Justice pioneer passes

by Dennis Coday on Mar. 17, 2010

Joe Winter, who writes for NCR on occasion from Wisconsin and Minnesota, sent the following this morning.

Milwaukee -- A priest turned married man who was at the cusp of the social justice movement in Milwaukee, especially as it struggled greatly with race relations, died March 3. He was 94.

Eugene Bleidorn said he battled in his own mind to mix the challenges and responsibilities of being a priest and later becoming a married man, and that he felt black people in this country get short shrift. Later in life, he took on the first-of-its-kind Wisconsin Works program that sought to essentially end welfare in the state. He was an investigator with the state Equal Rights Division, and an affirmative action officer for the State Vocational School System.

He often stated -- and wrote in his autobiography -- that he was especially moved in his first years as a priest while working alongside Fr. James Groppi and other civil rights activists at St. Boniface Parish in Milwaukee, where he first was assigned.

Read more here: Bleidorn wanted to serve all people

May the angels lead him into

Submitted by Jim McCrea (not verified) on Mar. 17, 2010.

May the angels lead him into paradise,
May the martyrs welcome him and take him into the holy city,
the new and eternal Jerusalem

May the choirs of angels welcome him where Lazarus is poor no longer.
May he find eternal rest.

In paradisum deducant te angeli,
in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.

Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere.
aeternam habeas requiem.

May the voice of angel chorus lift his soul to God's embrace,
May the martyrs come to welcome him and saints prepare a place
where all sorrows and all burdens melt before the tender
face of Christ's love who bestowed the cross of love.

May his loved ones bid him blessing,
As he welcome sister death.
May our Christ redeemer grace him with untold happiness,
In Jerusalem eternal, holy city of sweet rest,
He'll find love and unfold the cross of love.

May the Lord bless and keep him til his journey is complete,
May the face of God shine on him, God's gracious light increase.
May the Holy One with kindness look on him and give him peace,
Give him love for him walked the cross of love.

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