Charles H. O'Brien

CHARLES HENRY O'BRIEN, O.P.

Born: Feb. 17, 1928
Professed: Aug. 5, 1948
Ordained: Jun. 12, 1954
Died: Nov. 18, 2014

Father Charles Henry O'Brien, O.P., died peacefully in the early morning hours of November 18, 2014, at D'Youville Life and Wellness Community in Lowell, MA, at the age of 86. The previous day friars had visited and sung the Salve Regina and O Lumen at his bedside. Throughout his life he showed a dedication to parochial ministry and leadership within the Dominican Province to which he belonged. Fr. O'Brien is survived by two sisters, M. Eileen Locapo of Dunstable and Margaret M. Stone of Lowell; many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews and cousins. He was a brother of the late John J. O'Brien, Dorothea A. Fleming, Patricia O'Brien and uncle of the late Deborah A. Wilkey.

Father O'Brien was born Feb. 17, 1928, in Lowell, MA, to Charles Francis O'Brien and Margaret Mary O'Brien (née Downes). He was baptized in St. Michael's Parish in Lowell, MA, where he attended grammar school from 1933-1940. He later attended Lowell High School from 1941-1945 and Providence College from 1945-1947 as a postulant to the Dominican Province of Saint Joseph.

He entered the Dominican Novitiate on August 4, 1947 in St. Rose, KY, and received the religious name Henry. He made his first profession in St. Rose on August 5, 1948 and his solemn profession at Seabright, NJ, on August 5, 1951. On June 12, 1954 he was ordained a priest at St. Dominic's Church in Washington, DC, by Most Rev. Bryan Joseph McEntegart, Bishop of Brooklyn.

From 1955 to 1959, Fr. O'Brien served as a parochial vicar, first at St. Dominic Parish in Detroit MI, then at Holy Name Parish in Valhalla, NY, and finally at St. Gertrude Parish in Cincinnati, OH. From 1959 to 1966, he served on the Province's Preaching Band assigned first to St. Dominic Priory in Youngtown, OH, and then to St. Antoninus Priory in Newark, NJ.

On Dec. 6, 1966, Fr. O'Brien was elected prior of St. Louis Bertrand Priory in Louisville, KY, where he served as prior and pastor for three terms. On Sept. 20, 1975, Fr. O'Brien was elected prior of Sacred Heart Priory in Jersey City, NJ, and served there as prior and pastor for two terms. In 1982, Fr. O'Brien was asked to become the Director of the St. Jude Shrine in Detroit, MI. Less then a year after arriving, he was also asked to become superior of the community and pastor of St. Dominic Parish in the same city. In January 1987, Fr. O'Brien was appointed prior of St. Catherine of Siena Priory in New York City and served as pastor there. He was later elected to a second term in 1990. After completing his second term in 1993, he was assigned to Sacred Heart in Jersey City and begin ministry as an itinerant preaching. However, in December of 1994, he was called by the prior provincial to return to Louisville and serve once again as pastor of St. Louis Bertrand Parish. In 1998 he was elected prior of the community there and served for two terms in that office. He was well loved by the people of St. Louis Bertrand and greatly missed when he completed his ministry there in 2004.

In 2004, Fr. O'Brien was assigned to St. Dominic Priory in Washington, DC, with residence in the Center for Assisted Living. During the nearly ten years he spent there, he frequently visited with his sister at her homes in Massachusetts and Ft. Lauderdale. By 2013, his health required Fr. O'Brien to move to D'Youville Life and Wellness Community, near the parish of his birth.
Fr. O'Brien's family would like to thank the staff at the D'Youville Life and Wellness Community for the compassionate care given to Father during his stay there.