The Mill Hill Missionaries - St.Josephs Missionary Society

Fr Louis Purcell

Tuesday, 23rd April, 2013

Fr. Louis Purcell was born on 9th March 1931 at Nelson, Lancashire, in the Diocese of Salford. He was the son of John Purcell and Alice Forrest, and had one brother. He received his secondary education in the Mill Hill colleges of Burn Hall and Freshfield from 1943 to 1950.

Fr Leo van Ruijven

Saturday, 6th April, 2013

Fr Leonard (Leo) van Ruijven was born on 4th January 1939 at Delft in the Diocese of Haarlem, the Netherlands. He was the son of Laurensius van Ruijven and Maria Molenwyk, and had three brothers and one sister. He received his secondary education in the Mill Hill Colleges of Hoorn, Haelen and Tilburg from 1952 to 1957.

Fr Gerard Vermeulen

Friday, 15th March, 2013

Fr Gerardus Johannes Vermeulen was born on 6th December 1925 at Boskoop in the Diocese of Haarlem, the Netherlands. He was the son of Henry Vermeulen and Maria Blom, and had two brothers and three sisters. He received his secondary education in the Mill Hill Colleges of Hoorn and Haelen from 1940 to 1945. Desiring to become a Missionary Priest, he studied Philosophy at Haelen and Roosendaal from 1945 to 1947...

Fr Brian Ahern

Tuesday, 5th March, 2013

Fr Bernard James (Brian) Ahern was born on 21st May 1932 at Dundee, in the Diocese of Dunkeld, Scotland. His parents were James Bernard Ahern and Agnes Jane Slaven. He had one sister. Brian received his secondary education at the Mill Hill colleges of Lochwinnoch and Burnhall from 1946 to 1951. He studied Philosophy in Roosendaal from 1951 to 1953, and Theology at St Joseph's College, Mill Hill, London from 1953 to 1957. It was at St Joseph's College that he took his Perpetual Oath on 7th May 1956 and was ordained priest in the college chapel by Archbishop Griffen on 7th July 1957...

Novena to St Joseph

Tuesday, 5th March, 2013

Greetings from St Joseph's Novena desk here in Maidenhead.

As wonderful as the year 2012 has been it is now winding down and the time has come to get organised for 2013 - in this St Joseph's Novena is no exception. Thank you for your faithfulness and generous support in 2012.

I find that this 'Novena News' letter has elicited a growing correspondence over its short history and is proving a wonderful tool of communication on many aspects of the Novena. It encourages reflection and sharing on so many aspects of our life - especially the spiritual....

Fr. Albert Rainer

Wednesday, 2nd January, 2013

Fr. Albert Rainer was born on 13th November 1919 at Freienfeld in the Diocese of Brixen, South Tyrol. His parents were Johann Rainer and Teresia Eisendle. He had two brothers and two sisters. Albert received his secondary education at the "Vinzentinum" in Brixen,

Br Henk Morsink

Wednesday, 7th November, 2012

We regret to announce the death at "Missiehuis Vrijland", Oosterbeek, the Netherlands, on 2nd November 2012, at the age of 80, of Brother Henk Morsink. May he rest in Peace.

Father Nol Jurgens

Wednesday, 17th October, 2012

We regret to announce the death at "Missiehuis Vrijland, Oosterbeek, the Netherlands, on 13th October 2012 at the age of 83, of

Father Nol Jurgens

May he rest in Peace

Fr Arnold (Nol) Jurgens was born on 4th August 1929 at Kleve in the Diocese of Muenster, Germany. He was the only son of Arnold Jurgens and Gesina van der Lande. Nol had three sisters. He received his secondary education in the Mill Hill Colleges at Tilburg and Haelen from 1944 to 1953. From 1953 to 1955 he studied Philosophy in Roosendaal. From 1955 to 1959 he studied Theology at St Joseph's College, Mill Hill, London, where he took his Perpetual Oath on 7th May 1958. He was ordained priest in the College Chapel on 12th July 1959 by Cardinal Godfrey.

After his ordination Nol was appointed to the Diocese of Tororo in Uganda. He worked there as a missionary in Palissa, Usuk, Ngora, Madera, Magale, Kumi and Kidetok. In 1970 he followed a course in Catechesis and Pastoral Ministry at Ggaba Institute, Kampala. During the regime of Idi Amin he was expelled from Uganda in 1972 and spent some time in the Netherlands before returning to East Africa in 1974. From 1974 to 1977 he worked in the Pastoral Department of the Kenya Catholic Secretariate in Nairobi. In 1978 he took up the post of Secretary General of the World Catholic Federation for the Biblical Apostolate(WCFBA) in Stuttgart. He held this important post till 1984 when he was appointed to Burn Hall. From 1988 to 1989 he was seconded to the Sion Community for Evangelization and was also involved with the Marriage Encounter Movement. In 1989 he was appointed administrator of Obdam, and he remained there till 1996 before moving to Missiehuis Vrijland in Oosterbeek.

Fr Nol Jurgens witnessed to the values of the Gospel as a messenger of the Good News in many different ways in Uganda, Kenya, Germany, England and the Netherlands. He served in the parish, the classroom and as an administrator in the office. In his final years he was a valued member of the house community in Vrijland.

During the past year his health continued to deteriorate. He found it hard to communicate and was confined to a wheel chair. After a short stay in hospital he passed away peacefully in the morning of 13th October at 11.30am.

The funeral mass will take place on Thursday 18th October at 11.00am at Missiehuis Vrijland followed by burial at the Mill Hill cemetery at Oosterbeek.

The previous obituary (9/2012) was that of Bishop Joseph Willigers, who died at Missiehuis Vrijland, Oosterbeek on 30th September 2012.