Fr. Herman Kaskens
Herman Kaskens was born on 24th July 1924 in Diemen, the Netherlands to Henry Kaskens and Wilhelmina Sibbel. He had five brothers and three sisters.  He studied at the Diocesan Seminary in Hageveld between 1938 and 1942 and at Hoorn between 1942 and 1944.   In June 1945 he went to Haelen for his philosophical studies and to Mill Hill in 1946 for his theological studies.  He took his Perpetual Oath on 15th May 1949 at Mill Hill and was ordained a priest there on 9th July 1950.

In 1950 Herman received his appointment to Nellore – Kurnool, India.  He worked for nine months as the assistant priest in Onteddupalle Mission and five years as Assistant in Kottala Mission.  In 1956 he was appointed Parish Priest and Dean of Kurnool Mission.   In 1959 he started a new mission in Sirvel.  He immediately set out to help reform the lives of the Dalits (formerly referred to as Harijans) a group that was socially ostracised, by acquiring land to resettle them and provide them with plots for cultivating their own food. 

In 1966 he went to Koilkuntla to start a new mission. He built a church, a parish house, dispensary, a convent and a maternity hospital.  He worked with the local government to set up simple housing schemes for the Dalits and helped to improve their social and material welfare.  Gradually the mission grew to include twenty outstations. 

Kurnool became a diocese in 1967 and the following year, Herman was appointed Procurator.  In November 1972 he was elected the Society Superior and was re-elected for a second term in 1975.  In 1972 he was knighted with the Ridder in de order Oranje Nassau.  He started another new mission in Owk in 1974.  In 1979 he was re-elected Society Superior for the third time.   Finding the situation becoming more difficult, he left his work as Procurator and was moved to a remote area in Kadiri in 1980 to start a new mission.  He was the Chapter Delegate in 1982.  Expressing strongly that it was opportune for Mill Hill to leave Kurnool Diocese to the local clergy, he decided that it was time to leave India.

 In December 1982, a job at MISSIO did not materialise.   He was asked to remain in India but decided to leave India on 28th March 1983.  On 27th May 1983 he was appointed to the Dutch Region.  On 2nd June 1983 he received an appointment as Acting Rector of the Mill Hill House in Haelen.  He took this up on 1st July and left Haelen to take up a new appointment as Parish Priest in Hardinxveld on 1st August 1984 where he built a new church.  In November 1999 he was appointed Chaplain to the Sisters of St. Joseph in Heerlen and in May 2002, he moved to Missiehuis ‘Vrijland’.

Herman’s health had been deteriorating slowly.  He had Parkinson’s disease and a year and a half ago, he was diagnosed with Kidney cancer.  He refused treatment and on 16th March, evening he passed away peacefully at about 7.45 pm.  His burial took place after the Requiem Mass at 11.00 am on Friday 20th March 2009 at Missiehuis ‘Vrijland’.