Record Number of Missionaries killed in 2009
At least 37 Catholic missionaries were killed around the world during 2009 – nearly double the number reported in 2008 - Fides reports.
Thirty priests, two religious sisters, two seminarians, and two lay volunteers are known to have lost their lives. The continent with the highest number was the Americas, with 23 pastoral workers killed (18 priests, two seminarians, one sister, and two lay persons), followed by Africa, where nine priests, one religious, and one lay man lost their lives. In Asia, two priests were killed, and in Europe, one priest was killed.
The names in chronological order are:
Fr Joseph Bertaina, Italian, of the Consolata Missionaries, was killed on the morning of 16 January, in his office in Langata, at the Institute of Philosophy of the Consolata Missionaries in Nairobi, Kenya.
Fr Eduardo de la Fuente Serrano, Spanish priest 61, hi lifeless body of was found the morning of 14 February, in an area northwest of Havana (Cuba).
Fr Juan Gonzalo Aristizabal Isaza, 62, a Colombian priest, was killed on February 22. His body was found inside his car, abandoned on the regional highway, near the University of Antioch.
Fr Daniel Matsela Mahula, of the Diocese of Klerksdorp (South Africa), was killed while driving his car, by four highway bandits near Bloemhof, February 27, 2009. He was 34.
Fr Lionel Sham, 66, pastor in Mohlakeng (Archdiocese of Johannesburg, South Africa), was killed March 7, after being abducted from his home in Mohlakeng.
Fr Révocat Gahimbare, pastor of the parish of Karuzi, Burundi, was shot on 8 March by four bandits dressed as policemen, who had robbed the monastery of the “Bene Maria” Sisters.
Fr Gabriel Fernando Montoya Tamayo, 40 and Fr Jesús Ariel Jiménez, 45, two Redemptorist priests, were killed on the night of March 16 in the municipality of La Primavera (Vichada) in Colombia.
Fr Ramiro Luden, 64, a Spanish priest was killed on March 20, in Recife, northeast Brazil, where he worked for 34 years in an association for street children.
Fr Lorenzo Rosebaugh, 74, an American priest of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), was killed in Guatemala on May 18.
Fr Ernst Plöchl, 78, an Austrian of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill was killed in the Cape Province of South Africa.
Jorge Humberto Echeverri Garro, 40, professor and pastoral worker, on 11 June was in Colonos, Panama Arauca (Colombia), to attend a pastoral meeting of the Church in the area, focusing on community projects with Caritas Germany. During the meeting, a group of guerrillas shot the professor dead.
Fr Habacuc Benítez Hernández, 39, a Mexican priest and young seminarians Oregon Eduardo Benitez, 19, and Silvestre Gonzalez Cambron, 21, both of Ajuchitlán (Guerrero), were murdered on their way to a meeting for pastoral care of vocations, the evening of Saturday, June 13, in the municipality of Arcelia, in Tierra Caliente (Guerrero).
Fr Gisley Azevedo Gomes, CSS, 31, National Leader of the Youth Section of the Bishops’ Conference of Brazil (CNBB), was killed on June 15, 2009.
Fr Mariano Arroyo Merino, 74, from Spain, was found dead in his parish at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rule in Cuba, on July 13, 2009.
Ricky Sukaka Agus, 27, a Congolese Caritas worker was killed on the afternoon of July 15, in Musezero in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fr Mukalel James, 39, was found dead near Mangalore, (State of Karnataka) in southern India.
Fr Leopoldo Cruz, a Salvadoran Redemptorist disappeared mid-August. His body was found August 24, in a canal in a rural area of El Salvador.
Fr Cecilio Lucero, Filipino, 48, was killed on September 6, by a group of armed men in the Northern Samar province, south of the capital, Manila (Philippines).
Fr Roger Ruvoletto, Italian Fidei Donum missionary, 52, was killed September 19, in his parish dedicated to the “Sagrado Corazon de Maria” in Barrio Santa Etelvina, a suburb of Manaus (Brazil).
Fr Evaldo Martiol, 33, of the Diocese of Cacador (Brazil), was killed in Santa Caterina on the evening of 26 September by two young men, age 21 and 15, respectively uncle and nephew. The priest was the victim of a robbery that ended in murder.
Fr Danilo Oscar Cardozo, 57, was murdered in the parish rectory of St Louis Marie de Montfort to Villavicencio (Colombia). He was the pastor there from 2003.
William Quijano, 21, of the Community of St Egidio in El Salvador, was shot dead by bandits while returning home on the evening of 28 September.
Fr Ed Hinds, 61, Pastor of St Patrick Church in Chatham, New Jersey (USA), was killed 10 miles from Newark, on Saturday, October 24, in the kitchen adjacent to the Rectory of the church.
Fr Louis Jousseaume, 70, native of the Diocese of Lucon (France) was attacked and murdered on the evening of October 26, in the rectory of Egletons, Diocese of Tulle, where he was pastor from 1981.
Sr Marguerite Bartz, 64, of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (SBS), based in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, was killed in her convent of Saint Berard in the area of the Navajo, New Mexico, on Sunday, November 1st.
Fr Hidalberto Henrique Guimaraes, 48, pastor of the church of Our Lady of Grace in the town of Murici on the outskirts of Maceió (AL), Brazil, was found murdered on 7 November, two days after his disappearance.
Fr Miguel Angel Hernandez, 45, a Guatemalan Capuchin priest for four years serving a parish in Ocotepeque (Honduras), was found dead in a province of eastern Guatemala, having died a few days earlier.
Fr Jean Gaston Buli was killed in the night between the 9th and 10th of November, by armed bandits who entered the rectory of his parish in Nyakasanza, in Bunia (Ituri) (DR Congo).
Fr Daniel Cizimya Nakamaga, 51, who served for 12 years as a priest in Bukavu (DR Congo), was killed in his parish of Kabare on Sunday, December 6, at two o’clock in the morning.
Fr Louis Blondel, 70, of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), was killed on the night of Sunday December 6 and Monday, December 7, in Diepsloot, one of the townships of Pretoria, South Africa.
Sr Denise Kahambu Muhayirwa, 44, a Trappist nun, was killed on the evening of December 7, by armed men in uniform who entered the monastery of “Notre Dame de la Clarté” in Murhesa, 20 kilometres from Bukavu, in the territory of Kabare, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fr Jeremiah Roche, of the Irish Society of St Patrick for Foreign Missions, was murdered on the night of December 10 and 11 by strangers who came to his home in Kericho, 250 kilometres from Nairobi (Kenya).
Fr Alvino Broering, 46, a Brazilian priest was stabbed at dawn on December 14 in the southern state of Santa Catarina (Brazil) by a man who then stole his car, according to information from the police. He died later in the hospital.
Fr Emiro Jaramillo Cardenas, 73, a Colombian priest was killed on the evening of Sunday, December 20 at his home, located in Santa Rosa de Osos, about 74 km from the city of Medellin.
