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February
5, 2007
VOL.
45, NO. 3Oakland,
CA
OBITUARIES
Sister Mary Baptista Dean, SNJM
Deacon Frank Beville, chaplain, activist, dies
Frank Beville,
a permanent deacon for the Oakland Diocese who served for more than a
dozen years as a prison chaplain and as coordinator of detention ministries
for Catholic Charities for the East Bay (CCEB), died in Oakland on Jan.
18 of respiratory failure following open heart surgery. He was 70.
A native of Colorado, he graduated in 1955 from St. Joseph High School
in Alameda, where he was a star basketball player. He also coached CYO
basketball for 17 years at St. Felicitas and Assumption parishes in San
Leandro, and St. Cyril Parish in Oakland. He worked as a union electrician
for 27 years before he was ordained to the permanent diaconate in 1987.
As a prison chaplain, Deacon Beville devoted countless hours to what he
called “creative loitering,” -- visiting with inmates at the
Santa Rita Rehabilitation Center in Dublin who needed someone to talk
to, especially those who felt dejected, humiliated and dehumanized.
Solomon Belette, executive director of CCEB, said Beville epitomized the
ministry of presence which is at the core of detention ministry. “It
is about being there, sharing the Gospel with people and leaving them
with a sense of hope,” he said.
Beville provided “great leadership” during his tenure at CCEB,
said Belette, who called the deacon “the architect” of the
agency’s detention ministry program. Beville recruited and trained
detention ministers and “as a result of the good work he did, the
ministry continues to exist.”
Beville was a devoted peace activist who participated in numerous anti-war
and anti-nuclear demonstrations with his wife Sherry. He was part of a
delegation of East Bay Catholics who undertook a peace mission to the
Soviet Union in 1984 to promote the U.S. bishops’ peace pastoral.
He traveled to Nicaragua and El Salvador in a show of solidarity and support
to those struggling for human rights during those nations’ civil
wars. The Bevilles offered sanctuary in their home to a Salvadoran family
seeking political asylum.
During their marriage, the Bevilles also helped prepare couples for marriage,
coordinated aspects of the RCIA program at St. Leander Parish in San Leandro,
and were active in the Cursillo and Charismatic movements
In addition to his wife, survivors include sons: Jim, Dave and Tony; daughters:
Terri, Nicole and Sarah; stepsons: Tom, Rick and Steve Brackett; 19
grandchildren, and one great-grandson.
A memorial service was held Jan. 27 at St. Leander Church. Memorial contributions
may be made to St. Mary’s Center (www.stmaryscenter.org
), the American Heart Association (www.americanheart.org
), and Western States Legal Foundation (www.wslfweb.org.).
Sister Mary Baptista Dean, SNJM
Holy Names
Sister Mary Baptista Dean, a longtime educator who also served the Oakland
Diocese in promoting vocations and as an advocate for older people, died
Jan. 26 in Los Gatos. She was 91 years of age and had been a vowed religious
for 71 years.
Born Dorothy Dean in Napa, she was drawn to the sciences and earned a
master’s degree in biology in the field of genetics from the University
of San Francisco, a certificate in gerontology from Holy Names College
(now University) in Oakland, and had a license as a medical laboratory
technician.
She taught for 18 years, including at Holy Names High School in Oakland
from 1941-51 and the former Melrose School, also in Oakland, from 1937-41.
She spent over two decades at Holy Names University in Oakland where she
was an associate professor of biology, residence hall director, and dean
of students.
She also devoted a number of years to vocations and served as associate
director of vocations for the Oakland Diocese in the 1970s when there
were few women religious working on the diocesan level anywhere in the
U.S. She also worked as a member of the diocesan vocations committee and
the Priests Senate committee for vocations.
During the later years of her ministry, she was a coordinator at St. Mary
Community Center in Oakland (1981-89), a member of the advisory board
to the Department of Aging at Catholic Charities of the East Bay (1983-89),
and a member of the board of directors at St. Mary’s Gardens in
Oakland. She was also a certified ombudsman for people in convalescent
homes in Oakland.
The funeral Mass was held Jan. 30 at the Convent of the Holy Names in
Los Gatos. Burial was at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward. Memorial
gifts may be made to the Ministry Fund, Sisters of the Holy Names, P.O.
Box 907, Los Gatos, CA 95031.
Sister
M. Hilary Cotter, SHF
Sister M. Hilary Cotter, who taught religious education at several parishes
in the Oakland Diocese, died Jan. 7 in Fremont several days after her
95th birthday. She had been a member of the Congregation of the Sisters
of the Holy Family for 67 years.
Born Helen Margaret Cotter in San Francisco, her parents, Richard and
Ellen Cotter, were married by Father John J. Prendergast, one of the founders
of the Sisters of the Holy Family. As a child she also knew Sister Teresa
O’Connor, another founder of the Holy Family Sisters, who served
in the parish the Cotter family attended.
Sister Cotter joined the Holy Family Sisters in 1939 and made her final
vows in 1944. During her six-decade ministry she served as a religious
education teacher at St. John the Baptist in San Lorenzo, Holy Spirit
in Fremont, Our Lady of the Rosary in Union City, All Saints in Hayward,
Corpus Christi in Fremont and St. Michael in Livermore. She also served
at parishes in San Francisco, San Anselmo, Modesto, Burlingame, Reno,
Carson City, Nevada.
She retired from active ministry in 1979 and lived at the congregation’s
motherhouse in Fremont until her death.
The funeral Mass was held Jan. 12 at the Motherhouse Chapel of the Sisters
of the Holy Family in Fremont. Memorial gifts may be made to the Sisters
of the Holy Family., P.O. Box 3248, Fremont, CA 94539.
