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Fifty
years ago, Reverend Father Godofredo was
ordained a priest. Now he can look back
on a richly filled priestly life. Such a
life begins from a sincere and humble
life of sacrifice and unselfish love,
embodied in sublime Priesthool. Fifty
years of labors of anointed hands.
He
Could have been great in the
"world," but he gave himself
totally to the service of our Lord. 'Vir
Dei': a man of God!
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In
the past fifty years, in various and at
times difficult tasks, Father Godofredo
has toiled zealously in the vineyard of
our Lord. Particularly as a parish priest
of Paco, Father Godofredo has excelled in
making Paco the flourishing parish which
it is now. He is the builder of the
church, and of Paco Catholic School. The
war had destroyed much in Paco, but
Father Godofredo did not rest before the
Church was rebuilt, and until Paco
Catholic School became a vanguard of
Catholic Education and training.
In
behalf of the C.I.C.M. fathers and
Congregation, I warmly congratulate and
tahnk Reverend Father Godofredo
Aldenhuijsen for his tireless and
inspiring zeal doing the word of our
Lord. We all sincerely wish him 'ad
multos annos." |
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GODOFREDO
ALDENHUIJSEN
PRIEST OF GOD
NIGHT had closed in early. Most
of the passengers were expecting
the storm which came clamoring
out of the southeast, its
towering waves slamming into the
forequarter of the 1,000-ton Ta-Ming,
a British freighter shuttling the
Hongkong-Manila route. The
stubborn ship heeled hard to
port, lurching sickeningly.
Standing brace-legged at the deck
was a 26-year-old priest on his
first mission assignment. Soon he
would return to his cabin, unable
to withstand the punishment of
the bobbing, Ta-Ming, to
curl up in bed as the sheets of
bliding rain and wind-driven
waves battered the ship. But at
the moment his thoughts were
about the Philippines, where some
of languages he still had to
iearn. He had studies Chinese for
five long years in the seminary
at Scheut, expecting to be sent
to a Belgian missionary
settlement in Mongolia, but now
the China coastline - Macao,
Chaochow, Foochow, Tsingtao - was
some 435 nautical miles away. The
Ta-Ming was furrowing
the swollen waters to the
Philippines.
Aboard the ship was a load of
sea-sick cattle and eight
European missionaries - Fathers
Hubaux, Runckelen, Achiles De
Grize, Maurize Van Overberg,
Giebens, Desamber, Verhelst and
Aldenhuijsen. This is the story
of one of them - Godofredo
Aldenhuijsen whose parishioners,
after close to four decades
curiously enough would still have
trouble pronouncing his full
name, yet whose person would mean
so much for he represents them
not only an individual, but a
family with roots in some far-off
land, a nation, a religion that
tells of the God Who rules the
Universe.
That Stormy voyages of the Ta-Ming
- which ffinally ended on a balmy
Sunday evening with the freighter
riding at anchor at the old
Muelle de las Industria - took
place exactly fifty years ago.
This year the 45,000 Catholics in
Paco will honor the man who is a
much a symbol of Paco as the
historic twin towers of the
church he has built. |
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