Remembering Father John

It’s been a sad few days for me as I suffered the loss of my best priest friend who has been an inspiration for me ever since I met him in 1979. Fr John Heinlein passed away on Sunday April 14, on Long Island, aged 90. He was the priest who inspired me to go to the USA and spend 35 glorious years there serving for 10 years with him from 1981 to 1991 at Holy Spirit Church in New Hyde Park, NY. Our friendship continued over the years and he even replaced me for a few weeks on 2 occasions when I was in Baker City, Oregon. He was retired and spent his last few months at a Retirement Home for priests. Besides being a role model for me, he was also a teacher, a pastoral tool that is affecting me to this day in the way I celebrate Mass and perform pastoral work with the people I serve. He taught me how to drive, how to preach effectively, how to run a lively, happy parish. His hobbies and mine were similar, as we both loved sports, although his were more adventurous and dangerous, water skiing and snow-skiing. Moreover he was a qualified flight instructor and a professional pilot. We shared many jokes, stories and trips in his turquoise Volkswagen. 

Fr John with his father, twin Joe and wife and their son in 1983.

I recall various anecdotes, including some funny ones with his identical twin brother Joe. A hilarious story happened  when some of his priest friends were vacationing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and thought they saw him walking in a romantic embrace with a beautiful blonde. Returning home they called him, concerned about his vocation, only to be told that who they saw with that blonde was his twin brother with his wife Jolene. When I arrived in New Hyde Park in 1981, I was the sixth priest in the parish, but before you know, we were 5, then 4, then 3, and by 1991, just the two of us in a big parish. He was loved by everybody, and supported all the projects I did, especially with the Catholic school, which I visited daily, teaching in all the classes, besides working with the youth in our Teen Club. I cherish the long trips we did together to Lake Placid in the summer and Hunter Mountain during the winter skiing season. 

With my parents in one of their visits to New York

He bailed me out of various uncomfortable, yet humorous situations, like when during a funeral I referred to a person as the executioner, when I should have said ‘executor’ of the will of the deceased. He was a true shepherd, and was able to make me one too, well, maybe a lamb. He was also very gracious and accommodating to my parents and siblings when they visited me, two of them staying in the rectory during their honeymoon. His life story was a spectacular rainbow of happy endeavours, dedicated service and sheer love of all that he did. His funeral was held at Saint Jude R.C. Church, Mastic Beach, (where he had served over the last few years,) on Friday, April 19, and interment followed at the Cemetery of the Holy Rood, Westbury, NY. May God grant him eternal rest.

From a webcam during his funeral at St Jude's, Mastic Beach NY