Simon’s first assignment in the Philippines was in New Escalante, Negros Occidental where he served as an assistant parish priest. Here, he was involved in the usual parish activities and apostolates but was also actively involved in the establishment of credit union cooperatives. Simon was also appointed Rector in the Carmelite Minor Seminary during these period.
In 1976 of his own free will, he was transferred to Agusan del Sur, where he became parish priest of a “frontier” underdeveloped town called San Francisco. Simon the Prior of the Carmelite community in Agusan del Sur while also serving on the Carmelite Commissary Council.
What kind of a man was Simon? What were his feelings, principles and values? He was quiet, but clear. Reflective, yet active. He, too, kept himself open to being taught by the people and by history. He keep searching for the “what” and “how” of being priest, being Church at his time in the Philippines.
When Simon was asked his feelings and expectations about the near future in the Philippine contet, he gave this response:
“Our feelings and expectations regarding the near future are closely linked with the people’s struggle for liberation. Regarding religious life, we see no future unless we religious can integrate ourselves in the struggle of laborers and farmers for liberation. It should become ever clearer that this is a question of faith. This should be basic to our spirituality.”Since 1970 Simon had devoted himself to the causes of the barrio people who were in danger of becoming the victims of land expropriation in favor of the Guthrie Palm Oil Project. He made it clear what standpoint the parish had taken: opting for the small farmers. With some co-workers, Simon recorded the complaints of these people. A brother Carmelite said about him:
“He was a very modest person, and was not a talkative man; but when he had something to say it was a sensible thing to listen to him.”When Simon started his work in Agusan del Sur, he went to live in a slum area of the badly neglected town of Prosperidad, about 14 kilometers north of San Francisco. His truggle for the right of the outcasts and his way of life deeply influenced the way he looked on things. One of the consequences for him was that he resolved to travel as the poor travel: by boat. On November 21, 1983, Fr. Simon was among the hundreds of victims who drowned when the merchant vessel Doña Cassandra sank in the Pacific Ocean between Butuan City and Cebu. From the passengers’ manifest, 12 were found dead, some 207 were missing of the 345 listed passengers. The ill-fated passenger vessel includes two priests one of which was a Carmelite priest in the person of Fr. Simon and seven religious sisters who were on their way to Cebu to attend a Religious Convention.
According to the testimonies of some survivors, they could have saved themselves but they opted to save others instead. Some survivors in the sinking of Doña Cassandra off from Surigao Strait gave witness that these church workers distributing life vests and calming passengers. Other witnesses recounted that the priests and sisters were trapped in cabin as they frantically tried to save the children.
Among those known religious to have perished with Simon were:
Sr. Nanette Berentsen, a nun of the Congreation of the Sisters of Julie Postel;
Sr. Consuelo Chuidian, RGS;
Sr. Concepcion Conti, RGS;
Sr. Virginia Gonzaga, RGS;
Sr. Catherine Loreto, RGS;
Sr. Josephine Medrano, FMA and
Sr. Amparo Gilbiena, MSM.
At the memorial service in his native place of Hengevelde, his brother who is also a Carmelite friar said:
“I hear members of the family say: If anything worries you, go to John (Simon); you can count on him. He is thoughtful and has wise things to say.”
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