As far as we know the total number of Catholic priests, men and women religious and seminarians killed during 2009 was 37, the highest number in the last 10 years and nearly double the number reported in 2008. There were 30 priests, 2 religious sisters, 2 seminarians, and 3 lay volunteers.
Our list does not only include the names of missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense, but all pastoral workers who died a violent death. We choose not to refer to these persons as ‘martyrs’, since it is up to the Church to judge their possible merits, and also because of the scarcity of available information in most of cases, with regard to their life and even the circumstances of their death.
Fr Joseph Bertaina, Italian, of the Consolata Missionaries, was killed on the morning of 16 January 2009, in his office in Langata, at the Institute of Philosophy of the Consolata Missionaries in Nairobi, Kenya.
Fr Eduardo de la Fuente Serrano, 61 years old, was found stabbed to death on 14 February 2009, in an area northwest of Havana (Cuba).
Fr Juan Gonzalo Aristizabal Isaza, a Colombian priest, 62 years old, was killed 22 February, 2009. His body was found inside the car he owned, abandoned on the regional highway.
Fr Daniel Matsela Mahula, of the Diocese of Klerksdorp (South Africa), aged 27, was killed while driving his car, by four highway bandits near Bloemhof, 27 February 2009. He ministered at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Jouberton.
Fr Lionel Sham, age 66, pastor in Mohlakeng (Archdiocese of Johannesburg, South Africa), was killed 7 March 2009, after being abducted from his home in Mohlakeng.
Fr Révocat Gahimbare, pastor of the parish of Karuzi, Burundi, was killed on 8 March 2009, by four bandits dressed as policemen, who had robbed the monastery of the ‘Bene Maria’ Sisters. Having learned of the assault, Fr Gahimbare rushed to the rescue of the religious, but was ambushed and shot dead by bandits.
Fr Gabriel Fernando Montoya Tamayo (age 40) and Fr Jesús Ariel Jiménez (45 years) were two Redemptorist priests, killed on the night of 16 March 2009 in Colombia.
Fr Ramiro Luden, 64, was shot and killed on 20 March 2009 in Recife, northeast Brazil, where the Spanish priest had worked for 34 years in an association for street children.
Fr Lorenzo Rosebaugh, age 74, an American priest of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), was killed in Guatemala on 18 May 2009. Two armed men stopped a car driven by Fr Rosebaugh, who was traveling with four other priests, all of them Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI). They killed Fr Rosebaugh and seriously injuring Fr Jean Claude Nowama, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fr Ernst Plöchl, an Austrian, age 78, of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill was killed in the Cape Province of South Africa. The missionary, who had been in South Africa for over 40 years, was found strangled on the morning of 31 May 2009, in the isolated mission station of Maria Zell.
Jorge Humberto Echeverri Garro, age 40, professor and pastoral worker, on 11 June 2009 was in Colonos, Panama Arauca (Colombia), to attend a pastoral meeting, during which a group of guerrillas shot and killed him.
Fr Habacuc Benítez Hernández, 39, and the young seminarians Oregon Eduardo Benitez, 19, and Silvestre Gonzalez Cambron, 21, all Mexicans, were murdered on their way to a meeting for pastoral care of vocations, on 13 June 2009, in the municipality of Arcelia, in Tierra Caliente (Guerrero).
Fr Gisley Azevedo Gomes, CSS, age 31, National Leader of the Youth Section of the Bishops' Conference of Brazil (CNBB), was killed on 15 June 2009. ‘In a regrettable way - the bishops said – he was the victim of the violence that wanted to fight against.’
Fr Mariano Arroyo Merino, a native of Spain, age 74, was found dead in his parish at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rule in Cuba, on 13 July 2009. The attackers stabbed Fr Arroyo and then set him on fire.
Ricky Sukaka Agus, 27, a Congolese Caritas worker, was killed on the afternoon of July 15, 2009 in Musezero in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Caritas Internationalis has condemned ‘the brutal murder of a young man who worked bravely in a war zone to help others rebuild their lives.’
Fr Mukalel James, age 39, was found dead near Mangalore, (State of Karnataka) in southern India. On 29 July, in his last hours before death, according to his usual pastoral duties, the priest had visited some families, dined in a monastery, and celebrated a funeral.
Fr Leopoldo Cruz, a Salvadoran Redemptorist found August 24, 2009 in a canal in a rural area of El Salvador. It is difficult to determine the exact cause and date of death
Fr Cecilio Lucero, Filipino, age 48, was killed September 6, 2009 by a group of armed men in the Northern Samar province, south of the capital, Manila (Philippines). According to local police, the priest was traveling in his car when he was stopped by over 30 people who opened fire, killing him instantly. Two other people were in the vehicle with him and were seriously wounded.
Fr Roger Ruvoletto, Italian Fidei donum missionary, age 52, was shot in the head and killed 19 September 2009, in his parish in Brazil.
Fr Evaldo Martiol (33) of the Diocese of Cacador (Brazil), was killed in Santa Caterina on the evening of 26 September 2009 by two young men, age 21 and 15, respectively uncle and nephew. The priest was the victim of a robbery that ended in murder.
Fr Danilo Oscar Cardozo was found on September 27, 2009 in the parish rectory of St. Louis Marie de Montfort to Villavicencio (Colombia), of which he was pastor from 2003. Most likely the assassins were known to the priest.
William Quijano, 21, of the Community of St. Egidio in El Salvador, was shot to death by gunshots while returning home on the evening of 28 September 2009. The assassins were members of one of the many violent organized gangs formed by young people in poor neighborhoods of Central America.
Don Ed Hinds, Pastor of St. Patrick Church in Chatham, New Jersey (USA), was found with numerous stab wounds on the morning of 24 October 2009.
Fr Louis Jousseaume, 70, native of the Diocese of Lucon (France) was attacked and murdered on the evening of 26 October 2009 by one of the mentally ill people whom he served.
Sister Marguerite Bartz, 64, of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (SBS), based in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, was killed in her convent of Saint Berard in the area of the Navajo, New Mexico, on 1 November 2009.
Father Hidalberto Henrique Guimaraes, age 48, pastor of the church of Our Lady of Grace in the town of Murici on the outskirts of Maceió (AL), Brazil, was found murdered on 7 November 2009, two days after his disappearance.
Fr Miguel Angel Hernandez, a Guatemalan Capuchin priest aged 45, serving a parish in Ocotepeque (Honduras), was found stabbed to death in a province of eastern Guatemala, having probably died on 8 November.
Fr Jean Gaston Buli was killed in the night of 9-10 of November 2009, by armed bandits who entered the rectory of his parish in Nyakasanza, in Bunia (Ituri) (DR Congo).
Fr Daniel Cizimya Nakamaga, age 51, 12 years as a priest in Bukavu (DR Congo), was killed in his parish of Kabare on Sunday, 6 December by unknown assailants who attacked and entered the parish house.
Father Louis Blondel, of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), was killed on the night of 6-7 December 2009, in Diepsloot, one of the townships of Pretoria, South Africa. Fr Louis Blondel was 70 years old and a native of northern France.
Sister Denise Kahambu Muhayirwa, age 44, a Trappist nun, was killed on the evening of December 7, 2009 by armed men in uniform who entered the monastery of Notre Dame de la Clarté in Murhesa, 20 kilometers from Bukavu, in the territory of Kabare, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fr Jeremiah Roche, Irish, of the Society of St. Patrick for Foreign Missions, was murdered on the night of 10 -11 December by strangers who came to his home in Kericho, 250 kilometers from Nairobi (Kenya). The body of the missionary, who lived alone, was discovered with his hands tied and machete wounds to the head.
Fr Alvino Broering, age 46, was stabbed at dawn on 14 December in the southern state of Santa Catarina (Brazil) by a man who then stole his car. The priest was stabbed several times and died shortly after being admitted to hospital for surgery.
Fr Emiro Jaramillo Cardenas was killed on 20 December 2009 at his home, located in Santa Rosa de Osos, about 74 km from the city of Medellin, Colombia.