Fr. Neville Jansze, 1956-2019

There will be a Memorial Mass for our dear former priest Fr. Neville Jansze on Friday, August 2nd, at 11:30 a.m. at St. Theresa Catholic Church, 4311 Small Drive, Austin, Texas.

Fr. Neville  passed away May 21, 2019 after a battle with liver cancer. He was receiving treatment at a clinic near his home in Sri Lanka, but his cancer progressed very quickly.  Let us raise up Fr. Neville in our prayers as well as his siblings and friends who had been caring for him.

He served as Parochial Vicar at St. Theresa parish for almost four years, and returned to his home diocese in Nattandiya, Sri Lanka in spring of 2018.  There he had been helping serve the poor through his work with the Franciscan Sisters of Mary.
 
Fr. Neville could often be seen walking the St. Theresa campus while praying the rosary or sitting on a bench with his prayer book or guitar. His was a peaceful and prayerful presence.  Fr. Neville was called back to his diocese in Sri Lanka and returned there just after Easter of 2018. Before he left he received many well wishes and gifts from grateful parishioners.

Fr. Neville had been a priest for 32 years and said he felt blessed to be assigned to serve the needs of the St. Theresa Parish and minister to the children of the school and parish. “I like to be with kids because I like to teach them the joy of God,” he said. “We can make the world better by showing a good example to kids and just being with them.”  

He said his favorite part of his ministry here was hearing Confession.  “I like to be at the Confessional to help people, to speak to them about the way God wants them to live,” he said. “Confession is the time we make sinners to come to God’s Kingdom, to make them saints.”  

Fr. Neville helped take care of his elderly sisters when he returned home. His bishop traveled from three hours away to visit him the day before he died.

Here are some more memories of Fr. Neville.