Honoring the Ministry
of Fr. James Brown in Omaha

Fr. Brown (l.) stands with Dn. Pat Lenz in front of new youth center
at St. James Parish, Omaha, Nebraska.

Omaha, Nebraska, was the site of the first permanent mission of the Augustinian Recollects in the United States. Beginning at Holy Ghost Parish in 1917 and then at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in 1919, the Recollect friars ministered to both the English and Spanish speaking residents of South Omaha. The corporate mission of St. Augustine Province in Omaha ended in the mid-1980s when lack of personnel and the need for consolidation to preserve community life forced the Recollects to withdraw from the Archdiocese. However, one remarkable Recollect, Fr. James Brown, OAR, himself a vocation from the near-by town of Snyder, Nebraska, remained on special assignment in that place where the Recollect mission in the United States had its roots. Although Fr. Brown, now 85, has moved on to reside at St. Augustine Priory in Oxnard, California, his many years of service in Omaha have been honored in a number of ways.

St. James Parish in Omaha, where Fr. Brown resided from 1983-2006, has recently established a Youth Center for ministry to high school youth and young adults. The youth and young adults served by the Center were asked to suggest names for the new center. By unanimous decision they chose the name "The Father James V. Brown OAR, Youth Center" resided at the parish while he was the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry Office in the Archdiocese of Omaha, and worked among the youth and young adults of the parish as well. The Center serves about 500 high school youth. The parish has over 600 registered young adults.

The Office of Faith Formation and the Family Life Office of the Archdiocese of Omaha annually select a youth minister of the Archdiocese who has made the most outstanding contribution in their ministry. As of this year this award will be known as "The Father James V. Brown, OAR, Youth Ministry Award." All youth ministers of the Archdiocese vote on who is to receive the award and it is presented by the Archbishop at the annual Ministry Convocation. Fr. Brown, while serving as the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry in the Archdicoese of Omaha from 1981-2001, is credited with establishing all the training programs for youth ministers.

A group of twenty men, former boys at Boys Town, Nebraska, have established "The Father James Brown Scholarship" to be awarded annually to a graduate of Boys Town. The group, now all successful businessmen, wished to honor the memory of Fr. Brown for placing them at the Home and working with them while they were there. Fr. Brown placed over 100 boys at Boys Town while he was pastor of Sacred Heart and the director of Guadalupe Center in the West End of Kansas City. Later he served as the spiritual director at Boys Town campus from 1974-79.

Congratulations to Fr. Brown for this recognition of the many years of fruitful service to the Archdiocese and most especially to the youth of Omaha.

Fr. Brown with officers of the Kansas City unit of the Boys Town alumni.

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