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Józef Goethals was born in Torhout, Belgium in 1937. After six years of Classical Humanities he joined a missionary order, the CICM or Scheut Fathers in 1956. After studying philosophy in the Netherlands, he spent seven years at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy, where he obtained degrees in theology and missiology. He served as a missionary in the Philippines until 1970. He emigrated to the United States that year, resigned from the ministry, and became a teacher at Notre Dame Prep School in Baltimore. For 32 years he taught philosophy, theology, and four foreign languages. He also taught Italian at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. After his retirement in 2001 he published four works on genealogy, two memoirs, three works on theology, particularly The Second Vatican Council, and a historical novel on the German occupation of Belgium. This novel was also published in Dutch in Belgium. In his latest work he reflects on his 54 years as an immigrant. He lives with his wife, Felicitas, in Baltimore, Maryland.