William "Abba Willie" McNamara

William McNamara "ABBA WILLIE" passed away on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at the Vibra Hospital in San Diego, CA. His name was J. Edward McNamara when he attended grade school at St. Michael's in South Providence. At age 13, with promises to keep and reforms to make he boarded a train to Milwaukee and began studies leading to ordination as a Carmelite monk. Discalced Carmelite, which means no shoes or, in the broader sense, no ease. Out went the old name in came the new, William of the Infant Jesus. Before long he was brewing plans for a new organization, Catholic in foundation, ecumenical in conception and board leadership. The Spiritual Life Institute mounted international conferences on such subjects as contemplation, poverty, and the arts and culture. But the Institute became better known for its monastic reforms, inviting both men and women to join and enliven "no ease" communities in Sedona, Arizona; Crestone Colorado; Nova Scotia, Canada; and County Sligo, Ireland. Abba Willie ended his community leadership a decade ago to finally grasp his goal of being a solitary desert hermit, assuming that role in Borrego Springs, CA, where he lived and worked under the aegis of Spiritual Life Instance, led by Sue Adamowicz of Wells, ME, formerly of Barrington, RI. He struggles through a succession of illnesses and accidents that eventually took his life on March 31 in a San Diego hospital. Through the years he conducted many retreats, including some in RI, and he wrote several books including "The Art of Being Human," "The Human Adventure," and "Christian Mysticism." One of his retreats was co-conducted by his elder brother, Fr. Patrick McNamara OSM at their old parish, St. Michael's on Oxford St., another at a Colorado college with his brother Bill, a layman now living in Warwick. Attending the former retreat were family members including his parents, John and Margaret McNamara, late of Providence, and his sister, Rita Crawford, formerly of Jamestown, now a resident at St. Antoine's in North Smithfield. A fellow priest in the Spiritual Life Institute, Rev. David M. Denny, said of his abbot: "The genius of Fr. William is his fusion of vision and concrete application. I have never known a more consistently cheerful and winsomely mischievous tragic-merry man." A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Thursday, April 9, at 11 am at St. Mark's Church, 60 Narragansett Ave., Jamestown. Visitation will be from 10 - 11:00am in the church, prior to the mass. Burial will follow in St Mark's Cemetery, Jamestown. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Spiritual Life Instance, PO Box 601, Wells, ME 04090. Arrangements entrusted to the Russell J. Boyle & Son Funeral Home. For online condolences, please visit: www.boyleandsonfuneralhome.com