BETHLEHEM FATHERS

Bethlehem Fathers is the popular name for the Bethlehem Mission Immensee (SMB), founded in 1921 in Immensee, Switzerland by Pietro bondolfi for foreign missionary work. From Switzerland, the society sent missionaries to Africa and Asia. The society's missions in Manchuria, established in 1926, and in Beijing (1946) ceased because of Communist pressure in 1954. Missionary refugees from China, arriving in Colorado in December 1948, established a mission two years later at Cheyenne Wells. The rapid extension of the enterprise prompted Urban J. Vehr, archbishop of Denver, to sanction the transfer of the establishment to his see city in 1955. Land was purchased for the development of the existing foundation into a future regional residence with adequate school facilities. In 1988, the society withdrew from the U.S. to focus on more pressing needs in Africa and Asia.

In the wake of Vatican II, the society opened its ranks to lay missionaries, male and female, single and married, who collaborate with the fathers and the brothers in various mission projects. At the end of 2000, the society had an active presence in Africa (Kenya, Mozambique,

Tanzania, Chad, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), South America (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Haiti), Asia (China, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan) and Europe (Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, and Italy).

Bibliography: a. rust, Die Bethlehem-Missionare, Immensee (Fribourg 1961).

[a. j. borer/eds.]