Father Rene Paul DuFour

Father Rene DuFour
Father Rene Paul DuFour OMI, 82, of Belleville, Ill., born Dec. 24, 1926, in Highland, Ill., died Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009, at St. Henry's Oblate residence in Belleville, Ill.
Father DuFour was in his 61st year of religious life and his 56th year of priesthood. He had attended St. Mary's Grade School in Trenton, Ill., and St. Henry's Prep Seminary in Belleville, Ill. He made his novitiate in Godfrey, Ill., after which he made his first profession in 1948. He continued his philosophy and theology studies at the Gregorian University in Rome and was ordained a priest on July 4, 1954, by Bishop Luigi Faveri in Tivoli, Italy.
Father DuFour's early ministry was teaching at St. Henry's Seminary in Belleville, Ill., the Oblate Scholasticate in Pass Christian, Miss., and the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. He then served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army for 30 years before moving to St. Henry's Oblate residence, where he assisted in various ministries in the Belleville Diocese. He served as chaplain at the Shrine Apartment Community, to the Poor Clares, and at Scott Air Force Base Chapel and as a sacramental minister at Immaculate Conception, East St. Louis, Ill.
Fr. DuFour was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph Paul and Beatrice Mary, nee Heuer, DuFour.
Surviving are three sisters, Joan (David) Whealen of Universal City, Texas, Grave (David) Bunce of Mandeville, La., and Mary Sutton of Frankfort, Ill.
Condolences may be expressed online at www.rennerfh.com.

Visitation: Friends may call from 9 to 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 18, 2009, at the Church of Our Lady of the Snows on the grounds of the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, Belleville, Ill.

Funeral: A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 18, 2009, at the Church of Our Lady of the Snows, Belleville, Ill. Burial will be at St. Henry's Oblate Cemetery, Belleville, Ill.

GEORGE RENNER & SONS FUNERAL HOME, Belleville, Ill.