In This Issue:
From Horseback to Bicycles - The Oblates
Trail Ride
Oblate Parish in Denmark Celebrates 50 Years
First Oblate Ordained in Turkemenistan
When members of Vor Frue Kirke (Our Lady’s Church) in Herlev, Denmark were planning their parish’s 50th anniversary celebration, they knew right away who should be the first person invited: Fr. Urban Figge, O.M.I. This Missionary Oblate from the United States had established Vor Frue Kirke in 1961.
Earlier this year Fr. Urban traveled to Herlev from his home in Belleville, Illinois to take part in the special celebration at the historic parish he founded. “It was a really nice celebration and even the Bishop of Copenhagen attended,” said Fr. Urban. “There were even a handful of parishioners there who were members of the parish when I was there 50 years ago.”
Father Urban was born and raised in rural Missouri. He was ordained in 1957, following his older brother Leo into the Missionary Oblates. A few years later the young priest accepted an invitation to join the Oblates’ team in Scandinavia. “When I got off the boat in Copenhagen, the superior was there and he told me to go to this area on the outskirts and start a parish,” said Fr. Urban. “It was a little overwhelming.”
The parish started out in a local Protestant school. Attendance at the first Mass was 70 people. But in a short time the parish began to grow and a church was built.
Father Urban ministered at Our Lady’s Church for 13 years before accepting an even more challenging ministry - Christ the King Church in Greenland. He was the only Catholic priest in a country where winter temperatures regularly dip to 50 degrees below zero. After ten years in Greenland Fr. Urban returned to Our Lady’s Church, where he ministered for about three more years.
Today Fr. Urban lives in Belleville at the St. Henry’s Oblate Residence. Most days the 80-year-old priest can be found outside clearing brush, or caring for a small lake on the property.
Our Lady’s Church is still a relatively small parish, with just a few hundred members. The Catholic population in Denmark is very small - about one in every 200 residents. Many of the parishioners at Our Lady’s Church are either refugees or recent immigrants from other countries.
At the present time, four Oblates are assigned to Our Lady’s Church including Fr. Leo Kertz, O.M.I. Just like Fr. Urban, Fr. Leo grew up in rural Missouri and headed to Denmark as a young priest. He has now been there 48 years. Father Leo noted that ministering at Our Lady’s Church is somewhat like working at several different parishes at the same time because of the many different cultures. It is truly a microcosm of the Missionary Oblate congregation, where people from many different backgrounds come together to be united in faith.
HAITIAN PRIEST SURVIVES SHOOTING |
Police arrived on the scene as the attack was taking place and shot at the bandits, killing one of the attackers. Father Loubeau was unconscious after the attack and was rushed by police to the nearby Pluri-Medic Clinic in Babiole. Doctors successfully removed a bullet from his thorax. The attack on Frs. Loubeau and Joseph was the second time this year Oblates have been help up at gunpoint while driving in Port-au-Prince. Three Oblates and a lay collaborator were robbed while driving to a New Year’s Day party at the Oblates’ House of Theology. “We were held up about 100 yards from the police station,” said Fr. Joe Corriveau, O.M.I. “There were two guys with guns, one on each side of the car, and a third opening the driver’s door. They were young and in a hurry, being close to the police station.” The robbers were only able to get some money and a cell phone. They tried to take Fr. Corriveau’s Oblate Cross but he refused. The 79-year-old Fr. Corriveau said he has carried his Oblate Cross in Haiti for 47 years and he was not about to give it up without a fight |
On August 9, Fr. Jean Pierre Loubeau, O.M.I. had just picked up another Oblate, Fr. Ernest Joseph, O.M.I. from the Port-au-Prince airport when his car was attacked while stopped at a street light. Bandits on two motorcycles and in a car shot at the priests, hitting Fr. Loubeau three times. Father Joseph was not injured but the bandits did get all of his belongings. He had just arrived in Haiti for a short vacation from his mission in French Guyana.