Franz Maurer

Father Maurer in Rwanda, April 1986

Father Franz Alois Maurer (born April 16, 1929 in Schiffweiler / Saarland, † June 26, 2005 in Dillingen / Saarland) was a missionary of the White Fathers and development workers.

Franz Maurer was born in 1929 as the first of eight siblings in Schiffweiler / Saarland. His father Alois Peter Maurer was a pit fitter, his mother Maria Maurer, b. Schöneberger, housewife.

Youth and education

From 1942 to 1946 he attended the state high school in St. Wendel and from there came to the White Fathers in Großkrotzenburg, where he graduated from high school in 1951. After studying philosophy in Trier, he went to the novitiate in the Algerian Maison Carrée and continued to study theology in Thibar.

He made his perpetual profession in Carthago and was ordained a priest on October 19, 1957. In 1958 he was posted to Rwanda . Before that, he first had to study in Belgium for a year to get permission from the Belgian colonial administration to become a school inspector in the Diocese of Ruhengeri .

Work in Rwanda

In 1959 he arrived in Rwanda and studied the native language Kinyarwanda in Rwasa . For decades he lived in the bishop's house in Ruhengeri and was the right-hand man of the bishop, whom he often accompanied on his travels in Europe. At the same time he exercised a wide variety of functions in the diocese.

As a school inspector, he initiated the construction of the first girls' high school in Rwanda in 1962. He was the diocesan pastor for the teachers. He operated a change in the school system at that time and advocated an orientation level which, after the eighth year of elementary school, provided for a specialization in agricultural and craft teaching content. As the head of the Diocesan Caritas Association, he was involved in development aid with support from Rhineland-Palatinate, founded various cooperatives to raise the standard of living of the farmers, and began growing potatoes and the previously unknown livestock farming. The fertilization of the fields that this made possible helped to increase crop yields.

In the parish of Kampanga, Father Franz Maurer participated in the parish work. The establishment of base churches was a priority for him because he knew that these faith groups particularly corresponded to the mentality of the population.

Health problems such as malaria were his constant companions, but he ignored them at work.

Work in Europe

In 1991 Franz Maurer returned to Europe. He was superior of the mission house in Hörstel and was intensively involved in setting up the Africa Center in Berlin, which opened in 1996. Later he was in Axams / Austria for a short time until this house was closed. Until his death he was in the monastery in Dillingen in Saarland. In addition, he was in contact with many Rwandan groups in Belgium, Austria and Germany and had contact with the representation of the state government in Rhineland-Palatinate , which has a partnership with Rwanda. To support projects, he also traveled to these countries to give lectures.

He died on June 26, 2005 in Dillingen / Saarland at the age of 76. On Friday, July 1, 2005, he was buried in his home town of Schiffweiler with the participation of some Rwandans in exile.

Awards

• In 1989 the Federal President awarded him the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of his special services to the people and the state .
• 1988 Order of Merit of the Republic of Rwanda

Stations

• September 4, 1959: Vicar in Rwaza, D.Kabgay, Rwanda
• July 1, 1964: School inspector in Ruhengeri, Rwanda
• March 1, 1965: Rwaza, Rwanda
• September 1, 1965: Muyanza Foundation, Ruhengeri Diocese, Rwanda
• May 1, 1968: Superior in Muyanza, Rwanda
• May 18, 1971: Resp.:CDD Ruhengeri, Evêché, Rwanda
• May 25, 1988: Awarded the Ordre Nat./Paix (Rwanda)
• October 3, 1989: Award of the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon
• June 20, 1991: Appointed to Trier, Germany
• June 1, 1992: Superior in Hörstel, Germany
• June 22, 1994: Superior of the Africa Center in Berlin, Germany
• July 1, 1997: Appointed to Axams, Austria
• November 1, 1998: Appointed to Dillingen, Saarland

Others

His motto was: "Rejoice and rejoice: Your reward in heaven will be great" (Mt. 5:12)

In Belgium there is a Pater Maurer Foundation that finances education for children and young people in Rwanda (in Rwanda, for example, students have to pay school fees).