Fr. Richard Henkes, S.A.C., A Picture of His Life A Picture of His Life | Page 17

Frankenstein. This was the small town in Silesia, where the Pal-
lottines founded a school in 1920. Following the period of the restric-
tive laws of the imperial empire, the Society was allowed to spread
throughout Germany during the Weimar Republic. In the East, they
hoped to find jobs in apostolic work. For now, the Society did not
need to limit itself to a foreign mission - Cameroon was lost after the
First World War - and was able to devote itself to its real task: the
animation and deepening of faith. Richard Henkes knew the house.
He had already helped in its construction in 1923 during the semester
holidays. At first, he had come to the upper-Silesian town of Katscher
in 1931; there was also a Pallottine juniorate. In 1937, he moved to
Frankenstein. As much as he was engaged in the school, Fr. Henkes
became more and more a preacher and retreat leader. Even in Katsch-
er, his Lenten Sermons were the talk of the town. He preached in Rat-
ibor, Hindenburg, Beuthen, Gliwice, and more and more in Branitz.
One cannot imagine how great the joy of the work and the simultane-
ous stress of it was for him. He was overloaded and there was serious
concern for his health. An old pulmonary ulcer had returned. Yet it
was necessary to keep the school. It was necessary to hold retreats, to
develop lectures and sermons.
Fr. Henkes tried to find out more through the brochures of the
Cologne office for the evaluation of the Nazi-language. These bro-
chures gave answers from a Christian perspective and Fr. Henkes dis-
seminated them. He reproduced the encyclical of Pope Pius XI, “With
Burning Concern,” and read them during his masses in Hindenburg
and Ratibor. He also participated in the duplication and dissemina-
tion of the sermons of the Bishop of Münster, Clemens August von
Galen. Fr. Henkes was inspired against the so-called “unrivaled life.”
He had the courage to preach “this is murder” when they began to
remove the patients of the mental hospital in Branitz. Thereupon they
postponed the extermination until Fr. Henkes was cleared out of the
way. The Gestapo feared his influence and popularity. They did not
touch him for a long time.
Fr. Henkes had experience of subpoenas, even court proceedings.
In 1937, the situation had already become tiring for him. He had been
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