Deceased Friars
Links to Funeral Arrangements and Video possibilities are at the article's end.
Our brother Brian Newman, OFM Cap., passed on to life in the Lord’s eternal peace on Monday June 30, 2025, at our motherhouse in Pittsburgh, PA. He celebrated his 90th birthday just 10 days before though he’d been in failing health since a cancer diagnosis in January. He chose to begin hospice care at that time; it was his sincere hope that all the friars accompany him in this final journey with their prayers, and he was consoled that his illness was advancing during the Church’s Jubilee Year of Hope. He wanted news of his illness to be shared widely so that our prayers and fraternal regard would be his “companion on this pilgrimage to our Father.”
Robert Newman was born June 20, 1935, and, being from his beloved Charleston, WV, was a self-described Mountaineer, a proud Appalachian. Son of Elmas and Betha (Lynch) Newman, he was baptized at Sacred Heart Church in the city where our Capuchin Franciscan friars had lived and served for decades. Sadly, his older sister, Patricia Ann, died at the age of 12.
The video of the Wake Service held for our brother Allan
on Sunday evening, February 2, 2025, appears here.
The Funeral Mass celebrated on Monday, February 3, 2025, appears here.
Our brother, Allan Wasiecko, OFM Cap., passed to the Lord’s eternal life on January 30, 2025 at a residential rehabilitation center in Pittsburgh, PA. He was 82. Allan was at the Center following a successful surgery to repair a broken femur he suffered from a fall at our St. Augustine Motherhouse on January 17th. His passing was not entirely expected, though health issues and increased memory loss weighed him down in his final years among us.
Born on October 19, 1942, to Stephen and Helen (Pack) Wasiecko in Pittsburgh, PA’s Mt. Oliver district, Allan entered St. Fidelis High School Seminary in Herman, PA, in 1955 and was invested as a novice in 1962, making his first profession of vows to our way of life on July 14, 1963. He was given the name Br. Donan, but he returned to his baptismal name when permitted to do so in 1968. Donan was part of the largest class of young men ever to join the community in one year, the height of the vocations boom in the 20th century. 25 young men joined him in professing vows that year, and 18 of the them went on to priesthood ordination following theology studies at Capuchin College in Washington, DC, on October 19, 1968 (which just happened to be Allan’s 26th Birthday!). Classmates included our confreres John Bednarik and Gene Emrisek. Other brothers would precede him to the “eternity fraternity:” Gary Powell (+1994), Ed Judy (+2003), future bishop Bill Fey (+2021) and Jerome Dunn (+2022).