Father Van Allen Hager, a priest who dedicated his life to praying at the door of an abortion center, has died

Father Van Allen Hager, a priest of the Consolata Missionaries who prayed daily next to the entrance of an abortion center in Colombia, died yesterday, October 10, at the age of 80, leaving a legacy of dedication for life. of the unborn.

The priest was born on March 31, 1944 in New York (United States) and arrived in Colombia more than 15 years ago.

In this country it was encouraging for pro-life activists to see him arrive at the entrance to the abortion center guide mein the Bogotá town of Teusaquillo, with a folding chair, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe and her rosary, ready to pray for unborn children and talk with any woman or couple who was thinking about having an abortion.

Thus, the priest gained the admiration and appreciation of countless people, among them the volunteers of 40 Days for Lifewith whom he maintained friendship and whose prayer campaign he supported every year.

And while his priestly vocation was reason enough to ask God for pregnant women and their children, Father Van Allen Hager also had a personal motivation to join these pro-life initiatives.

It is the story of her grandmother, who had become pregnant by her father due to rape.

“My father is the result of a rape by my grandmother, who was raped by a neighbor, and she decided to have the baby instead of aborting it. “He is my father,” he shared with ACI Prensa in a dialogue in March 2023.

Regarding his approach to the pro-life movement, the priest said that this happened when his grandmother worked in New Jersey, where one day there was an anti-abortion demonstration near her house.

“I didn’t know anything about the pro-life movement at that time, but I went to investigate and, by the grace of God, in 1996 I began to pray regularly in defense of abortion victims,” ​​he said.

Bogotá is a city where it usually rains, however, this was not an impediment during these years for Father Van Allen Hager to arrive every morning at the entrance of the abortion center, and be accompanied from the opposite sidewalk by volunteers from 40 Days for Life.

“Here, in this place,” said the priest, “we have seen several people who accept our advice to have their children, and in the last campaign we have saved the lives of fifteen unborn babies. And last year we have rescued more than one hundred babies. unborn, for giving them advice in these places.

During the dialogue, Father Van Allen Hager encouraged Colombians to continue with the challenge of changing judicial decisions “that allow the killing of unborn children.” In addition, he invited everyone to join the campaign. 40 Days for Life.

“Support our work to manifest the value of each life, from conception to the last moments of our lives,” the priest said on that occasion.

May he continue to intercede for life from Heaven

The death of Father Van Allen Hager has been mourned by both his religious congregation and the pro-life movement in Colombia.

In a published post On its Facebook account, the Regional Directorate of the Consolata Missionaries expressed its “great pain and hope” for the departure of the American priest, “who has completed the mission that Jesus Christ, missionary of the Father, entrusted to him.”

In that sense, they invited him to ask the Virgin Mary and the founder of the congregation, the Italian priest José Allamano, “to accompany him to the encounter with God the Father and to continue interceding from there for life.”

For its part, since 40 Days for Life-Colombia it is stated that Father Van Allen Hager has been “a truly good shepherd, who has guided us with his example of fidelity, courage and perseverance, of total dedication to the cause of life.

“We join heartily and in prayer with the Consolata Missionaries, thanking God for the life and testimony of Father Van, asking for his eternal rest, so that from Heaven he may intercede for us and for the babies for whom he prayed. always with so much love,” says the pro-life organization.