born: 26.03.1925
first profession: 08.09.1944
ordained: 19.03.1950
consecrated bishop of Helsinki, Finland 16.08.1964
died 19.02.2000 at Helsinki

News of sadness
 

It is with great sorrow that we announce the death of Bishop Paul Verschuren, scj, on 19 February in his home in Helsinki. Present were Fathers Jan Aarts scj, Wieslaw Swiech scj and some close friends.

Bishop Verschuren was born on 26 March 1925 in Breda, Holland. In 1944 he joined the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart. He was ordained a priest in 1950; he was ordained Bishop in 1964 in St. Henrik's Cathedral in Helsinki. As of 1967 he served as Ordinary of the Helsinki Dioecese. When he fell ill with leukemia in 1998, the Pope released Bishop Verschuren from his duties at his own request.

Bishop Paul Verschuren participated in the final sessions of the Second Vatican Council and the great legacy of his bishopric was to introduce and implement the results of the Council in his diocese. Out of his clear, Catholic identity he contributed significantly to the ecumenical development in the Church.

Bishop Verschuren experienced his illness as a final way to prepare for death and to meet Our Lord. In one of his last conversations he said that what is left in the end is the love people show for one another and the grace of God. What will remain as a living memory for us is the love with which he served his Church faithfully, and we pray that he may receive the grace of eternal light and life.

The Requiem Mass will be held at St. Henrik's Cathedral in Helsinki on 29 February at 10 a.m. The burial will take place on the same day at the Catholic Cemetery in Turku.

On behalf of the Helsinki Diocese,
SCJ Congregation
and his family.

Jan Aarts, scj
Administrator of the Diocese