Former parliamentarian and worker-priest Germain Dufour died on Thursday at the age of 79. He ended his religious life near Péruwelz in Wasmes-Audemetz-Briffoeil.
The Liégeois, originally from Tournai, has had an atypical career. Capuchin monk and worker-priest, Germain Dufour was hired as a street sweeper by the city of Liège in 1970, a position he held for 17 years. He then fought against homelessness in the Ardent City and created a refuge in the Pierreuse district. In the mid-1980s, he began a political career with Ecolo.
Initially a municipal councilor, he sat in the Senate from 1992 to 1995, and consequently, in the Walloon Parliament and the Council of the French Community. Not re-elected, Germain Dufour then moved away from Ecolo, to stand on the lists of the Communist Party (PC), then of the Liège group VéGa. Nicknamed “The Barefoot Senator”Germain Dufour also occupied a special place within the Catholic Church, in particular when he participated in an office for the recognition of homosexuals or when he gave a nuptial blessing to a gay couple.
Germain Dufour ended his religious life by officiating at the Saint-Martin church in Wasmes-Audemetz-Briffoeil.