Kalas Funeral Home & Crematory

Father John Barnabas Davis, O.P., died in the afternoon of November 16, 2017, at the Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, MD, at the age of 79. Fr. Davis served for over fifty years as teacher, campus minister, pastor, and renowned preacher. 

Father Davis was born on September 3, 1938, in New York City, to Peter and Helen (née Cassidy) Davis, and named John Patrick. He attended Good Shepherd Elementary School in New York City, St. Charles High School in Catonsville, MD, and All Hallows Institute in New York City. In 1956-1958, he attended Iona College in New Rochelle, NY. In 1958, he was accepted as a preparatory student for the priesthood in the Dominican Order at Guzman Hall, Providence College, Providence, RI.

He entered the Dominican Novitiate on August 15, 1959, at St. Joseph Priory, Somerset, OH, and received the religious name Barnabas. He made his first profession at St. Joseph Priory on August 16, 1960, and his solemn profession at Precious Blood Church in Dover, MA, on August 15, 1963. He studied philosophy at St. Stephen Priory in Dover, MA. He studied theology at the Aquinas Institute and the University of Iowa, School of Religion in Dubuque, IA, and at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception (PFIC) in Washington, DC. On June 9, 1966, he was ordained a priest at St. Dominic Church in Washington, DC.

After completing an S.T.L. and an S.T.Lr. at the PFIC in 1967, he was assigned to St. Stephen Priory and served as an Instructor in Philosophy for one year. In 1968, he began doctoral studies at Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA. In February 1972, he was assigned to the Priory of the Immaculate Conception and served as an Instructor of Philosophy and Secretary of Studies while completing his dissertation. In 1973, he completed a Ph.D. in Phenomenology and Hermeneutics, and in 1974, he was appointed Assistant Professor. In March 1975, he was assigned to St. Martin de Porres House in Washington, DC, while he continued to serve on the faculty of the PFIC.

In July 1977, he was assigned to Sacred Heart Priory in Jersey City, NJ, with residence at the Aquinas Institute in Princeton, NJ, where he served as chaplain. In August 1978, he was assigned to St. Dominic Rectory in Detroit, MI, with residence at the Dominican Center of Evangelization at Wayne State University where he served as chaplain.

In 1980, he was assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas Priory in Providence, RI, where he served in the Philosophy Department. In June 1982, he was asked to interrupt his teaching to serve for the final two years of the Novice Master’s term at St. Stephen Priory in Dover, MA, beginning on August 1, 1982. In June of 1984, he returned to Province College and resumed his positon in the Philosophy Department.

In December 1989, Father Davis was assigned to St. Dominic Rectory in Detroit, MI, where he served as pastor of St. Dominic Parish. In April 1991, he was assigned to St. Vincent Ferrer Priory in New York City where he served as a parochial vicar at St. Vincent Ferrer Parish. In December 1991, he was appointed Promoter of Justice for the Province of St. Joseph.

In August 1993, he was assigned to Sacred Heart Priory in Jersey City, NJ, with residence at Caldwell College in Caldwell, NJ, where he served as an Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Philosophy for eleven years.

In June 2004, Father Davis was assigned to St. Vincent Ferrer Priory with residence at St. Joseph Rectory in Greenwich Village assisting in the ministry of the parish and the NYU chaplaincy. When St. Joseph Rectory was established as a religious house in 2006, he was assigned there directly. In September 2009, he was assigned to St. Dominic Priory in Washington, DC, where he assisted with community ministries. In October 2017, he moved to Sacred Heart Home in Hyattsville, MD, to receive needed health care.

Fr. Davis’s body was received at St. Dominic Church in Washington, DC, at 4:00 pm on November 21, 2017. The Office of the Dead was celebrated that evening at 7:30 pm. Very Rev. Kenneth Letoile, O.P., Prior Provincial, was the principal celebrant at the Mass of Christian Burial celebrated at 10:00 am the next day at St. Dominic Church. Father Giles Dimock, O.P., was the preacher. Interment followed at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Washington, D.C.






Rev. John P. Davis, O.P.

Rev. John P. Davis, O.P.

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