Fr. João Seabra

Message on the death of Fr. João Seabra

The priest who has long been leader of CL in Portugal died on June 3. Here follow the words of Davide Prosperi, President of the Fraternity, to our Portuguese friends:

Dear friends, I am certain that Fr. João’s life was fulfilled in the arms of Our Lady of Fatima whom he loved so much. As a priest in the prime of his life and career, he had met the “strange company” of the Movement, and with simplicity of heart he had questioned everything, but with the purpose of restoring his vocation in the footsteps of Fr. Giussani. By following Christ with him, he became a father to so many in Portugal, with an audacity and exuberance that left no one indifferent; he touched ordinary people and great personalities, who found in him an interlocutor equal to their questions.

With his life he witnessed what Christ can do with the “yes” of the one who allows himself to be grasped by Him: a new protagonist on the world scene, even in the time of his long illness.
We ask not to disperse the gift he was to the whole Movement. Now that he can see everything, we ask Fr. João to accompany from Heaven the journey of our Fraternity in the discovery of “Christ, the life of life,” which is now a total experience for him.
With affection

Davide Prosperi