Fr. Richard Henkes, S.A.C., A Picture of His Life A Picture of His Life | Page 21

his beloved school in Schönstatt. In 1928, he moved to Alpen am Niederrhein, where the community had built a study center in 1925. With a new sense of work, he made plans for the internal and external development of the school. During the process, Fr. Henkes got into a disagreement with his rector. Ultimately, his zeal came to nothing: the community gave up Alpen in favor of the more advantageous Rhe- inberg. But there was a shadow over Richard Henkes since his time at Alpen. Confreres disapproved of his busy correspondence with a “Fraulein from Ahrweiler.” Was it envy of the popular teacher? Was it real concern for the confrere? We do not know. This shadow accompanied him when he was transferred back to Schönstatt in September 1929. The students were looking forward to it. Which other German teacher would have given them an empty cigarette box on the lectern as an essay theme? It made the pupils hap- py that it bothered Fr. Henkes’ colleagues—the talk about the “corre- spondence” was very convenient. On July 2, 1931, Provincial Father Johannes Baumann, an old Cameroonian missionary, pronounced a canonical exhortation on account of improper and prohibited behav- ior with persons of the opposite sex. This is recorded in the minutes of the Provincial Council. What exactly was meant, we do not know. Energetic men were needed at the new schools in eastern Germa- ny. It seemed advisable to the superiors to post Richard Henkes here and thus take him out of the line of fire in the west. He went to the east with a heavy heart. Schönstatt had become his second home as a pupil. Here his homesickness had been limited, because Ruppach was so close and because the chapel was on the spot. Here he had seen the picture of the Mother Thrice Admirable, which meant so much to him, especially during his difficult time in Limburg. 15