Steyl, 14 May 2010

Dear Joe,

thanks for your e-mail with the report about the Mass for Fr. Golly.

By now you people might have heard from the Superior Delegate about the funeral. The Mass began at 2 pm in the big seminary church. Quite a number of Fr. Golly's relatives were there. Archbishop Meier, who had arrived a few hours earlier, was the main celebrant, Waldemar Weniger and myself were concelebrating next to him, the other priests in the pews behind the altar - you know those pews.

Fr. Superior Delegate Gerd Lesch gave the homily. Anastasia Sai read the reading in Pidgin. Luckily I have a Pidgin Bible. At the end of the Mass Anastasia paid tribute to Fr. Golly in English and I was the translator! Imagine! Thirty years ago I was chaplain in Goroka when Anastasia was a student there. Now we were standing together at the ambo in St. Augustin in Germany- she the speaker and I her tanim tok!! It was quite an experience for me! Anastasia represented Madang excellently! After Anastasia  Fr. Skrabania read in German the letter of Fr. Joe and of the Polish province. After Mass was the funeral -and I conducted the funeral - six months ago I did it for Joe Forstner and now for Ernst Golly. 

From St. Wendel Guido Schwarz, Paul Ksiazek, Hannes Dapper, Frau Maria Ziegler (formerly well known lay missionary in Madang) were present, also Bro. Peter van der Wiel and Kees van der Geest from the Netherlands. From Mosbach Rüdiger Breyer had come. Together with Anastasia Sai we formed a good choir at the grave when we sang in Pidgin "Ave Maria" from the Missa Maiwara.

Since there was  no space near Joe Forstner's grave, Fr. Golly was buried on the other side of the cemetery: when you enter the cemetery, you go to the left until the far end of the first row of graves near the gate. 

Fr. Bernard Rudolf had come from Rome for his new chemo therapy. He was at the Mass and funeral of Fr. Golly. His condition is very serious; for he has a metastasis of his former cancer which is a very aggressive one. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday he had his first series of chemo.

Bernard is a few years younger in me. As a newly arrived missionary in the diocese of Goroka, in 1981 he took my place when I was on homeleave. Bernard knows how serious his condition is, but he still is full of optimism!

Now I have buried two dead PNG missionaries, but I also hope that I still can do something for and with the living ones!

That's all for today.

With best wishes, also to the confreres,

Jürgen