Marianist Brother Frank O’Donnell may be celebrating his 60th year in ministry this year, but Marianist Brother Stephen Glodek jokes that his longtime friend is only on his second “reincarnation.”
Brother Frank spent most of the first 20 years of his ministry educating young people. In the 1960s and 1970s, he taught French and theology at The Cardinal Gibbons High School and eventually became the principal. But he also had a passion for social justice and would frequently help nonprofit organizations and community groups with grants and other charitable work.
“In doing that work, I saw that often the poor do not get the same justice as everybody else,” Brother Frank said. “We say everybody who goes to the court will get justice. Well, I found out that’s not the case. You have to have a good lawyer to get justice.”
So he set out to become a good lawyer.
The one-time principal went back to being a student and graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1991. Thus began an incredible second act for Brother Frank, one that would lead him to work for the state Maryland – as he says – “to create change from the inside.”
“It grew out of Brother Frank’s passion for peace and justice that has been a hallmark of his life. He thought it would be an interesting and effective kind of ministry that (the Marianists) hadn’t done much of before,” Brother Stephen said. “He looks out for the people who fall through the cracks in the legal system, for whom the system fails. He’s there to look out for their interests and make sure that they get a good shake in the justice system.”
Brother Frank said one of his first assignments was his most rewarding. As the director of the Tenant Advocacy Project at the Public Justice Center, he helped people avoid eviction and navigate the court proceedings, which unlike most legal matters, move very quickly.
“Sometimes a person would be at work and go home and find all their belongings on the street,” Brother Frank said. His work pushed authorities to provide more notice and more humane treatment of people struggling to pay their rent.
Brother Frank’’s work helping poor communities in Baltimore eventually brought him to the attention of former state Del. Kenneth C. Montague Jr. who offered him a position as a top aide in 1999. From then on, Brother Frank would serve in a number of roles in the state government, including his current job as staff attorney for the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings.
Yet his focus on the poor and the most vulnerable remained.
“He’s always very empathetic toward sort of the downtrodden or people who have not had the opportunities that many of us have had,” said Judge Terri Garland, who worked with Brother Frank for years in the Governor’s Office of Children, Youth and Families.
“He was very passionate about kids from disadvantaged backgrounds not going into the system, and he worked internally for changes in that system,” Garland said. “He was focused on keeping children at home as opposed to placements for them out of their homes. … He’s made a difference in the lives of kids today.”
Garland was so impressed with Brother Frank’s work that she recruited him when she switched over to the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings.
“He’s an incredibly well-rounded person who can take any kind of issue, any kind of situation and grasp the facts and where we’re going with it,” Garland said. “He’s been referred to by others as a middle linebacker because he has so much talent to just be able to kind of slide into a role and make it his own.”
His work in the criminal justice world doesn’t end after a verdict is handed down. For years, he has ministered to those serving life sentences at Maryland’s Jessup Correctional Institution.
He is a staunch opponent of the death penalty and protested Maryland’s use of capital punishment for decades. While the state banned the use of capital punishment in 2013, Brother Frank’s advocacy continues, working with organizations in other states where prisoners are still executed.
“We kill people in order to teach them not to kill. That doesn’t make sense,” Brother Frank said.
When Brother Frank isn’t working from the state, he serves on a number of boards, including at Mother Seton Academy and Bon Secours Community Works.
Drawing from his time as the head librarian at Cardinal Gibbons High School, everything he does is well-researched, whether it’s a legal brief or some friendly advice, his friends said. If you need recommendations on where to eat or what movie or Broadway show to see, Brother Frank is an invaluable resource, Garland said.
While the pandemic delayed Brother Frank’s jubilee celebration, he seems unfazed. A Mass and lunch had been scheduled for June at St. Mary’s Chapel on Paca Street, but he’s content to wait until next year.
And there’s certainly no talk of resting on his laurels after 60 years of service.
“He had been blessed with the energy and stamina to keep going what he was doing. So he has our blessings and I’m sure he’ll keep going,” Brother Stephen said, speaking for the Marianist religious community.
Brother Frank said people often ask him why he still continues to work. His answer: There is still a great need.
For example, in a few weeks, Brother Frank said, he will mask up and serve as a judge at a polling place on Election Day.
“And people say, ‘Why are you going to do that? You’re going to catch COVID!’ And I say, ‘Because, first of all, there will be many, many precautions. They’re very conscious of that. And secondly, because I’d like to make some contribution to the civic arena that way,” he said.
So from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Nov. 3, Brother Frank will be where he feels most comfortable – serving the community.
“He is always inquisitive, always curious. I think that’s what keeps him going,” Garland said. “He loves the law and he loves helping people, and I honestly don’t see him retiring.”
Brother Frank wholeheartedly agrees.
“I consider myself a young 78 and I’d rather continue serving people,” he said.
Email Tim Swift at tswift@CatholicReview.org
Also see:
Marianist brother works to change attitudes on the death penalty
Catholic activists applaud encyclical’s stance against death penalty
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