“These remarkable men call to mind the Holy Father’s wish to ‘praise the courageous fidelity of priests who, even amid difficulties and incomprehension, remain faithful to their vocation’.
“May their example be an inspiration to us all and a world thirsting for God.”
– Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, Foreword to Heroic Priests
Heroic Priests
Witnesses of Faith in the 21st Century
Heroic Priests recounts the stories of 12 men who, in our own times, have given outstanding service to God and his people in the face of great adversity. Some of them laid down their lives as modern-day martyrs.
Courageous in their pastoral concern and determined in their struggle to bring Christ to the world, each priest in this collection represents a unique witness to faith. They represent so many priests, both living and dead, who have devoted humble and fearless lives of faithful service to God.
Author John Pontifex writes in his introduction: “Each of the accounts is above all an outstanding testimony to priesthood in a troubled world.
“Many of those described were priests who made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives for the faith they professed and the people they served. Their stories go to show that the new millennium is already overshadowed by persecution.
“In many cases, the priests are beginning to be hailed as martyrs by those whose lives they touched the most.”
On this page, you can read a short portrait of each of these 12 contemporary heroes of the Church – many of whom Aid to the Church in Need has worked most closely with in our mission to help persecuted and suffering Christians. If you would like to read their full stories, you can buy Heroic Priests for just £1.95 (plus P+P) in our online shop.
Vasyl Semenyuk, Ukraine
Vasyl Semenyuk is one of the unsung heroes of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Battling to keep the Catholic Faith alive during the communist era, he took over responsibility for training seminarians when the Church was still underground.
Under the communists all the bishops of the Church died in prison, with the exception of Cardinal Josyf Slipyj.
While hearing confession in a forest in the middle of the night, Vasyl was almost arrested by the KGB. The people hid him and dressed him as a woman so he could escape through the crowd.
Bishop Vasyl has led the faithful in Ukraine out of the darkness of communism, thanks in no small part to the support and solidarity of Aid to the Church in Need’s benefactors.
Richard Ho Lung, Jamaica
Richard Ho Lung is very simply a servant of the poor. Moved by the plight of the destitute in Jamaica, where he grew up, his work bringing hope to the suffering led him to found a religious community – the Brothers of the Poor.
The order now has more than 550 missionaries, and centres in the Philippines, Uganda, the USA, India and Haiti. Thanks to you, Aid to the Church in Need is able to support their vital work.
Father Richard’s efforts have brought recognition in the award of the Order of Jamaica, one of the country’s highest honours, which he received for services to the poor and destitute.
He has also won recognition in Jamaica for his music, poetry, playwriting and academic work.
Ragheed Ganni, Iraq
Ragheed Ganni became a martyr to the Faith in Iraq in 2007, aged just 35. He was gunned down by armed men as he left his church in Mosul after saying Mass, along with three subdeacons, because he had refused to bow to extremist pressure to close the church.
Father Ragheed had put himself in the firing line. He had been studying in Rome, but chose to return to Iraq in 2003 to serve his people.
His presence was a rare source of hope in an ever-worsening crisis, as Islamist extremists targeted Mosul’s Christians in a campaign of fear, intimidation and murder.
A close friend paid tribute to Father Ragheed, writing: “You have died so that Christ would be raised up in you despite the sufferings, sorrows, despite the chaos and despite the madness.”
Michael Shields, Russia
When Michael Shields, a Brother of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, left Alaska for the equally freezing climes of Magadan in Siberia, he was answering a call to “Go, live in the camps”. These camps were the Soviet gulags, where millions of ‘enemies of the state’ were sent.
His mission there has been to help heal the wounds of the survivors and to preserve their stories for history, for “the stories must be told for all to see the truth of the repression,” he believes. You can read some of these stories in Aid to the Church in Need’s book, Martyrs of Magadan.
Father Mike also felt a special call to reach out to women who had undergone abortions – some as many as 20 times, with abortion rife as a form of birth control in the region.
His pro-life work has led the government to encourage him in supporting pregnant mothers, as they seek to arrest a critically falling birth rate in Russia.
Andrea Santoro, Turkey
Andrea Santoro’s sudden and violent death in 2006 brought to an end a life dedicated to reaching out to those abandoned by society and to bringing about greater inter-religious understanding in a climate of intolerance. It was a life that earned the tributes of Pope Benedict XVI himself.
Born in Italy, Father Andrea worked as a priest in Rome before moving to Turkey to be “a Christian presence” in a land with few faithful but deep Christian roots.
There he worked with prostitutes and other disadvantaged people. He also established the Window on the Middle East – which promoted inter-religious dialogue, prayer and study as a way to greater cooperation between the West and the Middle East.
Father Andrea was shot dead while praying in his church by a 16-year-old Islamic fundamentalist – whereupon the Holy Father prayed that his death might sow “seeds of hope for building true brotherhood among peoples”.
Benigno Beltran, Philippines
Benigno Beltran is literally the parish priest to a rubbish dump – Manila’s notorious Smokey Mountain, which is made up of some two million tonnes of waste. For more than 30 years, he has ministered to around 30,000 people who survive as scavengers on the dump.
Bringing spiritual succour to the people – “The Mass helps give them back hope,” he says – remains the cornerstone of his work, but Father Ben has also brought hope to this impoverished community in other ways.
He managed to secure national and intenational support for his ambitious schooling and clean water programmes, and oversaw the building of permanent structures to replace the squatter shacks.
He has built a church out of recycled materials, which also doubles as a centre for computer training, teaching e-business. The church even has a recycling business among its many technology-based projects.
Joseph Coutts, Pakistan
Joseph Coutts knows that in a country increasingly beset by violence successful interfaith dialogue can make the difference between life and death for Pakistan’s Christians. Ignoring death threats, he has defended the rights of his faithful in a situation of increasing hostility to Christians and worked hard to improve relations with Muslims.
In particular, Bishop Joe has spoken out vehemently against Pakistan’s notorious Blasphemy Laws, which are open to abuse and false accusations. Whipped into a frenzy, mob rule applies, he says. “Nobody will stop to ask if the allegation is true.”
Bishop Joe places his hopes for a better future in religious dialogue. He has worked tirelessly to develop interfaith initiatives, meetings and joint ventures to break down divisions between Christians and Muslims.
“We live in a state of constant tension but even in our suffering we witness to Christ,” he says.
Listen to Bishop Joseph Coutts’s keynote address at Westminster Cathedral in October 2009
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John Han Dingxiang, China
A fearless defender of the Church’s right to independence from the Chinese State, Bishop John Han Dingxiang spent a total of 30 years in custody for his loyalty to the Holy See. By the time of his death in September 2007, his witness of faith and defiant courage in the face of terrible hardship and persecution had elevated him to martyr status to his people.
Upon his death, the authorities cremated and buried his body without a funeral, and his tombstone made no mention of his being a bishop.
Along with so many other faithful, Bishop John put his life on the line by refusing to be cowed by the communist government, but rather steadfastly resisting all government interference as a member of the ‘Underground’ Catholic Church.
He served more than 30 years in forced labour camps, prisons and under house arrest for the ‘counter-revolutionary’ and ‘unpatriotic’ activity of ministering to his flock. Even in prison, he served them – the picture above shows him holding aloft a crucifix from the balcony of his cell to a hidden video camera.
Daniel Adwok, Sudan
Daniel Adwok has devoted his life to supporting and defending the faithful in the Sudan in the face of abject poverty and persecution against Christians. In a region deeply affected by militant Islam, his steely determination and courageous outspokenness have inspired his beleaguered people.
For much of the 1983-2005 civil war, Father Daniel’s priestly ministry was concerned with ministering to the destitute, coordinating food supplies and distributing vital help to the neediest, as well as setting up a refuge for some 2,500 people.
Such was his commitment to his work that when the call to become bishop came, he wished to refuse. A visit from the nuncio saw him relent, on pain of obedience.
As Auxiliary Bishop of Khartoum, he has resisted the oppression of the government, and seen the city’s faithful grow from 50,000 to more than million. Bishop Daniel also plays a key role in Cardinal Gabriel Zubeir Wako’s Save the Saveable schools scheme.
Bernard Digal, India
During the vicious anti-Christian violence in Orissa, eastern India, in Summer 2008, Bernard Digal was brutally attacked and left for dead. Discovered the next morning, he was rushed to hospital but died from his injuries two months later. After his death, his bishop declared that he had been given a “martyr’s crown”.
In 16 years as a priest, Father Bernard had served across the diocese as parish priest, vocations director, director of youth ministry and finance manager. He had a strong devotion to Mary, seeking refuge in her in moments of despair.
His suffering did not blunt his care for the people. “Whilst I am being treated here, my people are hiding in the forest and even there, there is no security,” he said shortly before his death.
Father Bernard was the only priest to die in the Orissa attacks – but more than 70 faithful also lost their lives.
Frano Dusaj, Montenegro
When Frano Dusaj made a near-miraculous recovery from a brain tumour, he resolved to “work even harder for Jesus”. As a Franciscan, he decided he would work tirelessly for “the poorest of the poor” and fulfil his avowed obligation “to feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty”.
His first undertaking was a literal interpretation of this duty – he established a mobile water tank that transports water to people where there are shortages, 2,500 gallons at a time.
His biggest success is a large pastoral centre providing catechesis and spiritual support in a region strongly marked by atheistic communism. The centre is also central to efforts to persuade people to stay in the region – two thirds of the population had previously emigrated in search of a better life.
Father Frano said: “I am not a hero – rather I have always believed and still believe that this is God’s work, and I believe that God is alive and that he wants his Kingdom to be built.”
Peter Shekelton, Brazil
Working in the depths of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, Yorkshireman Peter Shekelton is a true missionary, travelling to remote villages along the banks of a tributary of the River Amazon to bring the Gospel and the Sacraments to people who have no other access to a priest.
Father Peter realised his vocation at an appeal in London’s Westminster Cathedral given by the late Father Werenfried van Straaten, founder of Aid to the Church in Need.
Father Werenfried said he would willingly give up the collection at the Mass if just one person would answer God’s call. Father Peter recently wrote to Aid to the Church in Need, saying: “At that time, I didn’t dare ask Father Werenfried for the collection, but today I am asking you for a little of the money from the collection from back then.”
Thanks to you, we have been able to help Father Peter with the cost of his boat – so that he can continue his work with Brazil’s poor, both in the rainforest and in the slums of São Paolo, where he works with people living in the midst of crime, prostitution and drug addiction.