 Fr. Sean Brendan Doherty, O.P.
A grand theme in Sean's life was seeing, seeing well, and seeing enough about life to be
realistic. This took a professional turn at optometry school and during two years of
practice, when Brendan Doherty dedicated himself to helping others see. Nobody knows
how, but Brendan came to see through, and certainly beyond, the promises of secular life.
This was a big surprise for his family and friends, who learned only after Brendan
had become Brother Sean that he had given up everything and was a novice in the Dominican
Order!
Temperamentally Sean was a "private" person, not given to
showing all that he was in the public forum. Yet being private did not mean being
closed in (although his novitiate classmates recall giving him a great deal of distance).
In spirit Sean was more "public" than most. He was always aware of
what was transpiring in the world, and in local scenes. He was a world-traveler, and
the richness of human nature was revealed to him in family, community, and differing
cultural experiences.
Most doubt Sean ever really found peace until the end. When he
arrived in Waldport, he said: "I've come home." It wasn't just the
ocean, or long walks along the Oregon beach. It was the people who challenged him,
confronted him, argued with him, told him how much they disagreed with him, but still
loved him. In old age he shared with them some of his anguish. Many feel
Dominicans don't grow old very well, that we don't seem to know what to do with ourselves,
but Sean disproved this. His best years were his last. He sought people out,
any people with strong needs, and at St. Anthony Parish, Sean began to find the family, at
least the religious family, that so eluded him.
Wanting to see ever more and better himself, and wanting to help others
see what he saw, tells the rest of Sean's story. He did this through preaching,
laboring to refine, simplify, make more trenchant God's message. He did this also
through his fascination with film, and films that spoke about life realistically. He
showed classic movies with a message during his student years at St. Albert's and for catechetical purposes to
parishioners.
Sean never pampered himself, but he often pampered others. A
generation at St. Albert's, for example, happily recalls the years of free Dreyer's ice
cream that he faithfully supplied.
We thank God for such a gift and we beg God to round off the rough
edges, making the gift truly perfect for all eternity. We ask Brendan Sean to pray
for us that we might keep seeing better, and that we might try ever better, as he never
ceased to try, to be the real gift to the world that God intends.
- Fr. Tom de Man, O.P
Fr. Paul Conner, O.P.
Date of Birth |
Date of Profession |
Date of Ordination |
Date of Death |
November 10, 1925 |
September 15, 1957 |
December 22, 1962 |
July 16, 1996 |
XII: 451 |
