1945 – 2009 (April 23)
Mark Anthony Garrett was born on March 13, 1945, in Teaneck, New Jersey, the son of Thomas A. Garrett and Velma Moersdorf, and was baptized at Our Lady of Victories Church, Jersey City, N.J. He attended public and parochial schools in New Jersey and later in Decatur, Illinois, and, from 1959 until 1961, Malvern Preparatory School, Malvern, Pa. He was enrolled at Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York, as a postulant, from 1961 to 1962, and was received into the Order as a novice on September 8, 1962. Following a year at Good Counsel Novitiate, New Hamburg, NY, he professed first vows on September 10, 1963. Mark attended Villanova University, from 1963 to 1967, and received his BA degree in Philosophy, after which he went to Augustinian College, Washington, DC, until 1971, and attended the Catholic University of America, where he received an STL in theology. He professed solemn vows on September 10, 1966, and was ordained to the priesthood on August 29, 1970, at Saint Denis Church, Havertown, PA, by Bishop James Schad, Auxiliary Bishop of Camden.
Father Mark was first assigned to the Casa San Lorenzo and Biscayne College, Miami, Florida, where he taught from 1971 to 1974. From 1974 to 1978, he lived with the Augustinian Community in Paris and pursued graduate studies at the Institut Catholique. In 1978 he was assigned to Merrimack College, North Andover, Massachusetts, where he taught until 1984. During that time he resided at Our Mother of Good Counsel Monastery on the college campus, then at Saint Augustine Community, Andover, and then at Saint Augustine Friary, Tower Hill, Lawrence. In 1984 he returned to the Casa San Lorenzo and Biscayne College, as a teacher, from 1984 to 1989. In 1989 he was a member of Saint Augustine Friary, Malvern, PA, while he continued graduate studies. From 1991 to 2001, he taught at the Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, Texas and in 2001 he was assigned to the Augustinian College community, Washington, DC.
In 2005, Father Mark was assigned to the Saint Thomas Monastery community, Villanova, and began ministry with the Augustinian Friends and the Augustinian Seculars throughout the Province. Father Mark passed over to the Lord on April 23, 2009, after a truck accident while visiting with Augustinian spirituality groups in the New England area. After his funeral liturgy at Saint Thomas Church, Villanova University, he was buried in the Augustinian section of Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken, PA. He was sixty-four years old.
Father Mark was an avid reader and knowledgeable in classical and modern languages, a student his lifelong, especially in the areas of Saint Augustine, spirituality, liturgical and sacramental theology. In a letter to the Augustinian Friends and Seculars, Mark wrote: "We are a people of hope, who believe and follow a God of hope. May that God of hope be forever with us as we continue to journey. May that be so for us all."
