Louis est né à Amsterdam, Pays-Bas, le 11 septembre 1920. Il reçoit sa formation missionnaire à Sterksel mais, en 1939, il doit arrêter en 5e année pour cause de surmenage. Il est alors enrôlé au service militaire. Il prend part au combat du débarquement aéroporté d’Ypenburg et recevra la médaille de la Croix de guerre.

En 1941, il retourne à Sterksel et termine sa formation. Il impressionne par son âge et par sa grande et imposante stature. Il continue sa formation à St-Charles près Boxtel et ‘s-Heerenberg, où il prononce son serment missionnaire le 9 avril 1948, et où il est ordonné le 11 juin 1949.

Louis est un penseur méthodique et indépendant. Il persévère en ce qui l’intéresse vraiment. Comme il a souffert de surmenage à l’âge de 19 ans, il apprend à tellement se contrôler qu’il en apparaît distant. Pendant sa formation, on souhaite qu’il fasse preuve de plus d’énergie. Il est quelqu’un sur qui on peut compter, et il est toujours prêt à rendre un service. Il joue plutôt bien du piano et de l’harmonium et il aime la musique. Déjà en 1946, il sait taper à la machine à écrire et utiliser la sténographie.

Après son ordination, il est nommé au petit séminaire de Sterksel. Alors qu’il enseigne vingt heures de cours par semaine – dont six d’exercice physique –, il étudie aussi l’anglais à Tilburg où il obtient un certificat. Il est un bon enseignant, même si son visage sérieux lui vaut le surnom de “Christ d’acier”. En 1953, il va à Cambridge, Angleterre, et, en décembre, il obtient un diplôme de capacité. Après cela, il commence à enseigner dans notre petit séminaire de Santpoort, tout en continuant à préparer un baccalauréat en anglais. En 1955, il va de nouveau à Sterksel.

En 1956, Louis est nommé pour un ministère paroissial en Rhodésie du Nord, (Zambie), dans le diocèse d’Abercorn. L’objectif est de lui permettre d’y expérimenter la vie familiale au quotidien afin de mieux comprendre les jeunes qu’il formera plus tard au petit séminaire. Il commence à Katibunga par l’étude de la culture et de la langue Bemba et il va ensuite à Mulilansolo.

C’est une période passionnante : Méthodistes, Presbytériens, ainsi que des communautés des Églises africaines, telle Lenshina, ont des programmes missionnaires, et des mouvements politiques sont actifs partout pour travailler à l’indépendance. En mars 1957, Louis écrit : “Je suis privilégié de faire l’expérience que ceux qui abandonnent tout reçoivent le centuple en retour”.

En 1958, Louis est nommé aux archives de la Maison généralice à Rome. En octobre 1960, il retourne en Zambie pour enseigner l’anglais au petit séminaire de Kantensha, avec, en plus, les nombreuses activités coutumières. Il retourne aux Pays-Bas en mai 1967, suite à de sérieux troubles d’estomac dont il souffrait depuis huit ans. Après une opération à l’estomac, puis aux jambes, toutes les deux réussies, Louis est heureux de retourner en Zambie en juillet 1968. Mais, le 5 octobre 1968, il doit retourner définitivement aux Pays-Bas pour raisons de santé.

Le 15 novembre 1968, Louis commence à enseigner dans une école secondaire à la Haye et il collabore dans deux paroisses (Christ Roi et Marlot). Il partage un appartement avec sa sœur Ans. Grâce à ses soins et à ses encouragements, il se rétablit. Elle s’occupe aussi de ses documents de travail. Ils ont aménagé un lieu de prière dans leur appartement. Il aime enseigner et, plutôt que le travail en paroisse, il préfère le monde scolaire avec tout son travail extra. Il donne pourtant de son temps à la chorale paroissiale des jeunes et il prépare des animateurs pour le service de la Parole. Il préside l’eucharistie dominicale et y assume l’homélie.

Jeune, il jouait du piccolo (petite flûte d’argent) ; à son retour d’Afrique, il apprend à jouer de l’accordéon, un instrument qui peut se pratiquer partout. Par l’intermédiaire de sa sœur, il en joue aussi dans l’harmonie du Ministère de l’Agriculture.

Le 11 septembre 1982, Louis choisit la retraite prématurée à l’âge de 62, ans, mais il continue à rendre un service pastoral en paroisses, à titre volontaire. Il participe régulièrement aux assemblées régionales des Pères Blancs et, quand il se sent assez fort pour un plus long voyage, il prend part aux fêtes de notre Secteur et aux funérailles à Heythuysen. Il lit beaucoup et il dispose d’un abonnement à des concerts. Quand sa sœur décède en 2004, Louis demeure dans l’appartement et un membre de la famille s’occupe de ses documents.

En 2009, Louis fait encore ses exercices physiques matinaux, se dressant même sur la tête avec les jambes en l’air ! Lors de son jubilé de 60 ans de sacerdoce, en juin 2009, cela fait plus de 40 ans qu’il est actif dans la paroisse ; il aide encore à l’église de Marlot et dans le foyer de Waalsdorp.

En été 2010, il se casse une hanche ; après un séjour à l’hôpital, il se rend dans un foyer où il est soigné. Il se rend à Heythuysen le 27 janvier 2011, affaibli et dans une chaise roulante. Il lit un peu et écoute beaucoup la musique. Un confrère qui le connaît bien écrit : “J’ai toujours admiré sa modestie, sa dévotion dans l’accomplissement de ses devoirs, l’engagement équilibré de sa vie. Il s’exprime toujours avec réserve, sans jamais donner l’impression de vouloir s’imposer. Il dégage paix et tranquillité et il inspire confiance.”

Louis est décédé paisiblement le 12 août 2013, en soirée, dans son appartement. Ensemble avec les membres de sa famille et ses amis, nous avons célébré les funérailles à St-Charles, Heythuysen, le 16 août 2013.

Sa devise : “Je suis privilégié de faire l’expérience que ceux qui abandonnent tout reçoivent le centuple en retour” (Mc 10, 29)

Marien van den Eijnden

Père Georges Jeanney

1906 - - 2013

Georges, doyen de la Société, avait 107 ans et un mois et demi ! Personne avant lui n’avait réussi cette rare performance. Le Seigneur lui a fait la grâce de garder jusqu’au bout une vitalité physique et intellectuelle que plus d’un lui enviait. Comment résumer cette longue vie en 3 ou 4 pages ? Il était né à Besançon, dans le Doubs, France, le 22 juin 1906, benjamin des 4 enfants d’une famille unie dont la maman souhaitait qu’un de ses 3 fils fût prêtre un jour. Il n’avait que 6 ans lorsque mourut son père.

Courageusement, sa mère continua à diriger l’épicerie-cordonnerie familiale, mais elle fut emportée par la grippe espagnole en 1918, un an après l’entrée de Georges au petit séminaire diocésain de Luxeuil. En 1924, faisant preuve déjà de caractère, Georges, nanti de la première partie du baccalauréat, décida, suite à la conférence d’un Père Blanc, de “partir en Afrique pour baptiser.” Il se rendit à Kerlois pour les deux ans de philosophie, à Maison-Carrée en 1926 pour le noviciat, puis, l’année suivante, à Carthage pour la théologie où il fit son serment missionnaire le 18 juin 1930, et fut ordonné prêtre le 29 juin 1931.

Il fut nommé en Kabylie. Arrivé à Bou-Noh, ayant pris des leçons pratiques auprès d’un confrère médecin à Carthage, il passait ses matinées à soigner des plaies, à arracher des dents ; l’après-midi, il parcourait la montagne pour se faire des amis dans les villages, apprendre un peu la langue, encourager la petite centaine de chrétiens dispersés au milieu de la population musulmane. En 1934, on le nomma à Ouarzen-Michelet pour s’occuper du dispensaire et de l’école primaire. Las ! Il n’avait pas le brevet, diplôme requis pour l’enseignement. Qu’à cela ne tienne, il se rendit à Tizi-Ouzou et passa l’examen avec succès, à 28 ans.

Deux ans plus tard, le Régional lui téléphona : “On a besoin tout de suite de vous à Beni Yenni comme professeur de maths et de dessin, et d’un économe pour la mission.” C’est donc à Beni Yenni que le surprit la guerre en 1939. Réformé à Constantine pour “insuffisance mitrale”, (ce cœur déficient ne cessera pourtant de battre que 74 ans plus tard), il fut affecté au service de santé. Il était Élève Officier Infirmier à Rennes quand il fut fait prisonnier en juin 1940 : et le voilà terrassier durant six mois sur un terrain d’aviation.

Libéré au titre d’infirmier de réserve, il se reposa trois mois en famille à Confolens, en Charente, où s’était réfugié l’un de ses frères, et retrouva l’Algérie, à Tizi-Ouzou. Il eut juste le temps d’y lancer une troupe scoute, de construire quelques baraques pour démarrer un petit centre professionnel quand, en 1943, il fut de nouveau mobilisé jusqu’à la fin de la guerre. Il a servi tout ce temps aux soins des blessés, d’ordinaire sous la tente, au rythme de l’avancée des troupes.

En 1945, démobilisé au bénéfice de l’âge - il frisait la quarantaine -, il revint en Algérie et fut nommé supérieur à Tagmount-Azouz où, durant trois ans, il put reprendre l’étude du kabyle. Trop donné à ses diverses tâches, il se reprochait de ne pas s’être soucié suffisamment de ses jeunes confrères. Est-ce la raison pour laquelle, dans une période de doute, semble-t-il, il fit deux années de service pastoral dans le diocèse de Meaux, de 1948 à 1950 ?

En 1951, il fut affecté à la Province de France. Doué pour la photographie, il créa un laboratoire pour ses confrères, d’abord à Bonnelles, puis à la nouvelle maison provinciale, rue Roger-Verlomme, où il s’occupa des archives photos de la Société jusqu’en 1959, ceci tout en donnant des retraites et en œuvrant, depuis 1957, comme délégué de l’Œuvre de la Sainte Enfance.

De retour à Alger, on le chargea, durant deux ans, d’établir des contrats pour les centres professionnels, mais aussi de distribution de nourriture et de dépannage scolaire pour les enfants kabyles échoués dans la ville. Nommé, en 1962, à Notre-Dame d’Afrique, pour le ministère paroissial et la petite école d’une centaine d’élèves, il prit bientôt la direction de celle-ci. Puis, le petit séminaire ayant fermé, le cardinal Duval lui demanda d’en faire une école ouverte aux musulmans. Ce fut l’école Saint-Augustin. Ce n’était pas une mince affaire que de transformer les dortoirs en salles de classe, de supprimer des piliers et de les remplacer par des fers en ‘T’, de dresser des cloisons, de recruter des enseignants, de les loger et de nourrir beaucoup de monde. Un an après, avec quelques coopérants français et des professeurs issus de tous les pays arabes et de la Kabylie, il ouvrit hardiment les premières classes du secondaire pour les enfants de ce quartier défavorisé. Mais, après seize ans, alors que le collège comptait 1 080 élèves, la nationalisation et l’arabisation des écoles l’incitèrent à revenir au pays.

Il n’avait pas vécu ce qu’il avait rêvé de prime abord, mais ne regrettait rien : “Je pensais être missionnaire en Afrique noire. Je n’ai pas pu baptiser, mais j’ai toujours eu la conviction que, par tout ce que je faisais en Kabylie ou ailleurs, j’étais vraiment missionnaire. Je me levais à 5 heures, faisais ma méditation, chapelet, messe et exercices. Ce qui nourrissait ma vie, c’est l’union avec le Seigneur, la prière… Fidélité et courage ont toujours été pour moi l’idéal de ma vocation missionnaire.” Il ne pouvait se targuer de milliers de baptêmes, mais que de dents arrachées, que de plaies soignées ! Et que de sourires il avait fait renaître !

À Saint-Augustin, des milliers de jeunes Algériens ont grandi dans la vie, ont trouvé dans l’éducation, le bonheur et la liberté ! Les dizaines de témoignages qui sont parvenus lors de son décès le prouvent abondamment. En voici quelques-uns : “Père Jeanney : un monument, malgré sa silhouette si frêle d’apparence, un grand bâtisseur doué d’une ténacité à toute épreuve comme pouvait le permettre la foi qui l’animait en toutes circonstances…” - “Il a consacré sa vie au service des autres, particulièrement les plus humbles. Que cet humaniste qu’était le Père Georges Jeanney repose en paix !” - “C’est une personne qui m’a marqué non seulement par sa gentillesse, mais par la qualité de l’enseignement qu’il nous a donné.”

On était en 1976. Georges avait 70 ans et ne quittera plus la France. Après 4 ans d’économat à Billère, il accepte, en 1980, - tout en se disant prêt pour un poste dans la Province -, de prendre un ministère paroissial dans le diocèse de Carcassonne. “Il est de ce type d’hommes capable de vivre centenaire”, écrivait à l’évêque un Assistant provincial, prophète sans le savoir. Après quoi, Georges fut chargé de l’économat à Mours en 1984, puis en 1989, rue du Printemps ; comme ennui de santé, on note seulement l’opération de la prostate en 1985.

En 1991, à 85 ans, il fut nommé à Bry-sur-Marne, et là encore, tant qu’il le put, il alla voir ici ou là des personnes âgées dans les maisons de retraite. R.E.R., bus et métro n’avaient pas de secret pour lui et il s’y sentait plus en sécurité que dans le jardin de Bry dont il soignait les parterres de fleurs. “En effet, disait-il, si on y fait une chute, on nous relève et on appelle le Samu,” tandis que le 25 février 2006, il avait passé 5 heures étendu dans une allée du jardin, incapable d’appeler : quand on le retrouva enfin, il était en hypothermie (24°), mais son cœur tint bon : le lendemain, il concélébrait à la chapelle et reprenait sa place à table, comme si de rien n’était. Il put donc fêter en juin ses 100 ans par une eucharistie présidée par l’évêque de Créteil, en présence du maire de Bry, et se rendre à Besançon pour y célébrer aussi l’événement.

Sept ans et demi plus tard, après 83 ans de mission, le Seigneur est venu rappeler à Lui, le 8 août 2013, ce bon et fidèle serviteur : on put chanter à juste titre, dans la chapelle, pour sa dernière eucharistie : “Magnifique est le Seigneur, tout mon cœur pour chanter Dieu… Sa puissance a fait pour moi des merveilles. Que son nom est grand !”

Armand Duval

Voir aussi

Père Johan Heuves

1930 - - 2013

Johan (nous l’appelons ici “Jo”) est né à Heino, Pays-Bas, le 30 avril 1930. En vue de devenir missionnaire, il reçoit sa formation à Sterksel et Santpoort, St-Charles près Boxtel, ‘s-Heerenberg et Totteridge en Angleterre où il prononce son serment missionnaire le 6 juillet 1959. Il est ordonné à Tilburg le 2 février 1960.

Jo avait un bon jugement pratique. Il prévoyait ce qui devait être fait et l’organisait méthodiquement. Plutôt de tendance nerveuse, il était persévérant et travaillait consciencieusement, toujours prêt à rendre service. Il ne voulait pas gaspiller un moment et il était toujours occupé à quelque chose, attentif aux détails. Il pouvait donner l’impression d’être indécis et préférait rester en retrait. Il aimait le sport ; pendant ses études, il a pratiqué le football, le basket-ball et le tennis.

En septembre 1960, Jo va au Malawi. Il étudie d’abord la culture et la langue puis il travaille au service pastoral de la paroisse de Katete, diocèse de Mzuzu. Il est dévoué et travaille dur. En octobre 1962, il est nommé à la paroisse de Nkhamenya. Intéressé par son activité, il a de bonnes relations avec la population et, en particulier, il s’entend bien avec les enseignants et les autres élites. Ils viennent souvent le voir pour le consulter ou simplement parler.

En janvier 1965, Jo est nommé Économe du diocèse. Toujours accueillant et les bras ouverts, il est aussi franc et peut dire les choses carrément. Il évalue de manière équilibrée le caractère d’autrui et il est sincèrement empathique, excepté lorsqu’il perçoit que l’on abuse de lui. Quelqu’un qui le connaissait bien a écrit : “Avec ce genre de personnes, Jo peut être tranchant, sans tourner autour du pot”.

Deux ans plus tard, en mai 1967, Jo devient Recteur de l’année préparatoire du petit séminaire à Rumphi. Ses relations avec les autres enseignants, le personnel et les étudiants sont bonnes. Là encore, il est franc et direct, sans favoritisme.

Autant comme Recteur que comme Économe diocésain, Jo aimait faire de chaque fête une journée mémorable. Elles étaient préparées avec un soin spécial et les dépenses “extra” ne posaient pas de problèmes.

En février 1970, il retourne aux Pays-Bas pour des raisons de santé et il y reste un an et demi. Il retourne ensuite au Malawi où il fait du travail pastoral à la paroisse de Mzimba pendant six mois. Puis, l’évêque, Mgr Jobidon, lui demande de reprendre l’économat diocésain. Le fait qu’il ait accompli cette tâche pendant dix ans avec le dévouement qu’on lui connaît, puis, dès octobre 1982, la tâche d’économe du petit séminaire à Rumphi, montre l’estime dont il jouissait auprès de Mgr Jobidon. Jo avait une bonne connaissance de ce qui se passait dans le diocèse.

Depuis longtemps, Jo souffrait de rhumatisme et de problèmes de cœur ; il a appris à composer avec ces limitations et à supporter les douleurs.

En décembre 1988, il est nommé à la maison régionale à Lilongwe. Il aide en diverses activités administratives et financières. Il prend soin aussi de la communauté d’expression anglaise, composée surtout du personnel des ambassades et des membres d’ONG. Il préside le service dominical ainsi que diverses occasions spéciales et il a beaucoup de contacts informels. Il prépare bien ses homélies et il ne craint pas d’exprimer ses opinions, ce qui n’est pas toujours du goût de tout le monde.

Quelqu’un qui le connaissait bien a écrit : “C’est typiquement Jo. Pourquoi rester silencieux devant des problèmes que tout le monde connaît mais que personne n’ose aborder ? L’honnêteté avec les gens en général et avec les autorités en particulier fait partie intégrante de l’Évangile.”

Le 29 mai 1999, Jo écrit : “Il y a des jours pendant lesquels je peux faire tout ce que je veux, mais d’autres pendant lesquels je ne suis pas si bien.” Il retourne définitivement aux Pays-Bas au mois d’août.
Après une année de repos, pour récupérer, dans notre communauté de Vaassen, il devient membre, en décembre 2000, de notre communauté qui dessert la paroisse de Lage Mierde. Il devient le Recteur du Foyer pour les anciens.

En juillet 2002, il est nommé dans notre communauté de Heythuysen. Le rhumatisme continue à lui poser beaucoup de problèmes. En 2012, il a seulement 37 % de la capacité de ses poumons. Comme détente, il aime regarder des matchs de football à la télévision et utiliser un vélo électrique pour faire un tour. Il a une conversation plaisante en compagnie.

Début janvier 2013, il apprend qu’il souffre d’une maladie sérieuse. Deux jours plus tard, il répond à quelqu’un qui lui demandait comment il se sentait : “J’ai eu une mauvaise nuit. Quand j’en aurai fini avec cela, je dormirai de nouveau mieux.” Un peu plus tard, il semblait être redevenu lui-même, mais il déclinait. Nous avons admiré son courage.

Jo est décédé paisiblement le 17 août 2013 dans son appartement.
En compagnie des membres de sa famille et de ses amis, nous l’avons inhumé à St-Charles, Heythuysen, le 22 août 2013.

Marien van den Eijnden

“Il se lèvera et lui
donnera tout ce
dont il a besoin.”
(Luc 11,8)

PROFILES

Father Georges Riffault

1940 - - 2013

Georges was born on the 12th May 1940 in Olivet, France. His parents were farmers and he was the 6th child in a family of twelve children. When he joined the junior seminary of Sainte-Croix, Orleans, his grandfather was overjoyed as he had prayed so much that one of his grand-children would become a priest. After two years in the Senior Seminary of the Diocese, Georges entered the novitiate of the White Fathers in Gap on the 11th September 1961. He was sent to Heverlee, Belgium, to study Theology. He opted to do his military service as a volunteer in Africa. He was able to test his vocation on the spot in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, from 1963-1964. On his return to Heverlee, he needed an operation for a herniated disc in his back. Nevertheless, he took his Missionary Oath on the 5th February 1966 and he was ordained priest in Orleans on the 26th June of the same year.

Georges was very much appreciated by his professors because of his intellectual and sporting abilities. He could be a bit stubborn regarding his ideas. In the last year of his theological studies, he profited from the presence of an old missionary from Mali to learn some Bambara. He asked to be appointed to Bobo-Dioulasso where he had already spent a very happy year. He was appointed to Mali to the Diocese of San.

He followed the pastoral session in Mours and from the 1st January 1967, he began language studies in Mandiakuy. He took up the post of curate in the same place on the 30th June. In April 1968, he was appointed curate in Togo and he became superior in June 1970. He was already analysing the apostolic methods used at that time and looking for ways to improve them. He loved the people.

After his home leave in France, Georges was appointed superior in Tuba. In May 1975, he was appointed to France. He was curate in Chateauneuf-sur-Loire in his home diocese for nearly two years. He took advantage to do some recycling at Arbresle. He also did some sessions of PHR with a view to reducing excessive nervousness which one could see in his long letters, always very profound and demanding, regarding the apostolate and spiritual and community life.

He had to undergo another operation on his herniated disc, but on the 1st November 1977, he was appointed to the Diocese of Dedougou as curate in Boni. He was not at all happy at having to leave Mali. He had to learn a new and difficult language. Six years later, he began to learn Mooré at Guilongou before returning to his Diocese as curate in Solenzo. Everywhere he went he was much appreciated for his spiritual and human qualities, his concern for development and justice and his efforts to promote literacy. However, some found him inflexible and fixed in his judgements and being aware of this he got anxious, nervy and lost self confidence. Some said: “His concern to foresee everything and to keep control down to the smallest details gave rise to his tensions and difficulties”. It was a chink in the armour of this hard worker who did not allow himself much time to relax.

In February 1988, he started a sabbatical year, based in Sainte-Foy-les-Lyon, and finished with the Session/Retreat in Jerusalem in 1989. He returned to Boni and became Parish Priest on the 1st May 1993. However, in July, he had to return to France with an infection of the urinary tract which was followed by an operation on his prostate and for gall stones. This delayed any return to Africa until October 1993. However by June 1995, he felt completely worn out and asked for another sabbatical year in Sainte-Foy-les-Lyon.

He began by doing a retreat at School of Prayer of Jean Fournier and he finished by doing the Session for Mid-Life in Rome in October 1996. He got updated on computers so that he could translate the bible and other texts into Buamu, the language of Boni. However this stay in France only anticipated what was foreseen in another two or three years and it became permanent.

In February 1997, he joined the staff at Bry-sur-Marne and was appointed assistant to the Director. In February 2003, he was given the job in Rue Friant, Paris of looking after sick confreres needing hospital treatment. It was a job he did well and he combined it with a commitment to working for Justice and Peace. No matter where he was he took local council meetings very seriously as well as preparations for assemblies, and he replied at length to all questionnaires. He liked things to be clear. One always got the impression that he had a deep devotion to the Society of the White Fathers. He was assiduous in keeping up to date with news from Africa. He took great care to keep his contacts informed by email and indeed he wrote letters to civil and religious dignitaries.

Georges summarised his fruitful life as follows: “For 29 years, I have lived with my African brothers. I have learned their languages, familiarised myself with their cultures and benefitted from this mutual enrichment. My mission is in line with the dynamism wished for by Cardinal Lavigerie, our founder, who said: ‘you are the initiators; the real work can only be done by the African themselves...’

In 1995, I returned to France and wished to continue to give a loving preference for the poor and marginalised. As a result, I committed myself to the ‘Réseau Foi et Justice’, working for more Justice for Africa, to the ‘Association Dom Asile’, which worked for the improved reception for asylum seekers and ‘Service des malades’, which meant looking after my sick missionary brothers.

The graces that I have received during this time are many; thanks to the Ignatian Spirituality of the White Fathers, thanks to community life, thanks to the faithful presence of the Lord during all my life… For all that, I say to God: Thank You!”

On the 4th June, the Lord called this faithful servant to himself. He had fought, with a supernatural spirit, a courageous fight against cancer of the pancreas. Many messages were received from African Bishops, priests, religious and lay people. Nobody had forgotten this brave missionary. There was also a large turn out at his funeral in the Church of Saint-Pierre-de-Montrouge in Paris, on the 6th June.

Armand Duval

Father Réginald Carrière

1921 - - 2013

Réginald was born on the 7th October 1921 in the Parish of Saint-Patrice de Magog in the Archdiocese of Sherbrooke, Canada. He received his primary education in the College du Sacre-Coeur of Magog. Circumstances led him to interrupt his studies so that he could reflect on his future. In 1939, at the age of 18, he spent several months in the Benedictine Abbey of St.-Benoit-du-Lac not far from Magog. As a result of this experience he expressed his desire to enter the Seminary of the Sacre-Coeur de St-Victor de Beauce to prepare for his secondary school education and study Philosophy.

He finished his studies in 1948 and applied to enter the White Fathers. In August of that year, he began his novitiate in St-Martin near Montreal. As he had already received a serious formation in the Seminary, he adapted quite well to this new life. The following year, he began his Theological studies in the Scolasticat of the White Fathers at Eastview near Ottawa. He took his Missionary Oath on the 26th June 1952 and on the 1st February 1953, he was ordained to the priesthood. These four years of theology helped him to affirm his missionary vocation. The staff helped him with his studies and to mature. He was a good musician which allowed him to help others. He was very good at working with young people. It was thought that he would make a good missionary if he continued to grow in his vocation and to develop his supernatural devotion in his work and in his relationship with others.

At the beginning of January 1954, Réginald arrived in Zambia after a session in England. He was appointed to the Diocese of Kasama. He was to work in this Diocese for 14 years. His first parish was Kapatu firstly to learn the language as well as being the curate and the bursar. He stayed here for seven years and worked principally as a school chaplain and in youth ministry, perhaps to the point of ignoring the adults which did not always please his confreres.

As there were no Brothers on the spot and as Réginald had already shown an aptitude for building, he was asked to take charge of the construction of a School for the Blind and other buildings in Mpolokoso. He succeeded very well and helped a lot of blind people in this region. With a number of blind people, he set up a small orchestra which achieved great success. In September 1965, he was appointed curate in Luwingu and the following year he was appointed superior in Ipusukilo.

Réginald changed Dioceses at the end of 1968 and transferred to Lusaka. He worked for 15 years in the city, firstly in Regiment Parish for ten years, and then in Kabwata where he eventually became Parish Priest. He continued his youth ministry in Lusaka and he formed a band comprising of young people aged from eight to fifteen years which became known as the “Rising Stars”. They did a number of tours not only in the principal centres of Zambia but in Europe and America as well. These activities took up a lot of his time which made collaboration with his confreres in the Parish a bit complicated.

In June 1983, he went on home leave to Canada. An appointment was proposed to him with which he did not agree. He took time to reflect on his future. Finally at the beginning of January 1984 and following a quick arrangement with his superiors he was appointed to Nairobi. He took up the post of music teacher in “Starehe Boys’ Centre and School” at the invitation of a Mr. Griffin the founder who had been asking him for a number of years. He was made very welcome and he was to work there for 18 years both in the primary and secondary schools for boys who were orphans or came from a deprived background. He had his own little house on the campus and he lived there very simply.

He described his experience in Starehe: “my work is very diversified. As a priest my first duty is, evidently, to be a pastor...it is important to give a good moral, religious and spiritual foundation not only to the Catholics but to all the students of our school... I have set up a band of musicians called ‘Starehe Galaxy”... I love my work and I have adapted very easily.”

At the beginning of 2004, Réginald decided to return to Canada for good. The situation had changed at the school and it was more difficult for him plus the fact that, at 83 years of age, his strength was not so good. It was time to retire from teaching.

Réginald was appointed to our house in rue St-Hubert in Montreal. In 2008, he was advised to go to our Retirement Home of Lennoxville where he could be looked after better. His state of health got progressively worse. In 2012, he was hospitalised because of a heart attack and pneumonia. Many more hospitalisations were to follow. In July 2012, he was in hospital once again where the doctors quickly diagnosed that he was in the terminal phase of a cancer of the pancreas. He was given palliative care. He died on the 13th July 2013 in the hospital. His funeral Mass took place, in the presence of his ashes, in our house of Lennoxville followed by burial in the cemetery in the plot reserved for the White Fathers.

Fr. Cormier, the Provincial, presided at the Mass and Fr. Jean-Marie Tardif gave the homily. He said: “Different testimonies showed how Fr. Carriere was in his own way an engaging confrere very happy to be a Missionary of Africa. He contributed his talent wherever he went. His death was deliverance for him because his last years were very difficult. Despite his impatient temperament, one could only admire his great supernatural spirit. May the Lord give him the reward of the good servant.”

Lauréat Belley

Father Étienne Renaud

1936 - - 2013

Etienne was born in Angers on the 24th October 1936. His family moved to Paris when he was very young. He came from a family of 12 children. He did his secondary school education at the Stanislas College in Paris. In 1956, he entered the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique, and graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Right up until his death, he kept friendly relations with his fellow classmates.

As was common at the time, Étienne spent 28 months of his youth on military service. He did it in Algeria. It was a difficult time for him but, as he said, it gave him the experience of meeting other people: “My first contacts with Islam date from the time of my military service in Algeria where I served as a special administrative officer charged with the administration of villages. This first contact with the world of the Maghreb spurred me to learn the rudiments of the Algerian dialect and it instilled in me a deep appreciation for the local languages in the countries where I had the occasion to go.”

On his return from the army, Étienne entered the Diocesan Seminary of Paris of Saint-Sulpice at Issy-les-Moulineaux where he did two years of Philosophy. However the idea of a foreign mission attracted him. The reason for his choice was just as spontaneous as his character. On the 1st April 1962, he wrote a letter to the White Fathers : “I am dreaming of going on the missions. I would like to spend a few days at the novitiate.” In September of the same year, he joined the novitiate in Gap. Reports on him were uniformly positive: “intelligent, open, honest and humble”. One confrere said of him: “One could say that he didn’t have Original Sin and he didn’t know that others have it”. He studied Theology at Vals near Le Puy without any problem. He took his Missionary Oath there on the 25th June 1965. As for the choice of mission he said: “When we were asked in what mission we would like to serve, I said that I would not be allergic to go to a Muslim country”. (These quotations as well as others that follow are taken from “Christian Lives given to the study of Islam”, by Christian Troll, SJ)

Étienne was ordained to the priesthood on the 25th June 1966. He was appointed to Tunisia but he first went to study at the PISAI at Rome. He wrote: “Under the aegis of Fr. Maurice Borrmans, I made a thorough study of the Arabic language. Although, I had a scientific training, I discovered a deep appreciation for this Semitic language and its thought process. I considered that it was essential to study it if one was to have a profound knowledge of Islam. The Institute helped me to take Islam seriously and I threw myself into its study with all my heart.”

Thanks to a grant, Étienne extended his studies to go to the Faculty of Islamic Law in Damascus, Syria, during the academic year of 1968 to 1969. “I profited from this stay in Damascus to visit the Middle East: Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain, and Lebanon. I appreciated the easy contact that was possible at that time in Syria, the freedom to enter the mosques and to have close contacts with the Arab Christian milieu.”

In 1969, Étienne arrived in Tunisia. He resided at IBLA, working in the computer section at the Tunisian Electricity company.

In 1972, Étienne left for Yemen as he jokingly said: “in the baggage of the White Sisters”. The sisters had accepted to go to Yemen at the invitation of the civil authorities provided they could have a chaplain. Étienne stayed with a local family and, for the rest of his life, he kept a fond and respectful memory of this Muslim family who welcomed him and put him up. “I considered it a great privilege to have been able to live in daily contact with a family. They lived a quiet Muslim life, with an open spirit. I was able to share in all the events of family life: births, circumcisions, marriages, deaths and even the departure for the Haj by his landlord” His landlord had such great trust in him, that he gave him the responsibility of looking after his family while he was away on pilgrimage in Mecca! While in Yemen, Étienne was able to make use of his Engineering qualification and he was employed by the Electricity Company of Yemen. He built a Training Centre with the help of French Aid.

On 1st September 1980, he returned to Rome as Professor in PISAI. In an interview he said: “I have to admit it, but I missed Yemen, its mountains, daily life and the friendships I made. However, I rediscovered an intellectual asceticism and challenging work”. It was already the rise of Islamism and he suffered a lot at conferences and conversations to have to always be brought back to the socio-political aspect of Islam; he said: “I would have liked to have concentrated on Islam as a religion, and, I would even say as a Faith.
In June 1981, Étienne was appointed Delegate for the Section Near East-Red Sea. He became an ex officio member of the General Chapter. It was in that role that he was elected Superior General on the 6th June 1986. For six years, he took up his pilgrim’s staff and visited all the confreres.

Étienne presided over the Chapter of 1992 and when he saw, in a straw poll, that a large number of votes were going to a confrere who was not present at the Chapter, he asked that no more votes be cast for him. Fr. Gotthard Rosner, who was Superior of the 4th Phase Formation House in Toulouse, was elected as the new Superior General. While waiting for his successor’s arrival, Étienne emptied his room and office and went to occupy an empty room in the house.

On the 1st June 1992, he took up the responsibility for IBLA in Tunis: “On my arrival, I appreciated the faithful friendships that I had made on my first stay there... Twenty years afterwards, I was able to resume the conversation as if I had never been away... I have the conviction that a large part of Islamo-Christian dialogue is made through friendly relations and the continuity that this implies. It is essential to have perseverance in order to produce fruit...”

However, in 1994, he was recalled to Rome to take up the direction of PISAI. He served out two mandates until 2000. Then, once he was free, he volunteered to help consolidate the new team on the island of Pemba, near Zanzibar. He recalled: “I discovered there another Islam. This island of Pemba is like a giant monastery. Economic activity is very limited, everybody goes to pray in serried ranks and everybody observed Ramadan. How was I going to fit into this scenario? There was the added problem of Swahili in which I had to make a painful apprenticeship with my white hairs”. Consequently, his stay there did not last long. In June 2001, he was asked to become Director of a small institution in Sudan called CLICK (Catholic Language Institute of Khartoum). He became a teacher of Arabic again, the literary Arabic of Sudan and the dialectical Arabic for volunteers going to do aid work in Darfur in Western Sudan.
Étienne was happy to do a sabbatical year in Sainte-Foy-les-Lyon in 2005-2006, but on the 1st July 2006, he was again called to PISAI to serve as acting Dean of Studies.

Étienne arrived in Marseilles in June 2008. We know the great effort he put into Encounter and Dialogue with our Muslim brothers. Right from his arrival, he tried to make contact with popular Islam. In order to do this, he became a public letter writer in a Post Office and then in a Social Centre in a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood (mostly people from Comoros and North Africa). He also taught literacy classes. At Diocesan level, Archbishop Pontier put him and Sr. Colette Hamza, a Xaverian Sister, in charge of dialogue with Muslims. Sr. Colette said: “When we came to meetings together, Étienne presented himself rather mischievously as my assistant... a sign of his sense of humour but also of humility”. He founded in Marseilles, with Sr. Colette, a group of imams and priests which met once every two months. In this way, those who were responsible for different faith groups discussed various themes such as Christian and Muslim monotheism, spirit and letter of the law, freedom of conscience.

The journey of this man with an engineering training but guided by the grace of God to be a unifier made a big impression on those who met him. Many of the innumerable friends that he made exclaimed: “We were very lucky to have rubbed shoulders with him. With his simple air; he paid attention to everybody, more interested in what made them tick than what was on the outside. Instinctively, one was attracted and won over by him. He thought nothing of it as it was only him and Him who lived in him. He seemed to be eternally youthful and yet he never took things for granted”.

Right to the end, Étienne was a leader while always being of service. He was at home with important people and being at the feet of the poor. He appreciated other people’s religion and respected their faith. How could he be so much at ease in these delicate situations? Guy Vuillemin, Superior of the French Sector replies: “On his welcoming smiling face, one could read the traces of his early morning dialogue, on his knees, before Him who had taken hold of him. Very quickly, I learned that this man did not belong to us, neither to his family, and neither to himself. For me, Étienne was inhabited by an Other, He who called him and for whom; he put himself at the service of others.” His nephews said: “What he leaves us is precious; he was a smuggler of love. There where he is, he waits for us with his unforgettable smile, his arms spread out and his irrepressible shout ‘saluuuuut’!”

His death on Thursday 20th June 2013 took us completely by surprise. It occurred ten days after a heart operation which he had undergone with his characteristic optimism. He was very happy to have left the hospital that day for the convalescent home. That morning, he suffered a heart attack, his roommate wanted to call the nurses but he said. “No, don’t disturb them”...These were his last words ‘do not disturb them’. Allow God do his will, give his life so that others might live.

Raphaël Deillon

Voir Aussi

Father Louis Degenhart

1920 - - 2013

Louis was born in Amsterdam on the 11th of September 1920. In view of becoming a missionary, he began his training in the minor seminary at Sterksel. However in 1939 at the age of 19, he had to leave school because of stress. He was called up for military service and he fought in Battle for The Hague around Ypenburg airbase. He received the War Memorial Cross with clasp. In 1941, he was free to resume his studies in Sterksel and he impressed all the others by his maturity and his tall and stately stature. He continued his training in St. Charles near Boxtel and ‘s-Heerenberg where he took the Missionary Oath on the 9th April 1948. He was ordained priest there on the 11th June 1949.

Louis had great perseverance, he was an independent thinker and methodical in his approach. Because of the stress he suffered when he was 19, he had learned great self control so much so that he appeared to be aloof. During his training, he was encouraged to be more energetic. However, he was someone one could rely upon, ever ready to render a service. He loved music, and played the piano and harmonium quite well. By 1946, he knew how to type and take shorthand.

Immediately after ordination he was appointed to our minor seminary at Sterksel and despite having 20 periods a week, of which 6 for physical training, he studied for his Certificate in English in Tilburg. He was a good teacher, but his straight face obtained him the nickname “Steel Christ”. In 1953, he went to Cambridge, England, to study for a Certificate of Proficiency in English which he obtained in December of that year. He returned to the minor seminary in Santpoort and also studied for his degree in English. He returned to Sterksel in 1955.

In 1956, Louis was appointed to Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) to Abercorn (Mbala) Diocese for parish ministry. The aim was for him to experience local family life in an everyday context so that he could understand better the background of the students he would be teaching later on in the minor seminary. He started in Katibunga to learn the Bemba language and culture, and then moved to Mulilansolo.

It was an exciting time: Methodists, Presbyterians, and African Inland Church communities such as the Lenshina one, had quite active missionary programmes, and political movements were active all over the place working for independence. In March 1957, Louis wrote: “I am privileged to experience that those who leave everything, receive hundredfold in return”.

In 1958, he was appointed to our Generalate in Rome to work in the archives. He returned to Zambia in October 1960 to teach English in the minor seminary of Kantensha, with the customary numerous extra jobs. At the end of May 1967 he returned to the Netherlands with serious stomach problems which had troubled him, on and off, for eight years. After a successful operation on his stomach and later on his legs, he was happy to return to Zambia in July 1968. However, a year later, on the 5th October 1968, he had to return to the Netherlands for good because of his health.

Louis began teaching in a junior secondary school in The Hague on November the 15th 1968. He also assisted in two parishes, (Christ the King, and Marlot). He shared a flat with his sister Ans, who with a lot of TLC ensured that Louis regained his strength, and retained it. She took care too of all his paper work. They had arranged a prayer room in their flat. He enjoyed teaching, and felt more akin with the school world, even with all the extra work it required, than with pastoral work. Yet he gave a lot of his time to the parish youth choir, trained prayer leaders for Services of the Word, and presided at the Sunday Eucharist which included preaching.

As a young man he played the piccolo (small silver flute) and when he returned from Africa he learned to play the accordion because it is such a homely instrument, which one could play anywhere. Through his sister he also played it in the Band of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Louis took early retirement in 1982 at the age of 62 years. However he continued helping out in parishes on a voluntary basis. As a White Father he regularly joined the Regio Meetings, and when he felt strong enough for a longer journey, he took part in the feast days of our Sector, and the funerals in Heythuysen. He read a lot, and together with his sister he was a regular concert goer. When his sister died in August 2004, Louis remained in the flat, and a relative was kind enough to do his paper work.

At the age of 89, Louis was still doing physical exercises including standing on his head! When he celebrated his jubilee of 60 years of priesthood in June 2009, he had been working in the Parish of Marlot and the Waalsdorp Home for more than 40 years.

In the middle of 2010, Louis broke a hip. After leaving hospital, he went to a nursing home. In January 2011, he arrived in Heythuysen already quite weak and wheelchair bound. He read a little and mainly listened to music. A confrere who knew him well wrote: “I always admired his unpretentiousness, his devotion to his duties and his balanced lifestyle. He always expressed himself with reserve, never wishing to give the impression of wanting to impose. He radiated restfulness and inspired confidence”.

On the evening of 12th August 2013, he died peacefully in his flat. With his relatives and friends we buried him in St.Charles, Heythuysen on the 16th August 2013.
His motto: “I am privileged to experience that those who leave everything, receive a hundredfold in return”. cf Mk: 10, 29.

Marien van den Eijnden

 

Father Georges Jeanney

1906 - - 2013

Georges was the oldest member of the Society. He was 107 years and one and a half months old! Nobody before him had managed such a feat. The Lord favoured him until the end with a physical and mental vitality that more than one person envied.

Georges was born in Besancon, Doubs, France on the 22nd June 1906. He was the youngest of four children in a close family whose mother wished that one of her three sons would become a priest. His father died when he was only six years old. His mother courageously continued to run the family grocery and shoe mending business. However, she died in the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 just a year after

Georges entered the junior seminary of Luxeuil. In 1924, already showing signs of his future qualities and armed with the first part of his BAC, he decided to enter the White Fathers after listening to a talk by a White Father. He wanted to go to Africa to baptise. He went to Kerlois for two years of Philosophy, then, in 1926, to the novitiate in Maison-Carrée.The following year he went to Carthage for theology. He took his Missionary Oath there on the 18th June 1930. He was ordained priest on the 29th June 1931.

He was appointed to Kabylia in Algeria to the mission at Bou-Noh having received some practical lessons from a doctor confrère in Carthage. He spent the morning dressing wounds and extracting teeth and, in the afternoon, he walked in the mountains to get acquainted with the villagers, learn a little bit of the language and encourage the hundred or so Christians living among the Muslim population. In 1934, he was appointed to Ouarzen-Michelet to look after the dispensary and the primary school.

However he did not have a teacher’s diploma essential for teaching work. So, he went to Tizi-Ouzou and successfully passed the exam at the age of 28 years. Two years later, the Regional telephoned him and said that he was needed urgently in Beni Yenni as a maths and drawing teacher combined with being bursar of the mission. It was at Benni Yenni that the war caught up with him in 1939. In Constantine, he was called up but he was declared unfit for military service because of a defective heart valve (this same heart was to continue to beat for another 74 years). He was appointed to the nursing service. He was a student officer in the nursing corps in Rennes when he was captured in June 1940. This meant internment in a military airfield for six months.

He was released with the rank of reserve nursing officer and rested for three months with his family in Charente where one of his brothers had taken refuge. He eventually returned to Algeria to Tizi-Ouzou. He had just time to start a group of scouts, to build some huts to house a small training centre when, in 1943, he was called up again and served until the end of the war. He served his time nursing the injured mostly in a tent that moved as the troops advanced.

He was demobbed in 1945 because of his age - he was nearly forty years old - and he returned to Algeria. He was appointed superior of Tagmount-Azouz where, for three years, he was able to take up again his study of the Kabylian language. He was completely taken up by many different tasks and he reproached himself for not giving more time to look after the younger confreres. Was this the reason for a period of doubt which led him to spend two years in pastoral work in the Diocese of Meaux from 1948 to 1950? In 1951, he was appointed to the French Province. He was a gifted photographer and he set up a laboratory for the confreres firstly in Bonnelles and then in the Provincial House in rue Roger Verlomme where he looked after the photographic archives of the Society until 1959. He also gave retreats and from 1957 onwards worked with the Society of the Holy Childhood.

In 1959, he returned to Algiers and he was put in charge of drawing up the contracts for the Vocational Schools while at the same time he distributed food and organised remedial classes for the Kabylian children in the city. In 1962, he was appointed to Notre-Dame d’Afrique for parish work and the little school with about 100 children where he was soon made headmaster. After the closure of the junior seminary, Cardinal Duval asked him to convert it into a school open to Muslims. It became known as St. Augustine’s school. It was not an easy task to convert dormitories into classrooms, to replace the pillars with iron T trusses, put up partitions, recruit staff and provide board and lodging for them. A year later with the help of some French volunteers and teachers from all over the Arab world and from Kabylia, he boldly opened the first classes of the new secondary school for the children of this poor quarter. Sixteen years later, the school had 1,080 students on its rolls. After the nationalisation of the schools and introduction of Arabic for teaching, Georges decided it was time to return to France.

He had not lived his first dream but he did not regret anything. He said: “I thought of being a missionary in black Africa. I was not able to baptise but I always had the conviction that no matter where I was in Kabylia or elsewhere, I was a real missionary. I got up at five o’clock, did my meditation, and said the rosary, mass and other exercises. What gave me life was union with the Lord and prayer. Fidelity and courage were always the ideals of a missionary vocation for me.” He was not able to pride himself with thousands of Baptisms but how many teeth were pulled and how many wounds were healed? And how many smiles were revived!

At St. Augustine’s, thousands of young Algerians got a chance of a better life, and found, in education, happiness and freedom! The dozens of testimonies which arrived after his death prove this. For example: “Fr. Jeanney, a monument despite his frail appearance, a great builder endowed with a tenacity to overcome all obstacles and fired by a dynamic faith that stood to him in all circumstances.” “He consecrated his life to the service of others, particularly the lowliest.” “May this humanist rest in peace.”

“He impressed me not only by his kindness but by the quality of the teaching he gave us.”
Georges returned definitively to France in 1976. He was 70 years old. He was appointed bursar in Billère. In 1980, while affirming that he was ready for an appointment in the Province, he accepted work in a Parish in Carcassonne. The Bishop wrote prophetically to the Assistant Provincial: “He is the type of man well able to live to be 100”. In 1984, Georges was appointed bursar in Mours and then, from 1989, he occupied the same post in rue de Printemps. He seemed to enjoy good health except for a prostate operation in 1985.

In 1991, at the age of 85, Georges was appointed to Bry-sur-Marne. As far as he was able, he visited the elderly in the retirement homes. Trains, buses and metro held no fears for him and he felt safer in them than he did in the garden in Bry where he looked after the flower beds. He claimed that if he fell, he would receive help, whereas on the 25th February 2006, he spent five hours stretched out on the ground in the garden in Bry, unable to call for help before he was discovered with serious hypothermia. His bodily temperature was just 24°C, however his heart held out. The following day, he was able to concelebrate the Eucharist and take his place at table as if nothing had happened.

He celebrated his 100 years with a Eucharist presided over by the Bishop of Creteil, attended by the Mayor of Bry-sur-Marne. He then went on to have another celebration in Besancon. Seven and half years later, after 83 years of mission, the Lord called this good and faithful servant home on the 8th August 2013. At the Eucharist, in the Chapel in Bry, one could honestly sing:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord... The Almighty has done great things for me, holy is his Name.”

Armand Duval

Voir aussi

 

Father Johan Heuves

1930 - - 2013

Johan (we called him “Jo”) was born in Heino, the Netherlands, on the 30th April 1930. In view of becoming a missionary he received his formation in Sterksel and Santpoort, St.Charles near Boxtel, ‘s-Heerenberg, and Totteridge in England, where he took the oath on the 6th of July 1959. He was ordained in Tilburg on the 2nd February 1960.

Jo had a sound and practical judgement; he foresaw what needed to be done and organised it methodically. He had a nervous disposition; he persevered and was a hard and dedicated worker, always ready to be of service. He did not want to waste a moment and was always taken up by something. He had a great eye for detail. He could give the impression of being indecisive, and preferred to keep in the background. Jo loved sport and during his student years he played soccer, basketball and tennis.

In September 1960, Jo left for the parish of Katete in the Diocese of Mzuzu, Malawi. First of all, he had to learn the language and culture, and then to do pastoral work. He was a hard and devoted worker. He moved to the parish of Nkhamenya in October 1962. He was interested in his work and had good relations with the population in general, and got along well with the teachers and other influential people, who consequently often came to consult him or just for a chat.

In January 1965, he was appointed Diocesan Treasurer. He was always ready to welcome anyone with open arms, but he was quite frank and could put things bluntly. He had a level-headed appraisal of the character of those he was dealing with, and sincerely empathised with them, except when he perceived that he was being deceived. Someone who knew him well wrote: “With that kind of people Jo could make things crisp and clear without beating about the bush”.

Two years later, in May 1967 he became the Rector of the Preparatory Minor Seminary at Rumphi. He had good relations with the other teachers, the rest of the personnel, and with the students. Here again it was a case of being frank and straightforward, without favouritism.

Both when he was Rector and Diocesan Treasurer, Jo loved to make every feast day a memorable occasion. They were prepared with special care, and it would be perfectly all right to run up some extra expenses.

Health reasons forced Jo to return to the Netherlands in February 1970. He stayed there for a year and a half. He returned to Malawi and did pastoral work in the Parish of Mzimba for six months before the Bishop asked him to become the Diocesan Treasurer again. He held this post for 10 years, showing great dedication, and from October 1982 onwards, he was also bursar of the Minor Seminary in Rumphi for another six years. This shows just how much Bishop Jobidon appreciated him. Jo had a good understanding of what was going on in the diocese.

From early on he suffered from rheumatism and heart problems but he learned how to live with these limitations helped by the fact that he had a high pain threshold.

Jo moved to the Regional House in Lilongwe in December 1988 in order to help with all sorts of administrative and financial matters. In addition to that, he ensured the pastoral care of the English speaking community, consisting mainly of the personnel from the Embassies and from the NGO’s. He celebrated the Sunday services, had lots of informal contacts, and presided at special occasions. He prepared his homilies well and was not afraid to express his opinions. Not everybody agreed with him! Someone who knew him well wrote: “Typically Jo. Why keep silent about problems everyone knew about but did not dare to tackle? Honesty both with the people in general and with authorities in particular is part and parcel of the Gospel”.

Jo wrote on the 29th May 1999: “There are days when I can do anything I want, but there also days when I am not so well”. In August that year, he returned to the Netherlands for good.

After a year of rest and recovery in our community in Vaassen, he went to our community which serves the parish of Lage Mierde in December 2000. There Jo became the Rector of a Home for the Elderly. In July 2002, he moved to our community in Heythuysen. Rheumatism troubled him a lot, and in 2012, he had only 37 % capacity in his lungs. For relaxation he liked to go for a ride on his battery powered bicycle, and to watch matches of soccer on TV. In company it was pleasant to talk with him.

In the beginning of January 2013 he was told he had a serious illness. After two days he answered someone who asked him how he was feeling: “I had a bad night. Once I have come to terms with it, I shall be able to sleep better again”. Later on he did seem to be his old boisterous self again, although he was getting weaker. We admired his courage.

On 17th August 2013, he died peacefully in his flat.
Together with his relatives and friends, we buried him in St. Charles, Heythuysen on 22nd August 2013.

Marien van den Eijnden

“He will get up
and give his friend
all he wants”
Luke: 11, 8