Originally posted Sat, 2009-06-20 02:13
Courtesy photo/The Observer. Father Francis Browne, pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in New Smyrna Beach, died unexpectedly June 18 while fishing. He was 66.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH – Father Francis Browne's love of the priesthood was unquestioned as was his favorite hobby: Fishing.
As first reported by The Observer newspaper, Browne, pastor of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in New Smyrna Beach since 2003, suffered a massive heart attack Thursday that resulted in his death while fishing with a friend, Paul Arnold of Edgewater, in Mosquito Lagoon near the Canaveral National Seashore when he was stricken in the boat. Browne was 66.
“This is sad,” Father Jerome Chavarria, redemptorist vice rovincial, told The Observer. “Father Browne was greatly loved by his parishioners as well as his fellow priests. We have lost a truly gentle soul.”
The Rev. Don Bremer of the First United Methodist Church of New Smyrna Beach, told the Observer, “Father Browne was such a hard working servant of the Lord. He shined through as a man of true faith, and love of God's people. A man of respect, I know he's in the right place now.”
Browne, a Kingston, N.Y., native, was ordained to the priesthood on June 23, 1968.
Browne is survived by a sister, Kim Doetzer of New York. Browne's wake service will be held at Sacred Heart Parish, 7 p.m., Monday, June 22, with the funeral mass following the next morning at 11 a.m., Tuesday, June 23, also at Sacred Heart in New Smyrna Beach. Another Funeral Mass followed by burial will take place at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, June 27 at Mount Saint Alphonsus Retreat Center in Esopus, N.Y.