Louis J. Luzbetak (1918–2005)

Born in Joliet, Illinois (USA) and educated at a high school run by the SVD (1932-36), Luzbetak joined the order as a novice in 1938. After completing his philosophical-theological education, he was ordained a priest (1945) and sent for further studies at the Gregorian University in Rome, where he obtained his Master in Theology (1946) and Bachelor in Canon Law (1947) degrees. Then, he was assigned to the Anthropos Institute and studied cultural anthropology as the major field, and general linguistics and the study of religions as minor fields at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland (1947–49), and anthropology (Caucasology) at the University of Vienna (1950). He obtained his PhD from the University of Fribourg in 1951. He was the last student to receive the degree under Schmidt’s tutelage before the latter’s retirement.
Luzbetak returned to the USA and taught anthropology and descriptive linguistics at the SVD Major Seminary at Techny, Illinois (1951). In 1952, he was awarded a Ford Foundation Overseas Research Fellowship and left for Papua New Guinea, where he remained until 1956 (1954–56 as a field researcher of the Anthropos Institute).
On his return to the USA, he studied descriptive linguistics at the University of Oklahoma (Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1956) and then again taught cultural anthropology, sociology, and linguistics at SVD Major Seminary at Techny (1956–57).
Holding the post of the rector of the SVD house of studies at Washington, DC (1958–75), he lectured at the Catholic University of America and at Georgetown University, and gave short courses at Cuernavaca, Mexico (Papal Volunteers for Latin America), the Catholic University of Puerto Rico, and other places.
In 1961, the SVD Superior General commissioned him to study the feasibility of expanding the activities of the order in Latin America, which led to establishing new SVD foundations in Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador.
He lectured extensively on culture and religion in the USA, Japan, various African countries, India, Germany, Ireland, Italy and was the founding executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), Washington, DC.
He served as the editor of the Anthropos and as Acting Director of the Anthropos Institute in Sankt Augustin, Germany for four years (1979-83) but returned to Washington, DC to complete the work on updating and rewriting his seminal book Church and Cultures: New Perspectives in Missiological Anthropology, (Orbis Books, 1989; 1st edition: 1963).
He served as a staff member on the Pontifical Council for Culture (1987-89), and spent the last years of his life, still writing and publishing, at the Divine Word Residence in Techny. He died there on 22 May 2005.