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Dominican
Friars of Raleigh |
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† Br. Tim Wrinn, OP |
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"To give to others the fruits of our contemplation." |
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Brother Tim came to us as a refugee from the flooding of hurricane Katrina. Shown below is a photo he took himself just before he left New Orleans.
Brother Timothy was born as James Wrinn in Wallingford, CT on April 28, 1925 and died in Raleigh, NC on Aug. 9, 2006. During World War II, he served honorably in the U.S. Navy as a First Class Petty Officer and was discharged in 1946. In Sept. 1954 he entered the Dominican Friars at St . Thomas Aquinas Priory in River Forest, IL. On Mar. 10, 1956, he made first profession for St. Albert the Great Province. As a quiet and timid person, he answered the call to live and serve as a Dominican lay brother. From 1963 until 1979, Bro. Tim served as a missionary in his Province’s vicariate of Bolivia—living in La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. From Bolivia, he also preached in Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico and the Dominican Republic—usually among the poor of the barrios. He gradually developed a spirit of meditative reading and contemplative peace (accompanied by a simple smile), which enriched his Dominican community living. In 1980 he returned to the United States as a member of the new Province of St. Martin de Porres and joined the Dominican Missionary Preaching Team: in McAllen, TX from 1980-1992 and in Austin, TX from 1993-1994. He specialized in a ministry of prayer, preaching, counseling and healing among the poor, especially in conjunction with Sr. Guadalupe Soria (a Sinsinawa Dominican), in Texas and throughout the southwest. Bro. Tim served on the Provincial staff in Metairie, LA from 1995-1999. Then he moved to limited service and continued living at St. Anthony of Padua Priory in New Orleans from 1999 until Aug. 2005. Bro. Tim loved the beauty of God's creation, and was an avid collector of scenic photos. Click Here to view a sampling of photos from Bro. Tim's scenic collection. As a result of Hurricane Katrina’s effects upon New Orleans, in Sept. 2005 he moved to St. Martin de Porres Priory in Raleigh, NC. On July 25, 2006 he retired to Mayview Convalescent Center in Raleigh and died on Aug. 9, 2006—having lived as a "Timid Tim, the Preacher" for 50 years. His Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Aug. 17, 2006 at St. Anthony of Padua Church in New Orleans (where he had served as acolyte for a number of years) and then was brought to final rest at the Dominican Friars’ Cemetery in Rosaryville, LA. Bro. Tim is survived by a sister, Dorothy Murphy, while two brothers, Joseph and Edward, preceded him in death.
A PERSONAL MEMORY OF BROTHER TIM WRINN, OP
Timid Timothy Wrinn, OP - The Dominican Missionary Preacher 1925-2006 With tears and deep joy, I celebrate the life of "Timid Tim," the unique Dominican brother preacher who has gone home to the Lord and the company of the many brothers of the Order of Preachers before him. He lived the fullness of the Dominican charism, and many have been touched, liberated, healed and blessed through his life and ministry, always insisting that our Dominican life is Missionary to the impoverished! Tim's first missionary experience in Bolivia included being administrator of The Bolivian Institute of Social Study and Action (IBEAS) in La Paz. Besides ordinary activities such as keeping the troublesome finances organized, the puzzle of individual keys for each of the dozens of offices and doors of the building, supervising the maintenance of the 4 story building, he quietly became the compassionate counselor of the personnel in their often serious personal and family concerns and troubles. Tim lived through the public traumatic experience of the Dominican community of threats of violence, false accusations that surrounded the successful projects of the Institute. He also accompanied Fr. Chrys Geraets, OP in community projects in distant and isolated Bolivian rural towns. Tim's love for the very impoverished took him to live in a smaller Dominican Community in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The community lived among the poor in a small house on San Lorenzo Alley, a half block from the fly infested open city market. Sharing the contemplative prayer life of the community, led Tim to enhance the sense of personal dignity of the people. In the midst of a depressed populace, he was convinced that we all needed to smile freely. The neighborhood people were reluctant to smile because of their missing or poor teeth. So Tim began a project, finding ways to improve the dental health of the people so that they could smile with confidence! He realized also that many didn't read because of limited vision, so Tim, collecting used glasses, distributed them among the people. These projects resulted in Tim becoming a personal friend and counselor for many in difficult relationships. Tim had a love for meditative reading and study, frequently asking for what is worth reading in relation to personal and ministerial prayer, and the action of the Holy Spirit. Two events resulted in a intensification of his life and ministry: his personal healing from a traumatic childhood experience, and sharing that experience with the barrio people as part of the mini-missions of the Dominican community. Tim was deeply healed from his timidity through receiving personal prayer during a charismatic retreat in Cochabamba. His further study of prayer in purification of the memory, led him to the boldness of beginning to publicly preach with the community. His first experience preaching was an apparent disaster, after which he stated, "I will never preach again, preaching is not my charism." However, after several further opportunities to publicly share his powerful experience of the Holy Spirit, he gradually grew in confidence. Tim and Guadalupe Soria, D.P. of the Sinsinawa Dominicans, formed a preaching team to continue to give mini-missions in the impoverished neighborhoods that surrounded the city of Santa Cruz, including the city jail. Tim's realistic preaching of the living Jesus Christ, and the discovery of the powerful activity of the Holy Spirit in ordinary life though simple personal prayer, led him to emphasize the general need of us all for our healing of past hurts to a new life led by the Spirit. The subsequent requests of many people seeking him out for personal prayer confirmed him more in this new direction in his Dominican life as Preacher-Spiritual Director. Tim developed his neighborhood missions, and retreats for married couples in a most effective way. Timid Tim was a prayerful, quiet, deep, most effective minister of the Word of God. Becoming part of the Dominican Missionary Preaching Team, invitations from other countries enhanced the vocation of itinerant preaching, drawn again even more deeply into the spirit of St. Dominic's charism. Tim's preaching ministry took him to the cities and rural areas of Colombia,: Venezuela, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and in 1975 back to the McAllen Texas to continue his missionary experience. As part of our Missionary community, he continued his preaching mission in California, Utah, Texas, and Arizona, often with religious women. He shared his deep spiritual insights into causes of broken relationships and neglected spiritual problems with Bishop John Fitzpatrick of Brownsville, Bishop William Weigand of Salt Lake City, Bishop Trienan of Boise, and others. His desire was to focus preaching on the present struggles of the people. Tim brought a quiet contemplative presence to community life. In many instances, he brought personal prayer for healing and peace to those of us experiencing death in the family, unexpected sickness, personal negative experiences as part of ordinary community life. Community prayer life was more than the community liturgy and praying the psalms. It included occasional forgiveness session, community retreats, meditation, and blessings for travelers of which Tim was an eager participant. He relished personal blessings by his brother and sister Dominicans and laity in his last days of illness. In 1994, in a critical time for the Dominican community in Austin, TX., more than 50 couples and individuals wrote letters attesting to the effectiveness of Tim's ministry of preaching and prayer ministry. especially in the U.S. Many continued as lifelong friends of Tim. For a quarter of a century he was the contemplative soul of the Dominican Missionary Preaching Team. Tim wanted to share the joy he found in the Lord and in Dominican Life and Ministry as the paradoxical TIMID TIM THE PREACHER. He wanted all of us to smile!
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