In memoriam...

Estérençuby (France),31 August 1932 - Cornebarrieu (France), 4 April 2016

Dear Father Dominic or Brother Dominic (as I used to like calling you)

Here we are together this afternoon with your nephew and niece, the Betharram community, our priests and the priests of the neighbouring parishes who knew you well and appreciated you together with the Christian community of Pibrac-Brax.  We are here to say a final Adieu and to entrust you to our Heavenly Father. Your death fills us all with sadness because we were fond of you. Each one of us here can bear witness to all that he received thanks to you.  Your discretion will probably take a knock but we all want to recall what has deeply touched us particularly at this moment when you are leaving us.  Let us first of all recall the principal lines of your life as a religious and priest in the Congregation of the priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Betharram. Your ministry began in Sidi Bel Abbes where you spent 10 years.  You made your Vows in 1952 and you were ordained priest in 1962.  After your mission in Sidi Bel Abbes you spent more than 40 years in the diocese of Limoges where you held many positions of responsibility: Religious Education for the children, the Pastoral Care of the Sick and Disabled, and with “Secours Catholique”.  Like Christ you were especially drawn towards the little ones, the poor, the rejects of our society, but also towards those feeling themselves vulnerable, were greatly in need of God’s Mercy and, through you, needed a smile, an attentive ear, goodness and a word of advice to help them to have the courage to pick themselves up and go forward.

In 1996 while you were on a formation course to prepare you better for today’s world you had a heart attack which kept you two months in the clinic at St Orens to recover you strength.
In 2011 you spent the year in Pau and in 2012 we welcomed you to our parish Pibrac-Brax; you were celebrating your Golden Jubilee as priest and the next day the community was celebrating your 80th birthday!  Because of your kindness and cordiality we quickly made you one of our own!  Those four years spent with you have been good for us.

Your age and state of health prevented you form assuming heavy responsibilities, but you were available for all those who needed a friendly ear and the sacraments which we could  celebrate with you.  Thanks to your special charism many of us benefited by the sacrament of reconciliation.  You wanted us to begin by thanking God for all that was good in our lives.  With such a positive look it was easier for us to confess our faults and failings.  Full of trust in the future we could go forward once more.  You were attentive to the residents, old and sick, in the Care Homes at La Houlette, l’Oree de Bouconne as well as our own Care Homes here in Pibrac-Brax where you paid many welcome visits.  For Father Dominic it was important to know the Christian names of each person and he didn’t forget them!  He spared neither his time nor his efforts to go and visit  the sick.

He liked an open Church where all felt accepted as the children of the same Father.  For the last few years he could no  longer celebrate like before but on Sundays he still liked to proclaim the Word of God in the Gospel, and he liked to be part of the discussions on the Word which we had one Thursday a month.

Prayer and adoration were important for him as a priest and a religious and they inspired his whole mission.  For the children who knew him well he was the “good father” whom they trusted and who showed them the unswerving love of God our Father.

There is so much more that we could say about our dear Father Dominic .... But he never liked flattery!

Before he leaves us for his final resting place we want to thank from our hearts for his Mission here among us.

Dear Father Dominic, for us you have been a father, a brother and a friend.

Full of trust and gratitude we wish you “A DIEU” and may the Lord receive you in his joy, peace and love.

Someone from a parish said “A light has returned to the Light”!  May this light for ever enlighten our pathway.  Amen.

Françoise Grimaud