| CURIA GENERALIZIA MARIANISTI Death Notice No. 10 (To all Unit Administrations): April 14, 2006 The Province of the United States of America recommends to our fraternal prayers our dear brother, CHARLES K. OYABU, priest, who died in the service of the Blessed Virgin Mary on April 5, 2006, in San Antonio, Texas, in the 65th year of his age and the 46th year of his religious profession. Charles Oyabu was born
on November 7, 1941, in Honolulu, Hawai’i,
to George and Dorothy (Tsumoto) Oyabu. Charles’ family was Buddhist
and initially he attended public school. Because of his academic abilities,
his teachers recommended a transfer to a better school. His parents
enrolled him at Cathedral grade school and then Saint Louis High School
in Honolulu. In sixth grade, a year before he was baptized, he had
his first thoughts of becoming a religious. His interest deepened as
a high school sophomore, when he visited a Marianist brother who was
confined to St. Francis Hospital. The brother told Charles that he
would make a good candidate for the Society of Mary. Charles shrugged
it off until another Marianist brother told him the same thing. The
more he learned about the Society of Mary, the more interested he became.
At first his family was opposed to his religious aspirations, but by
his senior year they granted him permission to enter the novitiate
in Santa Cruz, California, in 1959. Fr. John Bolin, who served as rector in St. Louis when Fr. Charles was a seminarian, described him as “a happy combination of deep spirituality and a great sense of humor.” “We always knew when Charlie was in the room, because he was endowed with a very contagious and, at times, a very loud laugh,” Fr. John said. “People loved him and had great admiration for him and his devoted ministry. He will be missed.” Fr. Charles had a full career that began as a teacher at Riordan High School in San Francisco from 1964 to 1966. After seminary and his ordination in 1970, he was appointed chaplain to the scholasticate at Kieffer Hall in Honolulu and novice master soon after. From 1976 to 1980, he taught at Saint Louis High School in Honolulu. He then he took the job of pastor at St. Anthony’s in Wailuku, Maui, from 1985 to 1993, and associate pastor from 1997 to 2002. He also served as administrator for Holy Rosary at Paia and later for Christ the King in Kahului. After the four Marianist provinces of the United States united in 2002, he was assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Helotes, Texas, as associate pastor. Fr. Jerry Pleva, a fellow priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe, remembers Fr. Charles not only for his humor but for his dedication to the parish. “He was a scholar. He spent 10 to 12 hours a day writing his homilies for Sunday and weekday Masses. If it wasn’t right, he would tear it up and start over. He devoted his life to preparing homilies.” Early in 2006, Fr. Charles was diagnosed with terminal liver and colon cancers. Fr. Charles moved to the Marianist Residence in San Antonio for hospice care in February. During his illness, the ladies sewing group and Altar Society of the parish designed a quilt to be used as a coffin cover during his funeral Mass. Fr. Charles enjoyed calligraphy, raising canaries, cooking and cultivating flowers. Most of all, he enjoyed parish work and interacting with people. May he rest in peace.
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