Father Van

Father Van’s testimonial about Father Burns:

In 1968, in a move that foreshadowed his founding of Hayden Hall, Fr. Edgar Burns released one of the fathers to go to Siliguri and start the Jesu Ashram to work with those with leprosy and tuberculosis. Then in 1969, while still teaching English at St. Joseph’s College, University Division, he started Hayden Hall. He bought the house called the Sheehan House and moved in here with others who wanted to do social work. 

His first project was the Clean Darjeeling Project. He got the entire town involved, the municipality, even the shopkeepers. Siddartha Shankar Ray [check spelling] was chief minister of West Bengal and came for the inauguration. He picked up a broom himself to encourage others. It went on for two weeks. They made Darjeeling shine again.

Farther Burns was not dominating, Father Van says. He continued, “He took you along. Anybody who came under his touch went along. He seemed to give life to everybody. He had the ideas. He was very creative. Nothing was “impossible” for him. He was so supportive that if he hadn’t been here, I would have gone back to Canada. Always, I’d say, ‘I can’t do this,’ and he would counter, ‘You CAN. The Lord will be with you.’”

“The poor were always on our minds,” Father Van said, “and Hayden Hall was obviously a dream he had, but until 1969 couldn’t fulfill.”

Father Van almost didn’t take the same boat with Father Burns. Four Jesuits were on the list to depart, but one of them was a brilliant student in philosophy. The professors put in a strong objection to that fellow leaving for India. “At last,” they said, “somebody who can teach philosophy! We can’t let him go.” So they came to Father Van and asked if he wanted to go. “I will go where you send me,” he replied. So off on the 6-month boat trip to India he went, with Father Burns, his “guardian angel.”  Father Burns got that name because, in the novitiate, a second year man would explain religious life to the younger, first year man. They called these mentors “Guardian Angels.” Father Burns served in that capacity for Father Van for the rest of his life.

After Hayden Hall was built, the programs spread out over the whole district. The effects grew and grew. At one time, the organization was feeding over 200 women a day. Many of the students from St. Joseph’s who were involved in Hayden Hall’s projects have told Father Van, “We learned a lot about social work in those days, and it has stood us in good stead.”

“He was full of life,” Father Van said of his lifelong friend. “He enjoyed a good dinner. He kept right on teaching until the end of the 90s. He even called me his best friend. He’d say from his hospital bed, ‘Where’s my best friend.’”