Jef Ulburghs

Jef Ulburghs (June 9, 1922 – August 31, 2010) was a Belgian priest and politician. He actively engaged in protests for the rights of miners, steelworkers, migrants, political refugees, deserted neighbourhoods and the Third World. He enjoyed international appreciation as a peace activist. Ulburghs worked in the tradition of nineteenth-century priests who committed their religious commitment to the social struggle of the poor and lower social classes. Ulburghs worked in social work in the seventies.

Early life Jef Ulburghs was raised in a middle class farming family. He was the youngest of six children and grew up in Heusden-Zolder. Ulburghs was a cattle trader and promoter of the local cooperative dairy.

Years in Wallonia (1947–1969)

Ulburgh asked Monsignor Van Zuylen, who later became Bishop, to appoint him in a miners' neighbourhood. In 1947 he became Vice President of the Paroisse Notre-Dame Auxiliatrice, Grâce-Berleur, Diocese of Liège, a grey "red" neighbourhood with miners and steel workers.

In 1962, he was appointed as Almoner of the social work in Seraing, the secretariat of which was located near the entrance of Cockerill-Sambre.

In the early 1970s, Ulburghs was on the barricades during the big miners' strike. His presence between the strikers at the factory gates brought him into collision with his church rulers and the ACV.

He supported the Workers' Party of Belgium. He protested arm in arm, in the first row, along with hundreds of patients against some 60 police officers with a water cannon when the doorman, in charge of the Order of Physicians, wanted to charge the furniture in 1984. In 2005, at the age of 83, Ulburghs obtained another doctorate in Political Science. After a short illness Ulburghs died in 2010.

Works 1973 – Wegen naar bevrijding (with Frans Swartelé), publisher De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Kapellen, 1974 – Pédagogie de la libération 1977 – De pedagogie van het basis-socialisme 1978 – Wegen naar zelfbeheer, publisher Kritak, Leuven, 1979 – Pour une pédagogie de l'autogestion. Manuel de l'animateur de base, publisher Les Éditions Ouvrières, Paris, 1985 – Leven tussen twee vuren, publisher Kritak, Leuven, 1987 – Doorbreken! Het historisch misverstand 1989 – De zuilen van de tempel, publisher BOEK, Zonhoven, 1996 – De eeuwige rebel, publisher Scoop, Groot-Bijgaarden, 2000 – Kosova, van waanzinnige oorlog tot onmogelijke verzoening, dagboek van een bewogen reis, publisher Europa-Huis v.z.w., Genk (geen ISBN) 2000 – Etapes, publisher Wolters Plantyn, Deurne 2004 – Culturen zonder muren, publisher Concentra Media, Hasselt.Over het Limburgse integratieproces. Aan de hand van 90 gesprekken worden de maatschappelijke en sociale context van het mijngebeuren en de wisselwerking tussen politiek, godsdienst en integratie geschetst. 2004 – Le principe de subsidiarité dans l'unification de l'Europe, uitg. UCL 2006 – De Kluis van Bolderberg en haar geheimen, publisher Stichting Jef Ulburghs – Europahuis, Genk.De opbrengst (4.000 euro) ging naar de verdere restauratie van de Kluis van Bolderberg. 2007 – De Europese Droom. Subsidiariteit het geheim van het Europese succes, publisher Stichting Jef Ulburghs – Europahuis, Genk,