Fr. Jan Roekaerts (1943-2005)
By Fr. Werner Lesage, cicm
Another confrere with whom yours truly felt close died on May 6. Jan Roekaerts
had been his classmate since the Novitiate. Jan was born in Glabbeek, near
the city of Tienen, Belgium, in 1943. He professed first vows in 1962,
the jubilee year of CICM. He was ordained a priest in 1967 and came to
Japan in November 1968. After his language studies in Tokyo he served as
assistant priest in Okayama Church. Then, in 1974, he became a teacher
at our Junshin Junior and High School where he has taught religion classes
ever since. Come to think of it, Jan spent 31 years in the Junshin School,
exactly half of his lifetime.
Early in the morning of May 5, around 6:00, Toon Margot notice that Jan
was leaving the house. Jan said he wanted to go for a walk. Short time
later he was found in Himeji's Miyukidori shopping mall, unconscious and
heavily bleeding from the nose. He was taken by ambulance to HImeji Junkankibyo
Center. There was no pulse anymore and he might have been already brain
dead. His heart was revived somehow, bu he remained unconscious, his blood
pressure kept going down and he was kept on a respirator. The following
day, around 5:00 p.m., Jan was called to the house of the Father, where
he would be in the company of his own father who had died at a relatively
young age, and two of his brothers who had gone ahead of him. Jan was the
eldest of four sons, and was very close to his mother. Every week they
would exchange letters. Now she has had to let go of three of her sons
in the course of two years. May the Lord be with her and with the family
and with us.
The wake and the funeral were held in Himeji Church. The wake was presided
by Fr. Provincial. Toon Margot, principal of the School, delivered the
homily, right from the heart. The funeral Mass was held on May 9, presided
by the Archbishop of Osaka, flanked by the Rev. Noma of the Hiroshima Diocese,
and by Fr. Provincial and Toon Margot, who was again the homilist. On both
occasions many people came to say goodbye and to pray. Since it was not
possible to have all the students of Junshin Gakuin attend the service,
one representative of every class was present. Towards the end of the Mass
all the students gathered in silence on the playground of the school, which
is adjacent to the church building. When the hearse with the coffin set
out on its way to the crematorium, it first entered the school gate and
slowly passed in front of the boys. This was a very impressive moment,
a warm salute to Jan who hadn given the best of himself as a missionary
and as a teacher. May he now live in the Risen Lord.
(taken from SHIKI, JP-Province Newsletter, Vol. 2, no 2, April - June 2005)
