In Memoriam: Fr. Ronnie Bonneau, C.Ss.R. of Baltimore Province
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December 31, 2021The Obituary, wake service, funeral Mass, reflections, and prayers on Fr. Ronnie Bonneau’s, C.Ss.R., passing away were very touching and inspiring. They reflected the journey of an authentic son of Saint Alphonsus in the following of Jesus, our Redeemer.
Rather than repeat what has already been so eloquently presented about Ronnie by many, including on social media, of his pilgrimage of 56 years of professed Redemptorist life and fifty years of priesthood, especially by those who were so very close to him, I would like to add a few additional reflections of a more personal nature.
We, of the ordination class of ‘71, are all products of that rebellious decade of the ‘60s. I always admired Ronnie for his many talents, including his intelligence, singing voice, and especially his “fighter spirit” and Redemptorist prophetic energies in defense of the poor abandoned.
The good Lord gave Ronnie’s classmates the joy and privilege to be with him as he/we celebrated 50 years of ordination. So many have commented how happy Ronnie was to celebrate with us and his many friends and family. The occasion impressed me how friendships from teen years and young adulthood create close bonds that last into our mid-seventies and beyond. These relationships are part of who we are.
In 1989, Ronnie and I were privileged to do a six-month renewal program with the Divine Word Missionaries in Nemi, Italy. My room was just above the entrance to the Center, and I would often hear Ronnie singing, talking, and joking with others at the door. I would kid him, calling him “God” because Ronnie was “in the midst of them” whenever two or three were gathered.
When Ronnie wasn’t singing, he was talking. As one of his classmates and a close friend put it, “He was gregarious as all get out!”
I was saddened at the news of Ronnie’s death. Death is always like a thief in the night. Although even in conditions where a loved one is especially fragile, we always feel that we have been robbed, deprived of something ours. Ronnie was always ours. He was our friend, our brother, our classmate, our companion, our mentor, our formator, our pastor, our priest, in Paraguay and the Metuchen (NJ) Diocese and elsewhere, he was our defender of rights and dignity. We feel we have been unjustly deprived of his accompaniment, friendship, and example.
On September 19th, 2021, the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Ronnie gave his last Sunday homily, which was streamed in St. Mary’s Church, Annapolis, Maryland. That homily, for me, was a reflection of Ronnie’s faith journey and even seemed to be a preparation for his family, friends, and parishioners of his possible death. The homily, which lasted only eight minutes, contained a profound message of God’s love for us, His protection, our relationship and response to His love, a profound “credo” on sinfulness, death, and life.
Allow me to share three messages from Ronnie’s homily: After clearly announcing his condition, a surgical intervention that following Thursday, and anxiety because of the possible pain involved, not fear, he talked about his intimate relationship with a God he knows loves and protects him, as God loved and protected his only Son, Jesus. Ronnie continues to reflect on himself, but it is also applicable to us when he shares that this intimate relationship with God is not because Ronnie or we are perfect, but it is precisely because of sinfulness when our relationship with God becomes strongest. We hand over to God our sinfulness, and He destroys it, takes it, frees us, and gives us renewed grace.
After all, God made us for himself, and we were created in his image and likeness. From here, Ronnie forcefully addresses the doubters who respond, “If God protects you, what if you die?” Here Ronnie makes a genuinely profound and emphatic assertion, “I am not going to die! Jesus died so we don’t have to die! We will never die! We pass on to another level of existence!”
As mentioned by Fr. Jim Gilmour in the homily of Ronnie’s funeral Mass on November 18th, Ronnie’s final priestly invitation was that we all think about our relationship with God and that love that He has for us even beyond our capacity to understand. Yet, we recognize that we were created to love Him back. The meaning of Ronnie’s life and death is not that we have been deprived, but instead are supported and enriched by our brother and friend now in Heaven.
My sincere condolences to Ronnie’s five sisters, family, friends, confreres, and classmates; my prayers and Eucharist are offered for our friend and classmate’s eternal rest.
May Our Mother of Perpetual Help embrace and take Ronnie to her Son, our Most Holy Redeemer.
(Note: The video of Father Ronnie’s homily is provided courtesy of St. Mary’s Parish in Annapolis and can be viewed at the following address: https://tinyurl.com/vpz22jsa. Courtesy of Baltimore Beacon.)
