Brother Mark Kosiba

CONCEPTION, Mo. - Brother Mark (Lawrence) Kosiba, O.S.B., 74, of Conception Abbey, Conception, Mo., died Monday, Nov. 30, 2009, at North Kansas City Hospital in North Kansas City, Mo.

Vespers of Faithful Departed will be prayed at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday and Mass of Christian Burial celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Conception, Mo., with the Abbot Gregory Polan, O.S.B. officiating. Burial will follow at St. Columba Cemetery in Conception, Mo. Of your charity remember our beloved confrere in prayer. May the angels indeed lead him to Paradise.

Lawrence Alois Kosiba was born on April 3, 1935, son of Frank and Anna (Mostek) Kosiba, of Duncan, the seventh child in a family of one older brother and six sisters. He was baptized at Saint Stanislaus Church four days later. His family soon moved to Columbus where Lawrence attended Saint Anthony's Parish School. He manifested a precocious interest in matters of religion, serving as sacristan through his last year at Saint Anthony's. At the tender age of 15, Lawrence sought admission to the Brother's School at Conception Abbey. He completed the course and entered the novitiate in February 1951. Soon the very young novice began to recognize that he had not yet attained sufficient maturity to make an authentic commitment to monastic life. He made the important decision to depart (for a time), in order to give himself an opportunity to find his way a little farther in the adult world.

Lawrence entered the Navy, where he trained as a field service technician for the Naval Medical Corps. Upon his discharge from active duty in 1956, Lawrence felt he was now sufficiently mature to make a commitment to monastic life, and reapplied to Conception Abbey. He completed a second novitiate in 1956, and made his request to Abbot Stephen Schappler to be admitted to vows with the following words: "The fact that God has given me the grace to return to seek admission to Conception Abbey a second time, urges me to state my decision with double confidence. Nevertheless, I do so humbly, submitting myself to your decision and that of the Chapter." On Nov. 13 1957, he made his first profession of vows and was given the name Mark.

Brother Mark's first assignment put to use the training he had received in the Naval Medical Corps: he was made Infirmarian, a post he held for seven years. He advanced his military field-training with certification in Surgical Assistance and Geriatric Care from the Pierre School of Practical Nursing. In his care for the sick and infirm among the brethren, Brother Mark manifested that loving concern for the community that motivated all he did as a monk. He often recalled with obvious fondness his term as Infirmarian.

In 1965, Brother Mark was assigned to serve at Conception's mission on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation at Fort Yates, N.D. It was in service to the Native Americans there that Brother Mark discovered the talent that became his avocation. As Director of Development for the mission and school at Fort Yates, Brother Mark cultivated friends and supporters to provide material and spiritual support for this endeavor on behalf of the Sioux people. He made many enduring friendships there; he was adopted by the Francis Hairy Chin Family, who gave him the Lakota name Tatonka Sapa Hoksina ("Black Buffalo Boy").

When Brother mark was recalled to the Abbey in 1986, his departure was lamented by the people of Standing Rock. A boy in the Indian School advised him: "Brother, why don't you do something bad where you're going, so they will send you back here?" But Brother Mark was accustomed to doing good: upon his return, he helped establish a Development Department for the Abbey that was capable of facing the challenge of funding our operation in a complex economy. As Director of Planned and Major Gifts, he put these skills to work on behalf of the Abbey and Seminary College to ensure a solid foundation of financial support that would bear fruit in perpetuity.

Brother Mark's presence in community was not limited to Development, of course; those who enjoyed with him a game of bridge each week after our community Haustus will attest to this. And Brother Mark also had an unerring eye for beauty; over many years he had cultivated and cared for an impressive collection of miniature Bonsai trees, many of which still grace our Abbey environment.

As time inevitably slowed him down, Brother Mark was assigned as Porter and Public Relations Correspondent; his gregarious and cheerful personality was as evident in his letters as it was in his conversation, as he greeted guests from the Porter's station in Saint Raphael Hall. In recent years he also assisted with the monastery Archives, compiling a register of Conception monks and updating our community necrologies, creating a display for them in our community room that continues to foster our prayerful memory of our deceased confreres.

Four weeks prior to his death, Brother Mark was taken to hospital in Kansas City with persistent respiratory difficulties. The doctors soon discovered that his condition was serious, and a triple coronary bypass was performed. Brother emerged from the surgery with high hopes for recovery, and was transferred for a time to a rehabilitation hospital. But an overwhelming internal infection had established itself, and Brother's condition began to deteriorate. He died peacefully at 6 p.m. on 30 Nov., accepting with obedient joy the Lord's Coming in the Lord's own time. Now Brother Mark's own name and photograph will be reverently added to the list he prepared, that his brethren might through the years recall with great fondness their loving, laughing brother.

He is survived by his monastic community; sisters, Phyllis (Mrs. Larry) Kush and Diane (Mrs. Gary) Keeshan, all of Columbus; his sister-in-law, Vicky (Mrs. Bob) Carstenesen, of Omaha; and by many loving nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Ray Kosiba; and sisters, Mary Kumpf, Theresa Aherns, Angeline Brewer and Genevieve Kuta.