IMAGE: CNS photo/Catholic Advance
By Christopher M. Riggs
WICHITA, Kan. (CNS) — Brian Bergkamp,
a seminarian from the Diocese of Wichita who was studying at a Maryland
seminary, is believed dead after saving the life of a woman who fell into the
Arkansas River July 9.
By mid-day July 12, he remained
missing. Friends and family members remember were holding vigils to pray for
the recovery of his body.
Bergkamp, 24, was among five
people traveling in separate kayaks when all got caught in turbulent waters.
According to The Wichita Eagle newspaper, Bergkamp jumped from his kayak to
save the woman before getting pulled under himself. He was not wearing a life
jacket. The other kayakers made it to shore.
“I knew Brian to be an
exceptional seminarian, well on his way to demonstrating so many of the
qualities needed to be a good and faithful priest,” Wichita Bishop Carl A.
Kemme wrote in an email to The Catholic Advance, the diocesan newspaper. “I
personally looked forward to the day when I might be able to ordain him.”
Bishop Kemme said Bergkamp was
quiet, dedicated, diligent in his work and studies, and presented himself
always with a sense of decorum and maturity, well beyond his years. “I was
looking forward to how God would use him as a priest in the Diocese of Wichita.
Now, we must all mourn his much anticipated ministry and the many fruits we all
knew would be abundant by his priestly life and ministry.”
Life on this side of heaven is
full of mysteries, contradictions and ironies, Bishop Kemme said. “Brian’s
untimely death is full of these mysteries, which must wait until heaven to be
solved.”
Bergkamp had just finished his second year at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, which is in
the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He is the son of Ned and Theresa Bergkamp of
Garden Plain and would have been ordained to the transitional diaconate at the
end of the upcoming school year. His brother, Andy, was ordained to the
transitional diaconate in May. He is preparing for the
priesthood for the Diocese of Wichita at Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois.
“Brian’s death is a great
tragedy and a great loss, not only for his family and friends,” said Baltimore Archbishop
William E. Lori, “but to all who knew him and to the church he was so
generously seeking to serve.”
In an email to the Catholic
Review, Baltimore’s archdiocesan news outlet, Archbishop Lori said Bergkamp’s
“heroic and brave actions” speak to the “great character and to the wonderful
priest I’m sure he would have become.”
“Though his dream of serving
others as a priest is no longer possible,” Archbishop Lori said, “Brian
continues to bless others through his selfless example and legacy.”
Msgr. Andrew Baker, rector of
the seminary, remembered Bergkamp as a “quiet, but very effective leader.”
“He was a thoughtful and
prayerful young man,” Msgr. Baker told the Catholic Review. “He was extremely
reliable and hardworking.”
Bergkamp had served as a
sacristan at Mount St. Mary’s, the priest said.
The circumstances of Bergkamp’s
death show that he knew the depth of what it meant to be a Christian and a
priest, Msgr. Baker said.
“It was self-giving love,” he
explained. “He didn’t have to think twice before he acted (to save another’s
life).”
Seminarians and the entire Mount
St. Mary’s community were taking Bergkamp’s death “very hard,” the priest
added.
Derek Thome, a seminarian at
Mount St. Mary’s Seminary from Viola, Kansas, said Bergkamp was a man of
dedication with a big heart who would do just about anything for anyone — as
long as it would help them.
“It didn’t matter what he had
going on, his life was spent thinking of others first,” he told The Catholic
Advance. “Brian died doing what he went to seminary for, to save souls.”
Bergkamp did so many things
around the seminary, Thome said, adding that he was always keeping busy fixing
things. “The joke goes that Brian was the only reason the seminary building
still stands!”
Bergkamp showed a true priestly
quality in his last moments, Bishop Kemme said, apparently saving the life of
another while risking his own. “This all took place on the weekend when we
heard the parable of the good Samaritan. Brian was living that parable in his
last moments. No one could ever hope for or expect a greater homily than this!”
In addition to keeping
Bergkamp’s family in prayer, Bishop Kemme asked the faithful to keep all of the
diocese’s seminarians and priests in their prayers. “Pray fervently for more
seminarians like Brian, so that others will come to take his place. More than
likely, Brian’s heavenly service will help to make this happen, according to
God’s providence.”
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Riggs is editor of The Catholic
Advance, newspaper of the Diocese of Wichita. Contributing to this story was
George M. Matysek in Baltimore.
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