TorontoSun.com report: – After losing one of their own, the 10 missionaries from the Quebec-based Foreign Mission who are stationed in Japan are mobilizing to help those affected by Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami in the country's northeast.
After the earthquake, Lachapelle wanted to help people from the parish of Shiogama, which is about a 30-minute drive from Sendai, one of the towns heavily hit by the disaster.
He died of a heart attack a few moments before arriving at his destination.
"It was probably due to all the panic and everything he was seeing," said priest Guy Charbonneau of the Mission.
Lachapelle was found in the middle of the road. It is not known if he was touched by the tsunami.
"What happened, no one knows," said Charbonneau.
In Japan, father Charles-Aime Bolduc, the head missionary, is living in a state of emergency.
"He's organizing funerals," said Charbonneau. "They are having a hard time coming to terms with the immensity of the disaster. They have lived through earthquakes before, but never this bad. They are all very tense and nervous. Thankfully, none of their buildings were destroyed."
According to Florent Vincent, another member of the Mission, father Lachapelle was a devout man who enjoyed helping others.
"He is a man of duty," Vincent said. "He's very frank, honest and 200% devout. We always told him to tone down his zeal a little bit."
Lachapelle was born in 1934 in Saint-Jacques-de-Montcalm, Que., a town about 65 km north of Montreal.
The Foreign Mission is active in 14 countries and has been in Japan for 60 years.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2011/03/13/17598516.html
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