Brian Bergkamp, a seminarian from the Diocese of Wichita, has died after saving the life of a woman who fell into a river.
The 24-year-old was among five people travelling down the Arkansas River in separate kayaks when all got caught in turbulent waters. According to The Wichita Eagle, Bergkamp jumped from his kayak to save the woman before getting pulled under himself. He was not wearing a life jacket. The other kayakers made it to shore.
Bishop Carl Kemme of Wichita said: “I knew Brian to be an exceptional seminarian, well on his way to demonstrating so many of the qualities needed to be a good and faithful priest.
“I personally looked forward to the day when I might be able to ordain him.”
Bishop Kemme said Bergkamp was quiet, dedicated, diligent in his work and studies, and always presented himself with a sense of decorum and maturity well beyond his years. “I was looking forward to how God would use him as a priest in the Diocese of Wichita,” the bishop said.
“Now, we must all mourn his much anticipated ministry and the many fruits we all knew would be abundant by his priestly life and ministry.”
Life on this side of heaven is full of mysteries, contradictions and ironies, Bishop Kemme said. “Brian’s untimely death is full of these mysteries, which must wait until heaven to be solved.”
Bergkamp had just finished his second year at Mount St Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, which is in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore said Bergkamp’s “heroic and brave actions” speak to the “great character and to the wonderful priest I’m sure he would have become”.
Mgr Andrew Baker, rector of the seminary, said the circumstances of Bergkamp’s death showed he knew the depth of what it meant to be a Christian and a priest.
“It was self-giving love,” he explained. “He didn’t have to think twice before he acted .”
Derek Thome, a fellow seminarian, said Bergkamp was a man of dedication with a big heart who would do just about anything for anyone.
“It didn’t matter what he had going on, his life was spent thinking of others first,” he said. “Brian died doing what he went to seminary for, to save souls.”
Croats and Serbs try to find common ground on Blessed
Croatian and Serbian experts have met at the Vatican to clarify questions about the life of Blessed Alojzije Stepinac – a hero for Croats and a highly controversial figure for Serbian Orthodox and some Jewish groups who have accused him of being a Nazi sympathiser.The commission, which held its first meeting last week, is made up of representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church in Croatia and the Vatican. It was created at the request of Pope Francis to conduct “a re-reading together” of the cardinal’s life “to clarify some questions of history”, the Vatican press office said. Its work “will not interfere with the canonisation process” because it is a “scientific endeavour”, studying historical evidence in its proper context. The process of determining a Cause is a matter that strictly pertains to the Holy See, the note said.
Cardinal Stepinac was beatified in 1998. Before the Second World War he helped Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. Though he welcomed the independent, pro-Nazi Croatian state in 1941, he later protested against the regime’s atrocities. He died under house arrest after communists came to power and accused him of being a collaborator.
Vatican official dies aged 67
Polish Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, head of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, has died aged 67.Pope Francis praised the archbishop’s “generous ministry” and the way he live a long illness “with spirit of faith and Christian testimony”. Born in Kupienin, Poland, he was ordained a priest in 1973 and worked at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1983 to 2002, when he worked on the Polish edition of the Catechism.
