Father Nordkamp dies in Germany

WINDHOEK – Father Bernard Nordkamp of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) passed away in the German town of Borken on Saturday, exactly 43 years after he was ordained as a priest.

Nordkamp, well known in Namibia as a campaigning priest, was 72 years old.A spokesperson for the RCC Archdiocese of Windhoek, Vicar General Father Werner Afunde, told Nampa yesterday that Father Nordkamp succumbed to complications of cancer on July 25.Father Nordkamp was born on July 3 1937 at Stadtlohn, Germany.He was ordained as a priest on July 24 1966 in Schiefbahn, Germany.He came to Namibia in 1967, and was first stationed at Okatana in the Oshana Region.Thereafter, Father Nordkamp was stationed at many different RCC parishes in places such as Tsumeb, Grootfontein, Okahandja and Windhoek.The late priest went to The Netherlands between 1969 and 1972, where he studied in the area of Theology, and onwards to the University of Berkeley, California in the United States of America where he studied Liturgy in 1984.He was also responsible for the training of married aspirant deacons of the RCC, while he also had a short stint at Cedara close to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa from 1980 where he lectured aspirant priests at the St Joseph’s Institute, including those from Namibia.Father Nordkamp was appointed as the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of the RCC in Windhoek on July 1 1985.He was instrumental in the setting-up of the Bernard Nordkamp Centre in the Katutura residential area of Windhoek, where the Catholic AIDS Action (CAA) organisation runs a project in support of orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs).Close to 100 OVCs receive after-school care at the centre that functions with generous donations from international and local donor institutions and agencies.He was also involved in numerous other social upliftment projects in the communities that he served throughout his stay in the country.A memorial service will be held for him at St Mary’s Cathedral in Windhoek this week, while he will be laid to rest over the weekend in Germany. – Nampa