In Pace Christi

Fr. Joseph Forlani was born at Romano Lombardo, near Bergamo, on January 6, 1932. He joined the Comboni Missionaries in 1950 and, while still a novice, was sent to the United States to continue his training in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he also studied philosophy and theology at Mt. St. Mary of the West seminary. He was ordained a priest on May 25, 1958, in the chapel of Sacred Heart Seminary (currently, Comboni Mission Center) at the hands of Comboni Bishop Angelo Barbisotti of Esmeraldas (Ecuador). Following ordination, Fr. Joseph taught at the seminary and worked in our West End parishes of Cincinnati while earning a MA in History at Xavier University.

After four years of ministry in the United States, Fr. Joe was assigned to the province of Ethiopia and Eritrea. There he taught at Comboni College in Asmara (Eritrea), before moving to the South of Ethiopia and serving the vicariate of Hawassa as superintendent of Catholic schools, administrator and bishop’s secretary.

In 1974 Fr. Joe was called back to the States where he reopened the novitiate in Yorkville, Illinois and served as master of novices for two years. His tenure is remembered as being on the strict side, but fair. The next two years we find him as associate pastor at St. Albert the Great in Compton, Cal. a large and complex Afro-American parish just south of Los Angeles in a racially tense and divided area. His down to earth attitude helped him to fit into the complex picture.

Soon, the desire to serve in the missions resurfaced and, by the end of 1980, he found himself in Ecuador. There he remained for 20 years serving in primitive and demanding places along the Pacific Coast in the diocese of Esmeraldas. He ministered to the Afro-Ecuadorian population and to the indigenous groups living along the rivers and in the forests of that remote area.

In his second phase he pioneered our missionary presence in neighboring Colombia, both in Cali and Bogotá. Then Fr. Joe was called to Quito, Ecuador’s capital, to take care of the province’s finances. It was at that time that Fr. Forlani began to suffer from painful symptoms of a disease that would give him constant ear aches and eventually damage his vocal cords.

He returned to the States in the year 2,000 and, thanks to his knowledge of Spanish, he was a great asset in the Comboni parishes of South Side Los Angeles. His health, however, was still giving him problems. He underwent surgery, but he gradually lost much of the use of his vocal cords, eventually making it impossible for him to carry out public ministry. As was his custom, he accepted this sacrifice without complaining and spent his remaining years in the States being a cheerful and attentive presence in the Comboni community of Covina, California.

While he could no longer preach, he was always ready to hear confessions both in the nearby parishes and at home, where many people came to seek his advice. Fr. Joe was known for “telling it like it is” and there was no arguing with him. I had heard that in his early days he was pretty stern, but by the time I met him he had mellowed. It was a joy to have him around.

It was hard to say good-bye to him in October 2014 but I knew he wanted to go “home” for his last days. He spent his remaining days in the Comboni Retirement Center of Milan, Italy. He died on 30 November 2016 after a full and rewarding life as a true, hard-working and faithful son of St. Daniel Comboni.
(Fr. Joe Bragotti).
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 270 suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2017,  pp. 180-184.