Death of Fr. Eugene Sousa, O.P.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Fr. Eugene Sousa, O.P.
Fr. Eugene Sousa, O.P., died peacefully in his sleep on May 18, 2025. He was born the third of four children in Berkeley, CA, and named William by his parents, John Renauld and Hester Ann (Marratta) Sousa. He attended St. Mary Magdalen elementary school and St. Mary’s High School in Berkeley, before graduating from St. Mary’s College, Moraga, in 1952. Having been impressed by the Dominican friars at St. Mary Magdalen parish and desiring to give his life completely to God, he entered the Dominican novitiate the same year, and was ordained in 1958.
Fr. Eugene impressed his brothers with his kindness, prudence and administrative skills. After serving as associate pastor at St. Dominic’s, San Francisco, and St. Dominic’s, Benicia, he was appointed superior and pastor at the Catholic campus ministry at the University of Oregon. During the tumultuous post-Vatican Council years, he was elected to two terms as prior of the Priory of St. Albert the Great, Oakland.
After completing a second term as prior, he asked to be sent to Ocosingo, in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, to work among the Maya in the Dominican mission originally founded in the 1500s by Bartolomé de las Casas, O.P. In addition to pastoral work, he helped oversee the hospital built by the province and was appointed vicar provincial of the mission in 1977. In 1982, after a coup d’etat in Guatemala, Fr. Eugene and three other friars and two religious sisters helped organize assistance for 13,000 refugees who, fleeing the genocide of indigenous people in their country, sought refuge in Chiapas. In an attempt to undermine the missionaries, Fr. Eugene was anonymously and falsely accused of smuggling arms.
Returning from Mexico in 1984, the parish of St. Dominic’s, Benicia, rapidly growing with young families, was entrusted to his care. He requested a sabbatical in 1990 in the continuing education for clergy program at Notre Dame and in his letter of recommendation, the prior provincial at the time wrote, “He has been one of the outstanding leaders of the province for the past 20 years.”
After his sabbatical, Fr. Eugene served as parochial vicar at the UC Riverside Catholic campus ministry. When the Dominican pastor of Most Holy Rosary parish in Phoenix, AZ, was elected prior provincial, one of his first acts was to request the bishop appoint Fr. Eugene as his replacement. He wrote, “Fr. Sousa has a wealth of administrative experience gained from previous assignments as pastor and superior and the years he directed the Dominican mission in Chiapas. His a charming, capable, and talented man and a dedicated priest. We Dominicans seldom have the opportunity to choose those who will follow us when we undertake new responsibilities, so I take special pleasure in nominating Fr. Sousa to succeed me.”
After three years as parochial vicar in Los Angeles, Fr. Eugene became the chaplain to the Dominican nuns at Corpus Christi Monastery, Menlo Park, whom he served until his retirement.
Fr. Eugene’s sister, Muriel C. Sousa, who became Sr. Mary Rose Therese, PVBM, and brother, John R. Sousa, Jr., preceded him in death. He is survived by his younger sister, Patricia (Sousa) Wood, with whom he was always close and who remembers him fondly as her “gentle man,” and eight nieces and nephews and their children.
Memorial and Funeral arrangements are as follows:
Monday, June 2, 2025
7:30pm -- Vigil at St. Dominic's Catholic Church, Benicia (475 East I Street, Benicia, CA 94510).
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
10:30am -- Funeral Mass at St. Dominic's Catholic Church, Benicia (475 East I Street, Benicia, CA 94510), immediately followed by the burial at St. Dominic's Cemetery, Benicia (585 Hillcrest Ave, Benicia, CA 94510)
To make a gift in memory of Fr. Eugene Sousa, O.P., please click the button below.
It is a tradition of the Order of Preachers to establish a fund in the name of each of our departed brothers. Your donation to this memorial fund will support the education of our Dominican brothers still in formation, continuing the faithful legacy of our departed brother. It is a lasting tribute to Fr. Eugene and a gift to the Dominican students who study in his footsteps.
