Josef Loerks

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Bishop Josef Lörks

Josef Lörks (born March 24, 1876 in Hanselaer ; † March 17, 1943 ) was a Steyler missionary , Catholic bishop and Apostolic Vicar of Central New Guinea . He was violently martyred by being shot on board the Akikaze .

Life

Origin, education and departure

Josef Lörks was born in Hanselaer as the son of the married couple Heinrich Lörks and Wilhelmine Lörks. Seegers was born on the Wayschen Hof. In Kalkar he attended the rectorate school and was accepted by Arnold Janssen on April 22nd, 1892 in the missions high school in the Missionshaus St. Michael in Steyl . Josef Lörks completed his philosophical and theological studies at the Missionshaus St. Gabriel near Vienna, where he also made his first temporary vows in 1897 and his perpetual vows on October 1, 1899.

On January 18, 1900 Josef Lörks received in Vienna the priesthood for the community of Divine Word Missionaries and entered in the same year his determination to missionary service in Guinea to. On August 12, 1900 the farewell party of the new missionaries took place in Steyl and on September 18, 1900 Josef Lörks boarded the steamer in Genoa with Franz Padberg in the direction of New Guinea.

Missionary in New Guinea

The north-eastern part of the island was at that time a colony of the German Empire and was called Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land , in German New Guinea . In addition to spiritual work, Lörks was also active in agriculture and temporarily managed a coconut plantation in Wewak . Working from the mission headquarters in Wewak, Lörks recognized the value of ships as a means of transport. That is why Lörks took his captain's license when he was at home in Hamburg and then sailed on the mission ship “St. Gabriel “ New Guinea coast and rivers to supply the islands and mission stations. With the experience he had gained, Lörks designed a new mission ship that was built in Sydney and began service in 1930 as the "Stella-Maris" . Father Lörks was not only a practical missionary, but also served the mission as procurator, captain and plantation manager.

Apostolic Prefect and Vicar of Central New Guinea

On June 19, 1928, Father Josef Lörks was appointed by the Apostolic See as the first Apostolic Prefect of Central New Guinea. From 1922 to 1928, Bishop Franz Wolf SVD administered the Apostolic Prefecture as Apostolic Administrator . Pope Pius XI appointed Josef Lörks on May 23, 1933 as Vicar Apostolic of the Catholic Mission now elevated to the Apostolic Vicariate of Central New Guinea. On December 17, 1933, Josef Lörks received the episcopal ordination with the titular diocese of Medeli from Cardinal Karl Joseph Schulte , the Archbishop of Cologne , in the seminary church of the St. Augustin Missionary Seminary near Bonn and became Vicar Apostolic of Central New Guinea , whose Prefect he had been since 1928 was. As a high church dignitary, Lörks actively helped in the missionary work and received high respect from the local population for this.

Japanese occupation and the tragedy on the Akikaze

Japanese forces landed in New Guinea and Wewak in late 1942 . The Japanese soldiers deeply distrusted the western missionaries and interrogated them. Lörks was wounded by a bayonet stab . Missionary work was further hampered because the strategically situated on a hill Missionshaus by Japanese officers had been seized. The deep distrust of the Japanese was based on the suspicion that the missionaries were secretly spies for the American armed forces . Mistrust and suspicion increased after the battle of the Bismarck Sea in March 1943, which was disastrous for Japan.

Imperial Japanese destroyer "Akikaze"

A short time later, an employee of Bishop Lörks, who had secretly supplied American prisoners of war with bandages and food, was betrayed by locals. In response, two priests were shot dead immediately. All other employees, including Lörks, were taken aboard the Japanese destroyer Akikaze under the pretext of deportation to their home countries . More evangelical missionaries were brought to the destroyer from Manus . On March 17th, the order was given to the destroyer's captain to execute all missionaries by shooting. Josef Lörks was the first to be executed; later the bodies were thrown into the sea.

The executions were initially covered up but were exposed in the course of other war crimes investigations in 1946. No prosecution took place.

Josef Lörks' neighboring German bishop Franziskus Wolf (SVD) also tragically died in Japanese captivity.

Honors

Josef Lörks is one of the martyrs in church history. The Catholic Church accepted Bishop Josef Lörks as a witness of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century .

The Catholic elementary school in Kalkar has been known as the “Josef Lörks School” since 1960.

literature

  • Theo Aerts (Ed.): The martyrs of Papua New Guinea: 333 missionary lives lost during World War II. University of Papua New Guinea Press, Port Moresby, 1994, 276 p., ISBN 9980-84-053-6 .
  • John Garrett: "Where nets were cast: Christianity in Oceania since World War II". University of the South Pacific, 1997, ISBN 9820201217 Chapter on the mission of the Steyler missionaries in New Guinea, with detailed information on the death of the German bishops Lörks and Wolf (in English).
  • Mary Taylor Huber: The Bishops' Progress: Representations of Missionary Experience on the Sepik Frontier. In: Nancy Lutkehaus (ed.): Sepik Heritage. Tradition and Change in Papua New Guinea , Crawford House Press: Bathurst, NSW (Australia) 1990, 663 pp. + 3 maps, ISBN 1-86333-014-3 , pp. 197-211.
  • Mary Taylor Huber: The Bishops' Progress. A Historical Ethnography of Catholic Missionary Experience on the Sepik Frontier. Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington and London 1988, 264 pp., ISBN 0-87474-544-6 .
  • David Carlisle, Stanley Sissons: THE AUSTRALIAN WAR CRIMES TRIALS ANDINVESTIGATIONS (1942–51). Papers of David Sissons, National Library of Australia, MS 3092, Series 10
  • Paul B. Steffen: Beginning of the mission in New Guinea. The beginnings of the Rhenish, Neuendettelsauer and Steyler missionary work in New Guinea. (Studia Instituti Missiologici 61), Steyler Verl .: Nettetal 1995, ISBN 3-8050-0351-X .
  • Paul B. Steffen: Steyler missionaries and missionary sisters (Society of the Divine Word / Servants of the Holy Spirit) in Papua New Guinea (1941–1945). In: Helmut Moll (ed. On behalf of the German Bishops' Conference), Witnesses for Christ. The German martyrology of the 20th century. Paderborn et al. 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Volume II, pp. 1475–1477.
  • Paul B. Steffen, Lörks, Joseph, Bischof (1876-1943). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon 35, Nordhausen 2014, 893–898, ISBN 978-3-88309-882-1 .
  • Ralph M. Wiltgen, The Death of Bishop Loerks and his companions. Part I: The Execution. In Verbum SVD 6: 4 (1964) 363-397.
  • Ralph M. Wiltgen, The Death of Bishop Loerks and his companions. Part II: The Trial. In: Verbum SVD 7: 1 (1965) 14-44.
  • Ralph M. Wiltgen, Apostle Death in New Guinea. The death of Bishop Lörks u. of his companions. Steyler Verl., St. Augustin 1966. 75 pp.

source

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Scheda personale: Josef Lörks in the Generalate Archives SVD, Rome, Italy
  2. ↑ see: Steyl , in: Steyler Missionsbote 27 (Sept. 1900) No. 12, p. 168.
  3. ↑ a b c Paul Steffen: Beginning of the mission in New Guinea. Nettetal 1995, p. 289.
  4. ↑ see: Acta Apostolicae Sedis (AAS) 21 (1929) p. 162.
  5. ↑ Acta Apostolicae Sedis (AAS) 25 (1933) 314, 376, 453.
  6. ↑ Ralph Wiltgen SVD: Apostle death in New Guinea. The death of Bishop Lörks u. of his companions. Steyler Verl., St. Augustin 1966.
  7. ↑ DCS Sissons: THE AUSTRALIAN WAR CRIMES TRIALS ANDINVESTIGATIONS (1942–51). P. 54
personal data
SURNAME Lörks, Josef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lörks, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Apostolic Vicar of Central New Guinea
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanselaer
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1943