Aid to the Church in Need: Farewell to Father Werenfried

Farewell to Father Werenfried

Posted by Press Release on 13/2/2003, 7:38 am
Message modified by board administrator 13/2/2003, 8:20 pm

Farewell to Father Werenfried
THE Catholic community came from the four corners of the world to pay their last respects in a Mass of thanksgiving for the life of Father Werenfried van Straaten.
Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, presided at the ceremony celebrated by more than 20 bishops and nearly 100 priests from across the globe – each staunch supporters of Fr Werenfried’s Catholic pastoral charity – Aid to the Church in Need.
The service in Germany’s Limburg Cathedral was rich in poignance coming exactly three weeks after the same venue played host to celebrations marking his 90th birthday.
An occasion of thanksgiving rather than mourning, the service climaxed with a tribute from Cardinal Castrillon in which he joined a host of prelates who stressed how Father Werenfried had “held out a light of hope amid times of darkness” for the Church in Need.
After the service held a week following Father Werenfried’s death, Bishop Jerzy Mazur, the exiled Catholic Bishop from Irkutsk, Siberia, spoke of the “life-line of hope” Fr Werenfried had given Catholics facing oppression and persecution.
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewisc from Moscow, commended the “Fighter for Peace’s” ceaseless struggle for greater co-operation between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.
The ceremonies on Friday, 7 February continued in nearby Konigstein, ACN’s project headquarters, where Father Werenfried’s coffin was lowered to the evocative sound of Greek Catholic chant sung by Ukrainian clergy.
Meanwhile, scores of letters of condolence continue to pour in from Church leaders around the world.
Cardinal Audrys Backis, president of the Lithuanian Bishops’ Conference, said: “We have received so much assistance from Father Werenfried – both before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain. May God accept him into heaven and console all those who will truly miss having him among us.”
Bishop Daniel Adwok of Khartoum, in Sudan, said: “We in Sudan are overwhelmed by the charity and care of Aid to the Church in Need. The same charity and care accompanied Fr Werenfried in his witness to the Gospel – may he rest in peace.”
Photo: Cardinals, bishops, priests and mourners from around the world gather outside the Cathedral in Limburg after the Requiem Mass for Fr Werenfried

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