Date of Birth: September 30, 1942
Place of Birth: Wayne, PA
Temporary Profession: August 22, 1962
Perpetual Profession: August 22, 1965
Date of death: September 15, 2011
"In baseball, you don't get too upset about losing.
There's always next year."
On September 14, the Phillies became the first team to clinch a playoff spot with a 1-0 win at Houston. Three days later, on September 17, they clinched the National League East title for the fifth consecutive season. With 102 wins, the Phillies had the best record in baseball for the second year in a row and broke the franchise record for most regular-season wins. What a season. Unfortunately, the record books do not record that the Phillies lost one of their most ardent fans on September 15. Br. Charles O'Connor died quietly, as he lived, at Vincentian Home in North Hills, Pittsburgh, PA. His loss may have contributed to the astonishing heartbreak of the Phillies that followed: they lost in the first playoff series to the inferior St. Louis Cardinals, who went on to win the 2011 World Series.
But baseball was not the only game Charlie loved.
If there was a High School Basketball Game and some friends were going, he was there. If there were tickets available to a football game, he'd grab them. Charlie was not just a fan. He was a fanatic, and unless you lived with him, you'd never have known the kind of energy and enthusiasm he could muster. He loved to watch sports on TV when he couldn't get out for a game, and he spent a good amount of time watching it. He was faithful to prayer and present to the fraternity, but you always knew that his absolute devotion was with the Phillies.
Francis O'Connor was born on September 30, 1942, in Wayne, PA, about a 30 minute train ride from downtown Philadelphia. His father, also Francis, was an Irish immigrant whose love for Ireland and for the Catholic faith were unwavering. After the famous Easter Uprising of 1916 in Dublin, having witnessed the death of his own brother, Francis ventured to the United States where he met his first wife who tragically died in childbirth. His second wife, Anna Dougherty, was a woman of intense faith. It's said she would often be found praying the rosary in the back yard of their home. Following the birth of her first and only child to survive, their son 'Frankie' (whom we know as 'Charlie'), she too ultimately died in childbirth after many attempts. Little Francis was only 4 years old.
It was Mr. O'Connor's third wife, Isabella, whom 'Frankie' knew as 'mom.' Isabella had known his father well, and after the death of Anna, she accepted Mr. O'Connor's proposal for marriage. They had a daughter together, Isabel (now Isabel Gibson), and Frankie was 12 years old before he discovered that Isabella was his stepmother, not his birth mother.
'Frankie' grew up in fine style on the estate of the Joseph Sill Clark family where his father served as the family chauffer to both Mr. Jos. Clark, Sr., Champion tennis player and Philadelphia lawyer, and his son Mr. Jos. Clark, Jr., future mayor of Philadelphia. The families spent their summers together on the beaches of Long Island, NY, and 'Frankie' grew fond of the animals that populated the estate. He loved horses and dogs, and the family remembers that when some horses ran away, it was only our brother Charles who could find them and gently lead them back.
Mr O'Connor had always wished to see his son secure and happy in the priesthood, and 'Frankie' asked to go to the St. Fidelis Seminary in 1956. The then 9-year-old half-sister, Isabel, remembers the family visit to the seminary that first year, over and back to and from Philadelphia. Plus, they were inconvenienced by the changing of a flat tire on the way! Tragically, that would be one of the last times the father and son would see one another: Mr. O'Connor died of a heart attack in March 1957 at the age of 57. Isabella and her daughter Isabel had 'lost' both men in the house in their first year. 'Frankie' offered to move back home, to leave the seminary and be of support for them, but Isabella insisted that he stay where his father would have wanted him to persevere.
Francis completed high school and his initial studies in philosophy in Herman, but as he prepared to move on to novitiate in 1961, he was presented with another obstacle to his path. His Capuchin formators felt that his call was not to the priesthood. Instead, he entered his novitiate and received the Capuchin habit in August 21, 1961, joining the group of lay brother candidates. He was given the name 'Charles.'
Br. Charles was professed the following year, just shy of his 20th birthday, and took part in the formation provided by the Brothers Training Center in Cumberland, MD. There, he learned the essentials of being in 'fraternity service' to the community, and he professed his perpetual vows on August 22, 1965.
Serving only one year at Capuchin College in Washington, DC, Br. Charles moved to the General Curia in Rome, Italy, at the request of the Order's English language Definitor, Fr. Giles Staab from our Province. They were not easy years. The attitude toward 'lay brothers' was slowly changing, but one doesn't look to Italy to ever be accused of being au courant. The lives of the lay brothers there was difficult and the isolation from one's culture and one's language (and, of course, from the Philidelphia Phillies) made it a difficult situation to bear for long. He returned to the Province in 1970 and was assigned to St. Mary's in Herman.
Br. Charles was proud to be a lay brother. He was one of the few lay friars from the Province who rarely missed an annual meeting of the National Religious Vocation Conference (NRVC). His associations with other brothers at the annual meeting were a support and a comfort for him.
Charles had a deep seated desire to be a religious educator. To that end, he would eventually spend various semesters trying to complete his Bachelors' Degree near the places he served. Courses at the then Carlow College, LaRoche College and Butler Community College would eventually allow him to achieve that goal, all the credits being accepted by St. Fidelis. Yet, he would serve only twice as coordinator of religious education at St. Cecelia in Rochester, PA (1973-74) and St. Mary Parish in Herman, PA (1974-1978), and he came to learn that his talents were not best suited to the leadership and management required of him.
Various assignments to fraternity service followed in Herman, Annapolis, Wheeling and Pittsburgh, before he was stationed for nine years of Pastoral Service to St. Joseph Parish, York, PA. Families remember his smile and his readiness to help deliver food and other necessities to the poor through the St. Vincent DePaul Food Bank. Some friends relate that Br. Charles became a 'member of the family,' and would drop by to talk, to watch some TV, and even to help himself to their refrigerator. Besides all that, he was the closest to Philadelphia and his beloved team than he would ever be. Charlie took advantage of that.
But another obstacle crossed Br. Charles' path in those years: diabetes. It was often difficult to get his blood count at their best levels, and it would be the eventual cause of continued struggles with his health as the years continued. He again lived and served at St. Augustine Friary from 1995-2000, but the need for his presence brought him to another parish: St. Clare of Assisi in Clairton, PA. Failing kidneys caused his brief return to St. Augustine's in 2007 where his hope for kidney transplant surgery never materialized. Regular dialysis and the need for more attentive nursing care led him to Vincentian Nursing Home for the final four years of his life where he died on September 15, 2011.
The Provincial Minister, Fr. David Nestler, presided at his Funeral Mass on September 19, 2012. 'Charlie's' own wishes were so seldom verbalized that one looks to some deeper meaning in his only expressed funeral wishes: that Psalm 103 be prayed, that a reading would come from 1 Corinthians, and that Ubi Caritas and Gift of Finest Wheat would be sung.
Did he want us to hear 'The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in kindness'? Did he want to encourage us to 'strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts' or to realize that 'there are but three things that last: faith, hope and love -- but the greatest of these is love?' Was he ever moved by the lyrics which sang out 'You give yourself to us, O Lord, then selfless let us be' or by the haunting chant which led us to know that 'where charity and love abide, there is God? As of most things in Charles' experiences, we'll never know.
Br. Charles' loss to us, however, is a victory for him, and we all know that 'victories' meant everything to Charlie.