‘At the request of his family, the flowers from the funeral of Peter R de Vries have been placed in the garden of the Our Saviour church in The Hague around the monument to the fallen refugees’. (Sjaak de Boer MHM) Peter R de Vries was perhaps best known for his work on cold cases…
Today, July 9th, 2021, we celebrated five jubilarians at St. Jozefhuis, Oosterbeek. We rejoiced with Frans Baartmans, Folkert Kruis, Frans Mol and Kees Vlaming in gratitude for their 60 years of missionary life, and Jan Laarakker who celebrated his 25 years as a lay missionary associate. Earlier, last Sunday, Tjeu Cuijpers (60), Theo Beemster (65)…
These were a group of nineteen Dutch religious, including Franciscans, Dominicans Premonstratensian Canons and diocesan priests, who were hanged by militant Dutch Calvinists at Briel in 1572, during the war of independence with Spain. After imprisonments and tortures, a mob hauled them before the fanatical pirate Admiral Lumey. William of Orange ordered their release and…
For many years, ever since I heard of its inauguration, I have felt a strong desire to visit the ‘Mémorial Kongolo’ in the Belgian hamlet of Gentinnes, but somehow a suitable occasion never seemed to materialise. For too long it remained a dream deferred. Until, that is to say, towards the end of last month,…
Closure When René Graat MHM died on 11th April 2020, a victim of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in The Netherlands, the parish community of Banholt, Noorbeek and Reijmerstok, where he had served for the past 12 years, was deeply traumatised. They had fervently prayed for his recovery, kept a weekly candle lit…
Ruud Verhoeven writes admiringly of his brother, Nol (Arnold) Verhoeven MHM, onhis Facebook page: Anyone who has ever followed my stories knows that Nol (Arnold) , the last brother left to me, felled a few years ago by a brain disorder, was forced from Cameroon to end up in a rest home for retired missionaries…
Meals for the homeless. “A world trip behind the stove” Isabelle Pradier is Meals for the Homeless Coordinator at Church of our Savior. Meals for the Homeless serves a three-course hot meal to 120 homeless people in The Hague twice a month. Meals consist of hot soup in the winter months or salad in the…
In his latest book the 73-year-old cardinal, who recently completed treatment for cancer, talks about his vision on the role faith can play in modern times. “Christianity has become a cultural religion in the West due to historical circumstances. However, that is not necessarily the case in other parts of the world, just look at…
On Sunday, 25 April, a sculpture entitled “The Hollow Men” was unveiled in the garden of the international Church of Our Saviour in The Hague to commemorate all the unknown refugees who died at sea or in the desert during their flight to safety. The sculpture consists of two parts, and when viewed from the…
Jubilarian Folkert Kruis MHM reflects on the underlying thread of sixty years of missionary involvement in Kenya. The common thread The first thing we all did after arriving in the country we were appointed to was learning the language. There were usually no books to help you, but you could find a teacher to help…
Summer 2021
Everything Is Possible As I started to write this article in the series “I’m on my way to happiness”, I received the sad news that my sister and her husband have been admitted to intensive care a Zurich hospital. My relationship with them has been very close and unique. When our mother died she told…
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