Father Herman Bommer S.M.A. passed away

Father Herman Bommer SMA passed away on April 15th at the "De Berkenhof" nursing home in Berkhout near Hoorn. He was 84 years old. Father Bommer had been in need of care for quite some time. The funeral will be held on April 21st in De Rijp, where he served as pastor for many years.

Herman Bommer was born on April 3, 1937, in Schagen, North Holland. He joined the SMA in May 1962 and was ordained a priest in December of that same year. After his ordination, he was sent as a missionary to Ghana, where he worked as a parish priest until 1968. In 1968, he temporarily returned to the Netherlands and worked as an assistant in parishes in Leeuwarden and Eindhoven. From 1969 to 1970, he studied theology at the Catholic University of Leuven. He then returned to Ghana to work as a missionary in various locations.

In 1976, Father Bommer returned to the Netherlands to become secretary of the catechetical institute at the University of Nijmegen. He held this position until 1980, when he left for England to work for several years at training institutes there. Between 1994 and 1997, he worked in parish ministry in Leeuwarden, before returning to England for two years.

In 1999, Father Bommer returned permanently to the Netherlands and became pastor of De Rijp in North Holland. Although he retired in 2006, Father Bommer continued to live in De Rijp. In 2014, he moved to De Berkenhof in Berkhout, where he died on April 15. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the funeral will be held privately.