A VERY DESERVED HONOR FOR A WONDERFUL MAN
On Saturday, at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in San Diego, the Beardsley Street sign will have Father Richard Brown’s name added. To understand why the community felt this was needed, you would have to know the challenges that Our Lady of Guadalupe parish experienced in the mid-1960s, when the construction of Interstate 5 and the San Diego-Coronado Bridge forced hundreds of businesses and families to move out of the Barrio.
Before then, Our Lady of Guadalupe’s Sunday masses were packed. It was standing room only. Then, suddenly, there was open seating. Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic school, which used to have a waiting list of students, could no longer fill its classrooms. However, what was most noticeable and alarming to Pastor Gerald Fader was the absence of young people attending Mass regularly. He knew of a wonderful young Jesuit priest named Richard Hyatt Brown, whom he had guided to become a priest and was having great success working with the youth in Mexico City. In the five years he was there, Father Brown created one of the largest and most successful youth centers in the city, and he was now ready to return to the United States.
When Father Brown arrived at Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1968, he got to work right away by meeting the leaders of all the church organizations. Father Brown was not Latino by blood, but his Spanish was perfect, and he had a deep knowledge of the Mexican culture and customs. He was also witty and funny, but perhaps his most important skill was that he made everyone feel loved and appreciated. He wanted the church to be open and available to everyone and walked throughout the neighborhood daily, making friends wherever he went.
One of those friendships was with Rachael Ortiz, executive director of the Barrio Station — a nonprofit with programs focused on gang intervention and the lowrider community. Father Brown knew of the challenges facing these groups and wanted to help address them.
He created the Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Youth Organization in 1968, a club for both teen boys and girls that had a spiritual component but also taught practical skills. It held weekly meetings, monthly dances in the school hall, and fundraisers like car washes and bake sales to fund field trips. In 1969, within a few short months after it opened, the Catholic Youth Organization grew from a handful of kids to several hundred and hosted its first coronation dance. Soon, the Catholic
Youth Organization not only had annual coronation dances supported by car clubs, but also had a queen for the Our Lady of Guadalupe Day parade. The return of the youth to Our Lady of Guadalupe was now very visible, especially during Sundays where the Catholic Youth Organization had a dedicated 9:15 a.m. Mass with homilies tailored toward the young. The Mass included folk music, a choir, altar boys and ushers who were all Catholic Youth Organization members. The kids appreciated that the 9:15 a.m. Mass with Father Brown was never longer than 45 minutes.
Father Brown strived to help families in need. He created secretarial positions to help young students with financial need. He also allowed various groups, especially from the car clubs, to meet regularly at the parish. He was frequently called by desperate parents in the 1970s whose kids were in trouble and so he developed a wonderful relationship with the assistant chief of the San Diego Police Department, George Saldamando, to help address this problem. This partnership with the San Diego Police Department not only helped to keep the neighborhood safer, but it also led to law enforcement careers for several Catholic Youth Organization members.
Unfortunately, the decline in the school populations at both Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Angels Schools did not improve. Father Brown was worried. He wanted to ensure that Catholic education would continue in the Barrio, so in 1973 he and Pastor Donald Kulleck merged the two schools into Our Lady’s School. He didn’t like fundraising, but he believed in Catholic education, so he worked tirelessly to be sure Our Lady’s School remained open. Today, Our Lady’s School is the oldest Catholic elementary school in the Diocese. In 2016, in honor of Father Brown’s 70th anniversary as a Jesuit priest, Our Lady’s School and Catholic Youth Organization alumni created the Father Brown scholarship to help students in need. He died in 2020, less than a month after turning 93.
Father Brown’s 37-year ministry as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe was not all play and fun! Sure, he was fun, endearing and left everyone with many wonderful memories. However, more than anything, he loved his Catholic faith and taught others how to put their faith into action. Father Brown instilled in us the belief that Jesus was our friend. He did so not just by his words but by his actions in a community that loved him and referred to him as “El Padrecito del Barrio.” He will be honored with a Mass at 11 a.m. Saturday followed by the honorary renaming of Beardsley Street by the City of San Diego to ensure that Father Richard Brown’s legacy lives on.
Father Brown always taught others how to put their Catholic faith into action.
Garcia was president of the Catholic Youth Organization from 1969 to 1976. She retired from IBM Corp. and lives in Chula Vista. Montaño is president of the Our Lady’s School Alumni Association and an account executive with Shamrock Foods and lives in La Mesa.