By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Sacred Hearts Father Paul Zegers, the Belgian missionary who spent 55 years in Hawaii serving in parishes on four islands, died on July 25 in Honolulu. He was 84 and a priest for 58 years.

“A good one has left us,” was how one of his fellow Sacred Hearts priests reacted, upon hearing news of the death.

“Paul was always a kind and caring priest,” said Father Christopher Keahi, provincial of the Sacred Hearts Fathers and Brothers in Hawaii. “He loved being with people. He always wanted to serve the Lord.”

Father Zeger’s funeral Mass was celebrated Aug. 1 at St. Patrick Church. Bishop Larry Silva offered the final commendation. According to Father Keahi, many parishioners from Father Paul Zegers parishes in Hana and Haiku flew over from Maui for the Mass.

“They really wanted to show their gratitude,” the provincial said.

Father Zegers was buried at Hawaiian Memorial Park on Aug. 2.

Father Zegers was born Ewald Zegers in Martenslinde, Belgium on Aug. 8, 1922, one of eight children of Gerard and Marie Lambrechts Zegers. His brother Victor also became a priest.

Ewald entered the seminary of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Tremeloo, Blessed Damien’s hometown, making his first vows on Sept. 15, 1943, and taking the religious name of Paul. He made his perpetual vows three years later in Zandhoven, Belgium.

Father Zegers was ordained in Zandhoven on Oct. 9, 1949. His first assignment as a priest was as a teacher in the Belgium city of Kortrijk.

He was assigned to Hawaii in 1952, and after a five-week orientation at St. Patrick Church in Kaimuki, was named associate pastor of St. Anthony Church in Kalihi Kai on Christmas Day of that year.

In 1954, Father Zegers received his first Maui assignment as the associate pastor of Holy Family Church in Puunene, a parish which has since closed.

The priest, known as a fine bowler and golfer and a passionate cribbage prayer, returned to Oahu the following year, serving first as an associate at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace and then at Our Lady of Sorrows in Wahiawa and St. Patrick Church.

In 1970, he was named pastor of Sacred Hearts Church on Lanai.

Father Zegers was appointed pastor of Our Lady Queen of Angels Parish in Kula, Maui, in 1979. Eight years later he settled on Kauai to be pastor of Lihue’s Immaculate Conception Parish.

In 1990, it was back to Maui to be pastor of St. Rita Church in Haiku, Maui. In 1995, Father Zegers traveled further on down the winding Hana Highway to run St. Mary Parish in Hana. It was his final assignment when cancer forced him to step down this year on Feb. 18 and move to the Sacred Hearts Fathers’ St. Patrick Monastery in Kaimuki.

“He did not want to retire,” Father Keahi said. “When he was told he had to, he fought it off as long as he could. He was always thinking of others.”

“He was a loyal dedicated priest,” he added.

Father Zegers is survived by a sister, Maria Zegers Thoelen, and a sister-in-law, Maria Biesmans, both of Belgium.

His death leaves five Sacred Hearts missionary priests from Belgium living in Hawaii.