Rev. Harold L. Bride CSC

Sept. 3, 1919 - Aug. 8, 2010
SOUTH BEND - Rev. Harold L. Bride, CSC, died at Holy Cross House, Notre Dame, IN, on Sunday, August 8, 2010. He was 90 years old. Fr. Harold "Harry" Bride was born on September 3, 1919, in an area called "High Heaven" in the foothills of the Coast Range in Yamhill County, Oregon. On September 8, 1919, Fr. Harry was baptized into the Catholic Church at the Mission Church. He was christened Harold Louis in honor of his maternal grandfather, but opted for the name "Harry." His family moved to a large farm in the Willamette Valley. In 1925 he and his older brother were enrolled in St. James Parish School as boarders with the School Sisters of St. Francis. He attended McMinnville Junior and Senior High School where he graduated with honors in 1937. He was awarded an industrial scholarship to M.I.T.; however, due to a long illness, he had to set aside his scholarship. Upon his recovery, he then entered the University of Portland in September 1939. After completing his freshman year at the University of Portland, he transferred to Holy Cross Seminary at the University of Notre Dame and began studies for the religious life and priesthood in Holy Cross. He completed the Novitiate in the fall of 1942 and was professed and finished college at Moreau Seminary, graduating magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in June 1945. Fr. Bride was then sent to the Bengalese, the Foreign Mission Seminary which prepared students for ministry in the Bengal Missions. Upon completing his theology and foreign language and culture studies, Fr. Bride was ordained in 1949 and assigned to the Bengal Missions. His dream of a career as a foreign correspondent was fulfilled in an unexpected way. After many months of language and culture studies in Dacca, East Pakistan, Fr. Harry was assigned to St. Gregory's College, later renamed Notre Dame College in Dacca. He spent 20 years teaching at the college, interrupted by two trips to the U.S. - the first to obtain his master's degree with honors from the University of Oregon in 1956-57; the second to obtain his doctorate degree in Developmental Economics in 1963. In addition to teaching day and night classes at Notre Dame College, Fr. Bride was involved in setting up a project for displaced farmers, a literacy school for the illiterate workers at Notre Dame College, developed rural agricultural rehab and increased production programs, conducted population studies, and held socio-economic seminars for the bishops and clergy in East Pakistan. Fr. Bride taught economics and political science and devised and taught a Christian Leadership Training Program which replaced formal religious classes at the college. Fr. Harry contracted tuberculosis in 1968. He returned to the U.S. and Holy Cross House at Notre Dame in 1969 for treatment. In nine months the disease was arrested and Fr. Bride taught part-time at the University of Notre Dame and taught two classes at Niles Public High School. From 1970 - 1972 he taught at St. Mary's College followed by two years of teaching at the University of Portland Business School. The next two years he was pastor of parishes in Scio and Jefferson, Oregon, and assisted at Star of the Sea Parish in Astoria. Fr. Bride took a two-year sabbatical from 1976 - 1978 and returned to Portland in 1977. From 1978 through 1989 he worked at the DePaul Center in Portland while residing with the Holy Cross Community. From this point forward Fr. Bride spent much time in the St. Louis area until 2006 when he came to Holy Cross House. Fr. Bride was preceded in death by his parents, Victor and Catherine (Hermens) Bride. He is survived by a brother, Louis H. Bride, and a cousin, Mrs. Dorothy Sullivan. Viewing for Fr. Bride will be held in the Chapel of Moreau Seminary, University of Notre Dame, today, Tuesday, August 10th, from 3:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., with a wake service at 7:30 p.m. The funeral Mass will be celebrated at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Notre Dame, IN, on Wednesday, August 11th, at 9:30 a.m. Kaniewski Funeral Home is handling arrangements. Memorial contributions to support the mission and ministries of the Priests of Holy Cross, Indiana Province, may be made to Priests of Holy Cross, Indiana Province, Office of Development, P.O. Box 765, Notre Dame, IN 46556.