fields such as anthropology, history, social work, etc. He says, “Our usual concern is our immediate meal. That is, only to be concerned about maintaining and furnishing the existing establishments. The disadvantage of having well-established institutions is that we lose flexibility. So I would say that if someone is interested in doing research, he should really push ahead into the future.”
The scholar with foreign students on a guided tour of Patan.
Another problem which was pointed out to him was that with such an enormous amount of brain drain, how is our education helping the country and the poor local people? His answer was brief, “We can’t blame the schools for what they can’t do. Any educated individual would like to get ahead in life. So educating the individuals in schools may not help much to get them back to work with their own community. We have to bring the whole community along with it. However, the values we teach the individuals, wherever they work, are operating in them.”
Didn’t you notice a contrast in what he says and what he does? He is quite lenient towards anyone who would like to got ahead in life, and he looks at it as a natural impulse. Then, what impulse must have motivated him to leave his own locality and a better possibility of getting ahead in life and to come to work for the poor people in the missions? It must be some sort of supernatural impulse. And if he is passing that value on to whomever he meets, I am sure, one will surely be inspired.
Extracting from the talk and his commentary on the Spirit’s role in building a new Asia, (Asia Focus, June… 2000), his message to us at the dawn of the Golden jubilee can be quoted in this way:
“The growth of the Church in Asia as well as the future of the Nepal Jesuit Society demands openness, flexibility, and a discovery of the Asian vision of religious and natural pluralism as a gift of the Spirit!”
It is rather too short a biography when one talks about a great person like Fr. John Locke. After listening to him for a while one could easily be reminded of the famous English philosopher John Locke, because both seem to resemble each other in wisdom and knowledge. Probably the great difference is that the latter is more of a philosopher while Fr. John Locke is a realist with a great vision into the future. We must acknowledge the work he has done as a milestone in the development of humanity.
Once a nun asked a young scholastic standing in front of the parish church while Fr. John Locke was passing by, “Shh … Brother … is he the ‘treasurer’ of your region?”
“No, Sister”, the scholastic corrected her, “he is much more than that. He is a ‘treasure’ in our region!
(Text and photos from the 50th Anniversary Book of the Nepal Jesuit Society, 2001.)