In November of 2020, Santiago Retreat Center Vice President of Philanthropy and our Brother in Christ Hank Evers was diagnosed with a rare form of terminal cancer. During this past year, we walked with Hank on his heroic Camino of suffering, made particularly difficult by the Covid restrictions on healthcare facilities. Doctor visits, hospital stays, chemo infusions, all done without the benefit of a loved one’s company, help, loving hand - but Hank put this pain, suffering, fear, and loneliness to good use because he prayerfully and sacrificially united his suffering with that of Jesus for the benefit of ongoing conversion. I tell you, I could feel those prayers he offered for me and the retreat center's work, whose mission he worked so hard to advance. Hank passed on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi at 8:42 pm. It was a holy and happy death. That same morning at 11:30 am, the mass was celebrated at his bedside by Fr. Glenn Baaten- his wife Lori, son Jason, and sister Jeanne were with him. He had previously received the final sacraments of the Church weeks earlier - this mass was a spontaneous celebration that the Holy Spirit arranged. Later in the afternoon, friends came to pray the rosary at his bedside, again spontaneously and surrounded by his family in the intimacy of his home hospice bedroom. Then, later that night - just as the Red Mass at a Christ Cathedral was concluding, the Cathedral that Hank dedicated nearly a decade of his life to advancing, Hank, holding his son’s hand with the crucifix pressed in between their palms - Hank breathed his last. It was a holy death....
Read More
