Lawrence Joseph Brownsey, the future Br. Barnabas, was born to Lawrence and Mary Kathleen Brownsey in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 5 January, 1934. The Depression was gripping the country and even when he was old enough to remember, he recalled his mother helping to support the family as a cook to the well to do in the environs of Philadelphia, a job which enabled her bring home on occasion leftovers from the largesse of her employees. He also recalled her as a disciplinarian who maintained high standards for the household chores given to her children. Her devotion to the Catholic Church also bequeathed to her son a love of the ceremonial and practices of his Catholic faith. None of that discipline or devotion dulled his interest in athletics and sports, to the point of dreaming of a future in professional baseball.
However, he chose marriage and a family instead, resorting to more conventional ways of earning a living, teaching in public school and coaching a Little League team. All the while, he battled serious health problems as he would all his life. He had always been a voracious reader and had a taste for classical music and the other arts. I can remember conversations about the artistry of Maria Callas and finely balanced compositions and tonality of Thomas Eakins’ oeuvre in their native Philadelphia. His love of language predisposed him to be a great talker and narrator of anecdotes, memories and cautionary tales; even the Trappist life could not dampen taste for conversation. Trying his hand at other fields, Lawrence was able to indulge his taste for travel and at least flirting with other languages, which provided him with a repertory of tales about time spent in Germany and Japan.
Despite this wide range of activity and experience, satisfaction eluded him most of his adult life and, past middle age, found more and more consolation in his Catholic faith, leading him to wonder about religious life. Of course in the late ‘eighties most institutes of consecrated life were not willing to chance a candidate of such ripe years; but the then vocation director of Holy Cross Abbey and Fr. Mark Delery, then Abbot, encouraged his inquiry. In 1989 at the age of fifty-five he joined the community as a postulant and he took the name of Barnabas in honor of the Apostle who joined their company after the resurrection, a late-comer from Antioch who collaborated with Paul. And so began a new chapter in his life of discernment, accountability and purification and the challenges of community life.
Apart from adjusting to a variety of personalities and opinions very different from his own, in addition to the discipline of obedience and conformity to the common life, this purification also came in the form of responsibilities, drawing upon Barnabas’ life experience. He was involved in the first incarnation of this website (since gone through various revisions), the sales and mail order department of the fruitcakes, truffles and creamed honeys. He is the individual who actually christened our chocolate fruit cake slices Fraters (often pronounced by local customers freighters…) and left his mark on original system of taking orders and shipping parcels. UPS could tell as many intriguing tales of Br. Barnabas as he could tell of UPS. He also served in the Retreat House, ever ready to assist visitors with their needs and, over the years, developing quite an extensive correspondence.
Treatment for his ever fragile health punctuated his life at the Abbey until he realized that he needed the care provided at Carroll Manor on the campus of Providence Hospital in Washington, DC. He certainly maintained his identity and profile as a monk at Carroll Manor and mellowed into an acceptance of where his frail health was taking him. After a heart attack, he died peacefully in Hospice care at Carroll Manor and, no doubt, looks forward to joining his brothers at Holy Cross to await the Resurrection.
Greg Rohrman says
June 18, 2014 at 9:51 pmMay God bless and welcome Br. Barnabas into his arms. He was a singular beacon of God’s grace.
Laurel LaCivita says
June 19, 2014 at 8:30 amThank you for that moving biography Fr. James.
I was privileged to spend some of last week-end with him at Carroll Manor, as it became known to the other residents and hospital staff that he would not be getting better. One of his table mates came in to pray at his bedside, then went about bringing all her other friends to come and pray. One woman was 100 years old! They were distraught. Nurses came by to pray in their own language. It was a testament, I think, to how he remained a monk at Carroll Manor, and to his commitment, to the very end, to his life of discernment, accountability and purification, and the challenges of his (new) community life!
John Sowa says
June 19, 2014 at 10:20 amEternal rest be granted to Br. Barnabas whose life exemplified that of his Lord and Savior. May his voice now join with the heavenly host singing of the Trinity’s gracious goodness in his life.
Michael Waugh says
June 19, 2014 at 6:03 pmWhen I think of my time with Brother Barnabas, I think of 2 things, “The Great Silence and Baseball.
When I lived at Holy Cross Abbey Retreat House for 2 years, I had many an occasion to walk up to the monastery for one thing or the other. No one observed silence and especially the Great Silence, more than Brother Barnabas. Believe me, he let me know it was in force. But he also has this lovely gentle side. I had heard from another monk (Father Mark) that Br. Barnabas played baseball back in the day and was a “barnstormer.” This fascinated me and I had to ask him. Of course, he wouldn’t talk about it in the monastery, but he did leave a book for me in my mailbox at the monastery with a note. Now, when I have gotten books from the other brothers, and they were all spiritual in nature. I loved reading whatever was sent my way. But Br. Barnabas left for me “The Glory of their times – The story of the early days of baseball told by the men who played it.” Given Brother Barnabas’s ways, as Fr. James said it ” adjusting to a variety of personalities and opinions very different from his own, in addition to the discipline of obedience and conformity to the common life” I was surprised to receive this book. But I was curious why he wanted me to read this book, of all the books he could have suggested. It wasn’t until after I finished the “Glory of their Times” that I realized that Br. Barnabas was laying down a path for me, through the words of the men quoted in this book. I think he wanted me to have a chance to learn about the values of a different time, and how perhaps they would become relevant to me now. Baseball was the medium in which he communicated to me when we wasn’t “enforcing silence.” I once had a “Field of Dreams” moment at one point at the retreat house (he loved to come down for a cookie) when I was talking to Brother Barnabas about his barnstorming days…..I asked him if he would like to “have a catch” with me one day. For a second, I saw his eyes light with the possibility. And then the trance quickley broke, and he told me in his own wonderful way, that this was not something he would do as a monk. I had such respect for him and that he really was a “monk’s monk.” Nowadays, when I think of the “Glory of their Times” I think of Abba Mark, Brother Michael, Brother Gerald, Fr. Malachy, Brother Stephen, Brother Benedict, Brother James, Father Andrew, Father Edward, and now, the barnstorming monk, Brother Barnabas. May they all be remembered.
Bill Haley says
June 20, 2014 at 8:45 ampraying for all the brothers at the Abbey today, and for you too Father James…
miranda (brownsey) ray says
April 13, 2015 at 7:58 pmHe and his guidance will be very much missed.