Henry Volken
Henry Volken (born April 17, 1925 in Zermatt , † May 3, 2000 in Fiesch ) was a Swiss Jesuit .
The doctor of theology and sociologist was committed to social issues and the mission of the people of the Indian subcontinent.
Childhood and youth
Henry Volken grew up as the third of twelve children and spent the first six years of his life in Zermatt until his father, a doctor, moved his practice to his home town of Fiesch . After primary school, Henry Volken first attended the college in Brig , then the grammar school in St. Maurice .
engagement
After finishing school, Henry Volken joined the Jesuit order and decided early on to become involved in India . In 1948 Father Volken traveled to India with his confreres Hermann Bacher , Hans Belser , Dominik Zemp and Emil Baumann . In Bombay he learned the Marathi language .
He was ordained a priest on May 23, 1956 in St. Xavers Church in Pune .
From 1964 Father Volken SJ worked in the refugee camps of Assam , where around 170,000 Hindus had fled from eastern Pakistan . After staying in Delhi , he settled in Bangalore in southern India . He built the Indian Social Institute (ISI) and headed it for twelve years. He and his team trained hundreds of social workers .
After the liberation of 2,000 serfs in the Indian state of Orissa in 1984, Father Volken SJ left India after 36 years and worked for eight years as the head of the Secretariat for Social Justice in the Jesuit Order Center in Rome .
In 1992 Father Volken returned to his homeland in Switzerland and worked as pastor of the German-speaking parish of St. Boniface in Geneva. He also acted as President of the Committee for Development Aid of NGOs and the representative of the Community of Christian Life at the UN .
He died on May 3, 2000 with his relatives in Fiesch as a result of a brain tumor.
Works
- Moving closer to the rural poor , Henry Volken Memorial Lecture Bangalore, 1979
- Learning from the rural poor ; Henry Volken Memorial Lecture Bangalore, 1985
Web links
- The Jesuit Social Institute celebrates its 50th birthday on jesuiten-weltweit.ch, accessed on January 18, 2015
- A life for the poor Rhone newspaper of July 17, 2013, accessed on January 18, 2015.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Folks, Henry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Volken, Heinrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss Jesuit |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 17, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zermatt |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 3, 2000 |
| Place of death | Fiesch |