Words of remembrance for Clement John

COMPILED FROM THE PFL SECRETARIAT MAILBOX

Friends, colleagues and comrades worldwide remember Clement John with fondness and high esteem.

Philip Wickeri, San Francisco Theological Seminary (USA)
Yes, we are saddened to hear of Clement’s passing. I worked closely with him in the 1990s after he went to the WCC. I will miss his leadership and his insight on legal matters especially.

Elizabeth Tapia, Drew University, Center for Christianities in Global Contexts (USA)
I am soooo sad to hear of Clement John’s death. I came to know him better during my Bossey years when we would meet as Asian Team within the WCC. His life, witness and advocacy work, towering but unassuming presence, and passion for justice and unity cannot be forgotten. Tonight I light a candle and listen to a Pakistani music in memory of him. His soul resting in eternal peace, may the Spirit’s comfort and abiding presence be upon his family, relatives and friends, especially in the ecumenical movement.

Gabriel Habib, PfL Working Group; Middle East Fellowship (USA/Lebanon)
I was very sad to hear that Clement John died. We were good friends from the time I was WSCF Middle East Secretary in the sixties. I also worked with him through the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) and later in the Christian Commission on International Affairs of the WCC. In fact, he was the one who arranged my involvement in Peace for Life. Lately, I very much regretted that he had to leave the WCC, where I used to see him quite often and that he had to go back to Pakistan, from where he wrote me and I was hoping to see him again. The departure of Clement is a real loss to me as a close friend, to us as pillar in the founding of Peace for Life and to the international ecumenical movement. May God bless him and keep him in His kingdom and I hope to remain his brother in the Risen Christ.

Erlinda Senturias, Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (Philippines)
Clement has been having heart problems even when he was in CCA but he worked hard to change his lifestyle and even encouraged Al and me to take care of ourselves. He was concerned about Al that he gave us a blood pressure apparatus to monitor Al’s BP. Al and Clement worked closely on human rights issues while he was in CCA. He joined Al in looking for Rev. Noel Villalba in various detention centers in Manila. It was Clement who invited Al and me in the back door of Burma in Nov. 1988 to visit and provide food as a solidarity gesture of CCA to the students who fled to the jungles just across Mae Sot, Thailand to escape the violent and repressive military dispersal of their protests in 1988.... Clement became even closer with us during our time together in WCC. We participated in meetings of the Asia Task Force and he facilitated the participation of Al in UN meetings on human rights. When we left Geneva, I found out that he continued his support to the Philippines through the organization, Peace for Life, which he helped so much. I met him in one of the organizational meetings of Peace for Life in Quezon City. He exemplified the Christian discipleship in the statement that we produced in Bossey. I pay tribute to a great friend of the Filipino people and the ecumenical movement.

Maake Masango, Presbyterian Church of South Africa (South Africa)
Thank you for such a great statement that shared Clement’s life. We in Africa will also miss the great strength that he brought to Asia and Africa. His dream must continue through his friends.

Related page:

• Peace for Life Tribute to Clement John

External links:

• Tribute to Clement John (World Council of Churches, 3 June 2008)
• A Life of Compassion and Integrity: A Tribute to Clement John
  (National Council of Churches in the Philippines, 4 June 2008)
• Clement John passes away (Asia Pacific Ecumenical News, 5 June 2008)