The
Damien I Know St. Damien heroically embraced the call to serve those who suffered in exile by Father William F. Petrie, ss.cc.
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St. Damien de Veuster poses for a photo at the Kalaupapa leper colony on Molokai in the Hawaiian Islands weeks before his death in 1889. The Belgian missionary priest was beatified in 1995 and recently canonized at a Vatican ceremony Oct. 11. 20 ♦ C O L U M B I A ♦
NOVEMBER 2009
CNS photo
t 16 years old, as a high school student in Phoenix, it was not expected that I should make a decision or commitment about my future. Nonetheless, that is what happened. On the day my religion teacher read excerpts from the life of Father Damien de Veuster, my own life was transformed. I decided to become a priest, a missionary, and to work with people with Hansen’s disease (historically known as leprosy). Amid challenges and ongoing discernment, I pursued my newfound vocation. In 1873, Father Damien stepped onto the Hawaiian island of Molokai to begin his special mission to serve at a settlement of more than 800 people afflicted with leprosy. One hundred years later, in 1973, I had my first experience visiting a leprosy settlement started by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. When I entered into the same religious family as Father Damien, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, I never thought I would live to see Father Damien canonized. While I was in the seminary, however, thousands of people with Hansen’s disease from around the world petitioned Pope Paul VI for the canonization of Damien de Veuster. That event rekindled the knowledge of Father Damien and his heroic love. If I know Father Damien, it is first of all because of the 25 years of experience that I have working with people with Hansen’s disease, which has given me a comprehensive understanding of the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of those afflicted. In the beginning years of my work, therapies that were later implemented in the 1980s had yet to be perfected. Now, we have taken steps to eradicate Hansen’s disease worldwide. I also came to know Damien through the letters he sent to his brother, Father Pamphile, who was also a member of the Congregation. It was Father Pamphile who was initially appointed to Hawaii — then known as the Sandwich Islands — but because of illness, was replaced by his brother Damien.