April 23, 2018
Rev. John Barnabas Davis, O.P. ’61; former philosophy professor
Rev. John Barnabas Davis, O.P. ’61, a former philosophy professor at PC and a Dominican priest for 51 years, died Nov. 16, 2017.
Father Davis joined the College’s faculty as an assistant professor of philosophy in 1980. He taught for seven years. He was considered an outstanding preacher, teacher, and priest by his Dominican brothers and those he served.
Born in New York City, Father Davis attended schools in New York City and Maryland before studying at Iona College from 1956-1958. In 1958, he was accepted as a preparatory student for the priesthood in the Dominican Order at PC’s Guzman Hall. He studied philosophy at PC and at St. Stephen Priory in Dover, Mass., as well as theology at the Aquinas Institute in Princeton, N.J., the University of Iowa School of Religion, and the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
He was ordained a priest at St. Dominic Church in Washington, D.C., on June 9, 1966.
After completing his advanced theological studies at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in 1967, he served as an instructor of philosophy at St. Stephen Priory for one year. Father Davis then began doctoral studies at Pennsylvania State University. After completing his Ph.D. in phenomenology and hermeneutics, he was appointed assistant professor at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in 1974 and taught there for three years.
Prior to being assigned to PC in 1980, Father Davis served at Dominican parishes and as chaplain at the Aquinas Institute and at the Dominican Center of Evangelization at Wayne State University in Detroit. His teaching at PC was interrupted for two years while he served as novice master at Stephen Priory from 1982-1984.
Father Davis served as a pastor and as parochial vicar in Detroit and New York City, as well as being appointed promoter of justice for the Province of St. Joseph, before he was assigned to New Jersey in 1993. He then taught at Caldwell College for 11 years as associate professor of religious studies and philosophy.
His last assignment was at St. Dominic Priory in Washington, D.C., where he assisted with community ministries.
A Mass of Christian Burial for Father Davis was celebrated at St. Dominic Church in Washington on Nov. 18. Burial was in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Washington.
