Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Cardinal Jan P. Schotte Dead at 76

I just read about the death of this wonderful man. The Belgian cardinal was secretary general emeritus of the Synod of Bishops and president of the Central Labor Office of the Holy See. He was here a few years ago as the keynote speaker of the Arcdiosesan Eucharistic Conference (he filled in for Fr. Benedict Groeschel whose flight was delayed by weather).

He gave a very warm and moving keynote address to all in attendance. He recounted his childhood and WWII and how the Holy Eucharist was central to his life and how we all need to have Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament central in our lives. He commended then-Archbishop Rigali for restoring Eucharistic Adoration in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

I still occasionally listen to the tape of his address - he said, without mincing any words, that we must get down on our knees to adore Jesus...Perhaps, I can put some excerpts of his speech here in the next week of so.

Please keep Cardinal Schotte in your prayers.
"It was with great sadness that I learned the news of the sudden demise of the dear Cardinal Jan Pieter Schotte, and I wish to express my deepest sympathy to you and to your relatives, as well as to the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to all those who knew and respected him. With a grateful soul I recall his many years of industrious collaboration with the Holy See, and especially his generous service as secretary general of the Synod of Bishops. He leaves the example of a life spent for Christ in coherent devotion to his own priestly and religious vocation and ever attentive to social questions in complete faithfulness to the Gospel and the teaching of the Church. I raise fervent prayers appealing to the Lord to welcome this dearly beloved brother cardinal in joy and eternal peace, and I send to you and to others mourning his demise a comforting apostolic blessing as a sign of my sincere participation in your pain".

The Holy Father will preside at the cardinal's funeral on Friday January 14 at 11 a.m. at the altar of the Confession in the Vatican Basilica. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals, will celebrate Mass along with other cardinals.
Source.

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