By Fr. John Itzaina, SDB –

(Bellflower, California) – Whenever I asked Br. Jerry how he was doing—whether in 1990, 2021, or even December 2025—he would answer with his characteristic blunt honesty: “I’m dying.” And I would reply, “Yes, Jerry, we are all dying.” He lived with a Salesian realism about life and death, shaped by his family, his eight siblings, and the countless friends and confreres who walked with him. He was never sentimental, but he was always truthful—a very Salesian combination.

We knew Br. Jerry was truly nearing the end when he could no longer join us for morning Mass or Evening Prayer. For a man who lived the rhythm of the Salesian Oratory—prayer, work, community—this absence spoke louder than words. His final decline unfolded over a week-long agony, and he died three days before Christmas, entering eternity as the Church prepared to celebrate the birth of the Savior he loved.

As Salesians, we look to Scripture for meaning and purpose, and we look to those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith—our confreres who lived the Salesian charism with fidelity. Br. Jerry is one of them.

Our first reading, from the third chapter of Lamentations, presents a narrator who is a strong man, a defender of the vulnerable, a figure who refuses to give up hope even in the midst of suffering. This was a man who carries wounds but refuses to let them define him. He moves from rage to trust, from confusion to a quiet confidence in God’s mercy. He teaches himself—and us—to wait, to hope, and to seek the Lord who is good.

In many ways, this narrator mirrors Br. Jerry. He was a strong man, a defender of women and children, a man of conviction, and a man of physical strength. Even his family name, “Weirich,” meaning a powerful ruler or warrior, seems to echo the Salesian Brother’s vocation: strong, steady, practical, and deeply committed to serving others.

But like every Salesian—indeed, like Don Bosco himself—Jerry had his own “Achilles’ heel,” a place of vulnerability that became a school of holiness. He and his brothers suffered from an X‑linked genetic disorder that predisposes males to severe lower‑leg ulcers associated with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). For 35 years, this was Jerry’s daily cross. And yet, like the narrator of Lamentations, he responded not with bitterness but with a stubborn, almost defiant hope:

Good is the Lord to one who waits for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
It is good to hope in silence
for the saving help of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:26)

Jerry’s spiritual struggle was profoundly Salesian: to find God in the ordinary, in the daily grind, in the places where life hurts. He trusted that God was his source of hope. As the second reading reminds us, “hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts… and while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

It is beautifully fitting that Br. Jerry completed his earthly pilgrimage during the Jubilee Year 2025, with its theme Pilgrims of Hope, and during a Salesian year marked by the Strenna Anchored in Hope, Pilgrims with the Young. Jerry had lived that theme long before it was written. He was anchored in hope. He walked with the young. He lived the Salesian Brother’s vocation with simplicity, fidelity, and grit.

From the narrator of Lamentations and from Br. Jerry’s life, we learn that steadfast endurance in life’s struggles is possible when rooted in hope and trust in a God who loves us. This is the heart of the Preventive System: confidence in God’s presence, trust in grace, and a love that sustains us even in suffering.

This is the God revealed in Jesus, who told his disciples at the Last Supper: “Do not let your hearts be troubled; have faith in God and faith in me.” Jesus also promised, “I will come back and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.” Perhaps Thomas did not know the way—but now Br. Jerry knows the way, the truth, and the life. He now enjoys eternal life through the sufferings of Jesus Christ and through his own faithful endurance, lived in the Salesian spirit of joy, work, and holiness.

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Our beloved confrere, Bro Jerry Weirich, SDB, died on the evening of December 22, 2025, around 3:30 PM in Bellflower California. His funeral services were held in Southern California on Tuesday, January 6, and in Northern California, Thursday, January 8, followed by burial at the Salesian Cemetery, Richmond. Please continue to pray for the repose of his soul and the consolation of his family.