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The actual funeral was held four days
earlier in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Memorial eucharist and service took
place on Saturday afternoon, June 19 at Loyola House in Guelph, Ontario.
On the cover of the memorial flyer were these lines and this image:
In
loving memory of a wonderful person whose passover
While contemplating on the parable of the Prodigal Son, my heart stayed
at the line "He ran to the boy, clasped him and kissed him tenderly" (Lk
15:20). For some strange reason, Fr. John English, whom I had never met
in person, became the boy. He was being held tightly and welcomed affectionately
by God. Trying to sketch this image is, in the end, a rewarding experience.
(click small images to enlarge in separate window)
In a letter to Vicky about the above sketch Jim Profit wrote: "It was great
to meet you (at the memorial service), though so little time to really
talk. Hopefully that will come soon. Your sketch of John English was also
on the programme of the Winnipeg funeral. Apparently, John had this sketch
in his room, and it was by the casket as well during the wake. So, thank-you
very much for this. It obviously captured something of John that resonated
with many of us.
Accompanied by guitar and flute the community
sang with exuberance. The leader of our assembly was Jean-Marc LaPorte,
SJ, John's provincial superior, assisted by James Profit, SJ and J P Horrigan,
SJ. During the homily Jim Profit SJ, Margaret Kane, CSJ and Peter Peloso
shared their memories of their close relationship with John over the years.
"Honey" was there -- the IHM sister from 1969 and the first May/June Spiritual
Exercises Institute who dubbed John "Iron John," a name that was to stick
right to the end. It summarized John's insistent belief in the efficacy
of the Exercises text. Valeria Zaduk, the first full time secretary of
Loyola House and of the original institute was there. John Haley who worked
for years with John English and who softened some of Iron John's rhetoric
was there. It was wonderful to see so many people from the past and present
CLC members, women, men, priests and religious in one experiential moment
of communal remembering.
Towards the end of the liturgy we were all invited to express in one word or phrase some one thing about John for which we were most grateful. "The celebration was moving. All the reflections and one-word, one-line gratitude told me about this spiritual giant whom I had never met but had connected mentally through his writings and his influence...." And then we went outside and planted a tree in John's honour. We poured around its base, the soil from John's resting place in Winnipeg and from the Ignatius College property.
The Details Of John English's Death And Funeral |
