On Saturday, October 12, 2024, Fr. Jim Schilder sss made his perpetual profession in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The ceremony took place in the Sacrament Church of the community, in the presence of fathers, brothers and associates, family, friends and parishioners. Before Provincial Superior Fr. Eugène van Heyst sss, Fr. Jim made the vows in a packed church, pledging to live a life of evangelical poverty, obedience and chastity.
Fr. Jim (68) began the postulancy six years ago in Amsterdam, where he served as a diocesan priest at the Basilica of Saint Nicholas. In 2018, he moved to Brussels, Belgium, for the novitiate. Father Hans van Schijndel sss developed a program suitable for an aging priest. The first year focused on Fr. Eymard, the Congregation and our spirituality; the second year focused on the history, theology and liturgy of the Eucharist. In October 2021, Jim made his first temporary vows in Brussels. After this he moved to our convent in Nijmegen, and followed a modified scholasticate with Fr. Hans van Schijndel, with a further deepening in the Congregation and the Eucharist.
The formation was completed this summer with a stay in Sri Lanka for participation in the International Program of Preparation for Perpetual Profession (IP4). Other participants came from India, Philippines, Uganda and Sri Lanka. Father Jim: “It was wonderful to be there with candidates going the same way; after all, in Western Europe I was the only one. It was also enriching to get up close and personal with an energetic Church, in a society where the faith is so alive.”
The last time perpetual vows were taken within our congregation in the Netherlands was in 1996. Most orders and congregations in Western Europe face a lack of new candidates. Nevertheless, the community in Amsterdam is seeing an increase in the number of lay associates. One of them took his first temporary vows in 2022 and is now doing the scholasticate.
The faith situation in the Netherlands bears similarities to that in France at the time of our founder Fr. Peter Julian Eymard, who wrote, “Society has lost its center of truth and charity. Everyone is isolated and self-absorbed; everyone wants to be self-sufficient” [cf. PG 241,4]. For Fr. Eymard, the answer lay in the Eucharist and in worship: there people are nourished with Christ's love, and then they can put it into practice. As Rule of Life No. 3 states, “Following in the footsteps of Father Eymard, our mission is to respond to the hungers of the human family with the riches of God’s love, manifested in the Eucharist.”
Jim Schilder works for the Center for Parish Spirituality (CPS) in Nijmegen, which was founded by our congregation in 1990. The Netherlands is experiencing a sharp decline in church attendance due to secularization; parishes have to merge, churches are being closed. The CPS helps parishes to become (again) vital missionary communities of faith, service and witness. To this end, the center provides conferences, days of reflection, training and various publications. Because the Eucharist is “the source and summit of Christian life,” many of our initiatives focus on Eucharistic spirituality and the importance of growing in a personal relationship with Christ.
Jim Schilder, a former journalist, is editor of the sss-magazine Opbouw. He also works as a priest in Nijmegen and the surrounding area.
Father Fons Kuster, sss
Superior convent Brakkenstein Nijmegen
