I have just finished the autobiography of Fr. Dominique Pire OP entitled Europe of the Heart and it is a book which is worth reading particularly when there are so many who still suffer from their fellow man's inhumanity. Fr. Pire received the 1958 Nobel Peace Prize for his work among the 'hard core' of displaced persons in the period before and after World War II. These were the aged, infirm, illiterate and single mothers who could find no place to call their own because having lost their own homes during the war, they were not able to find new ones in other parts of the world because foreign governments, including the good old USA, regarded them as unable to contribue to society and too great a burden for them to support.
Seeing this waste of human life, Fr. Pire set about restoring their human dignity by first providing them with 'godparents' who could correspond with them and then building villages throughout Europe where they could live, learn and work. As his autobiography relates, simply receiving a letter or a small gift from another person was enough to give these men, women and children who had been abandoned by the rest of the world a new found confidence and hope.
Of course what was most impressive about Fr. Pire's work was that he showed no regard for the national and religious background of those he was helping. Whether it was a Pole, Russian or Ukranian, Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox, anyone who was numbered among the 'hard core' was able to receive from Aid to Displaced Persons the opportunity of a new life and similarly anyone who wished to help them was warmly welcomed. And even though he was a Catholic priest, and a Dominican at that, Fr. Pire himself did not try to convert them but simply carried on his work out of love for the God who created all men and a desire for justice. For him if someone asked to be received into the Church it gave him great joy but what was more important was their being able to be someone once again.
Today when there are still countless people who are displaced by war, it remains a duty of everyone of us who belong to the Catholic Church to see in them the image of Christ and welcome them with open arms. For did not Our Lord say, "I was a stranger and you welcome me" and again, "Whatsoever you did to the least of these, you did to me."
Seeing this waste of human life, Fr. Pire set about restoring their human dignity by first providing them with 'godparents' who could correspond with them and then building villages throughout Europe where they could live, learn and work. As his autobiography relates, simply receiving a letter or a small gift from another person was enough to give these men, women and children who had been abandoned by the rest of the world a new found confidence and hope.
Of course what was most impressive about Fr. Pire's work was that he showed no regard for the national and religious background of those he was helping. Whether it was a Pole, Russian or Ukranian, Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox, anyone who was numbered among the 'hard core' was able to receive from Aid to Displaced Persons the opportunity of a new life and similarly anyone who wished to help them was warmly welcomed. And even though he was a Catholic priest, and a Dominican at that, Fr. Pire himself did not try to convert them but simply carried on his work out of love for the God who created all men and a desire for justice. For him if someone asked to be received into the Church it gave him great joy but what was more important was their being able to be someone once again.
Today when there are still countless people who are displaced by war, it remains a duty of everyone of us who belong to the Catholic Church to see in them the image of Christ and welcome them with open arms. For did not Our Lord say, "I was a stranger and you welcome me" and again, "Whatsoever you did to the least of these, you did to me."
posted by Lactantius at
6:14 PM
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