Missionary to Indonesia Succumbs to Cancer

April 1, 2011 - PRLog -- Father Bruno Orru, SX, passed away at the age of 75 from cancer on March 31 at the Xaverian Motherhouse in Parma, Italy after serving the people of Indonesia for over thirty years.

Born in S. Antioco, Cagliari, Italy, on August 10, 1935, Fr. Orru began his studies with the Xaverians in 1949 and made his First Profession to the priesthood in 1955. In 1961 he was assigned to the United States Province where he completed his training in theology at St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee, WI.  He was ordained a priest in Milwaukee on September 29, 1963.

Fr. Orru served at the Xaverian Mission Center and Fatima Shrine in Holliston, MA. From 1972 to 1976 Fr. Bruno was the Director of the Office of the Procurator for the Missions at the Provincial Headquarters in Wayne, NJ where he was involved in both the Paterson Diocese and the Newark Archdiocese. He assisted at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament parish in Roseland where he participated in the choir and founded the Xaverian Missionary West Essex League which is still active today working tirelessly to promote mission awareness and raise funds for the missions.  Although Fr. Bruno left the United States for the missions he remained in close contact with the members of this group.

From 1977 until 2011 Fr. Orru ministered in Indonesia where he served the people pastorally as a priest in Bagansiapi-Api, the Cathedral in Padang, and Jakarta; in education as Master of Novices from 1990 to 2006; and for five terms as Xaverian Regional Councilor.

Fr. Frank Grappoli, SX, US Provincial Treasurer for the Xaverians, remembers Fr. Orru as “a dear confrere and delightful friend.”

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The St. Francis Xavier Foreign Mission Society, Inc, known as the Xaverian Missionaries, is a Roman Catholic religious community serving the poor in 18 countries worldwide.