Fr. John Dahlheimer, S.J.

By Fr. John Locke, S.J.
(From the Nepal Region’s 50th Anniversary Book, 2001)

Fr. Dahlheimer was a giant of a man – well over six feet tall, an enormous physique with an equally large beard which earned him the nickname “Fr Christmas.” He was the epitome of the Jesuit ideal of a man ready to go anywhere. Born in 1924 and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he joined the Missouri Province of the Society with the hope of working in China. Since only the California province had a mission in China, he transferred to the California province which sent him to China for regency and theology.

Before he finished theology he was forced to leave China, and after completing his studies he worked for many years among the Chinese in Taiwan and Manila. Somewhere in the middle of all this he served as a chaplain for the US. Navy. Finally returning to the U.S. he took up work in Blessed Sacrament Parish in Hollywood, where he hosted a weekly radio programme fielding all sorts of questions about the Catholic Church.

In 1978 John came to Nepal in response to a call for a Jesuit to assist Fr. Watrin in the alumni work in Nepal. He worked with Fr. Watrin For two years and then moved to take up a teaching assignment at St. Xavier’s. In the off season he would often give retreats for Sisters and spent one winter holiday season as chaplain to a U.S. naval expedition to Antarctica. It was during this time that he made the acquaintance of the Tibetans in Jawalakhel and this awakened an old desire to work among the Tibetans.

He began to assist them in various ways, and in 1982 the authorities at Mahendra Bhrikuti School, the school founded for the Tibetan refugees many years ago by Fr. Moran, asked him to become a full-time teacher at the school. This earned him a new name “The Dahlheim Lama,” and he continued to work with his beloved Tibetans until 1988 when it became no longer possible for the authorities there to get him a visa. About this time he fell ill, and a large tumour surrounding one kidney was diagnosed. Dr. Baidya removed the tumour – over 2 kgs – everything about John outsized.

The doctor advised further treatment and John left soon for the U.S. where he received further treatment, and an apparent cure. He then took up work with the native Americans in Montana, and from there went to a parish in North Dakota.

Late in 1992 he fell ill again with a recurrence of the cancer and passed away in the hospital on Christmas Eve thus completing the life of a colourful and wonderful Jesuit.