Father Pieter Bootsma S.M.A. passed away

Father Pieter Bootsma SMA passed away on Thursday, April 18, in Maastricht. His health had been declining recently. Father Bootsma was 98 and had been a priest for almost 70 years. The funeral will be held on Wednesday, April 24, in Bemelen.

Petrus (Pieter) Bootsma was born on February 5, 1926, in Tirns, Friesland. In 1950, he joined the Society for African Missions. On July 16, 1954, he was ordained a priest. That same year, he was sent to Winneba in present-day Ghana. After a year of integration, he was appointed chaplain in Kumasi in 1955 and a year later in Bekwai. From 1956 to 1964, he was rector of a preparatory program for seminarians and also pastor of Jamasi.

In 1964, Bootsma was called back to the Netherlands to become spiritual director of the SMA seminary in Aalbeek. He remained in this position until 1968, when he became a student chaplain. From 1967 to 1969, he also served as the house economist in Aalbeek. In 1969, Father Bootsma returned to Africa, where he would remain active as a missionary for 40 years.

From 1969 to 1997, Bootsma worked as a pastor in Sampa, Sunyani diocese. From 1997 to 2005, he was bursar of the regional SMA house in Winneba. Finally, he worked for four years in Nkoranza. In 2009, at the age of 83, he returned to the Netherlands permanently and took up residence in the Mission House in Cadier en Keer. Due to declining health, he lived for the last five years at Huize De Beyart in Maastricht, where he died on April 18.

The funeral service will be held on Wednesday, April 24th, at 2:00 PM at the St. Laurentius Church in Bemelen. Burial will follow in the missionary cemetery at the Mission House in Cadier en Keer.