By Thea Jarvis

Dominican Father John Pius O'Brien was remembered as a loyal friend, a pioneering missionary and a grateful member of the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his funeral Mass Oct. 6.

"There was nothing really natural and automatic about the life of John Pius," said Father Terence Quinn, OP, former Dominican provincial for the Eastern U.S. who served with Father O'Brien in Pakistan and delivered the funeral homily. "His life was really an adventure -- a great adventure."

Archbishop John F. Donoghue presided at the Mass of Resurrection, celebrated with priests and deacons of the archdiocese at Holy Cross church in Atlanta, where Father O'Brien had been pastor from 1982 to 1983. A wake service was held the night before at St. Philip Benizi Church in Jonesboro, where Father O'Brien had been parochial vicar from 1989 until 1991.

From his beginnings in a large Irish Catholic family in Providence, RI, to his eventual entry into the ministry that would take him far from his native New England, Father O'Brien was "so obviously a people's person," Father Quinn remembered. "He was a person with friends -- circles of friends."

"Father John was always a missionary," reaching out to others, mastering foreign languages, curiously at ease in cultures and situations different from his own.

His death from cancer at 61 came Oct. 1, the feast of St. Therese, Father Quinn told the congregation. Like the Little Flower, Father O'Brien "drew very close to Our Lord Jesus" through suffering. His lively intelligence, deep devotion to God and sensitivity to others coexisted with the disease of alcoholism that surfaced during his 12-year mission to Pakistan and resulted in his return to the states.

"His illness was a greater challenge than anything he had faced before," Father Quinn said. "He bravely undertook this arduous journey," bringing a sense of honesty and gratitude to his eventual recovery.

Father O'Brien's membership in Alcoholics Anonymous "really changed his life," Father Quinn said. "He was always a good priest, but because of AA he was an even better priest," becoming more sensitive, outgoing and understanding as he "walked in the Spirit of his time."

Father O'Brien joined the new Southern Dominican Province of St. Martin de Porres in 1979. Following parish work at Holy Cross and St. Philip Benizi, he returned to missionary life, serving at the Ukweli Reflection Center in Kisumu, Kenya. "It was sort of like a dream for him, another chance," Father Quinn said, even though it was only a short time before he faced "a new sickness."

Diagnosed with terminal cancer, Father O'Brien had told his friend death did not frighten him. He was accepting, "ready to go," Father Quinn said. "He was so happy, joyful, grateful" for the life he had been given.

At a reception following the funeral Mass, St. Philip Benizi parishioner Patrick McDermott said Father O'Brien "taught me the beauty of dying" and "a lot about my life with the Lord,"

McDermott, a daily visitor to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home after Father O'Brien became a patient there, said the priest had often been a welcome guest in his home.

"He loved kids," said McDermott, the father of seven daughters. "He would ask them, 'Are they treating you right? Did you get your way today?'"

Theresa Caldwell of St. Gabriel's in Fayetteville had similar memories of Father O'Brien, who often said Mass at the mission on weekends.

"He always had a moment for each one," of her three children, Mrs. Caldwell said. "He was always cutting up, telling jokes. He loved family and we became part of his family."

Her son, Keith was devoted to Father O'Brien and "wanted to be his twin," she said, recalling the year the boy asked for a hat like Father O'Brien's. For Christmas, "he gave him a black hat exactly like his."

Father O'Brien's younger brother, Raymond, who attended the funeral with his daughters Sheilia and Kelley and his sister Claire McGeehan, said Father O'Brien had "a lot of kid in him."

"He was a charmer," said Father Cayet Mangiaracina, OP, who had been on staff with Father O'Brien at Holy Cross and later helped care for the priest at Holy Cross rectory when the cancer began to progress.

"He was also a person of prayer," taking time each morning for meditation and reading, said Father Mangiaracina. When Father O'Brien realized the seriousness of his illness, he told his Dominican brothers, "Now I'm going to let people take care of me."

Such an attitude was an about-face for the priest, said those familiar with his humble, self-effacing style.

Father Frank Giusta, pastor of St. Philip Benizi when Father O'Brien served there and now pastor of St. Mark's Church in Clarkesville, visited Father O'Brien regularly during his illness and witnessed the steady stream of friends from all over the United States and the world who came to be by his side.

He hadn't a sense of his own significance, Father Giusta said, but "the (number of) people he touched in his life was unbelievable. He was an extraordinary man."