Richard Brown came to serve as priest of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Barrio Logan in the late ‘60s. Adela Garcia was working as a volunteer when he knocked on the door.
“He was in white tennis shorts,” she said. “And he said he was Father Brown. And I said, ‘Who?’ And he said, ‘Father Brown.’ And I didn’t believe him because all of our priests always dressed in the black cassocks.”
Garcia said this progressiveness was the barrier to earning trust with the then-conservative church, not that Brown was white. But he quickly won them over.
During his 50 years serving the community, Brown earned the nickname "El Padrecito del Barrio." Father of the neighborhood. (And, affectionately, El Padre Cafe con Leche — Father Coffee with Milk.)
On Saturday, Beardsley Street, which runs in front of the iconic white and blue church, will be renamed Father Brown Street. He died in 2020, but the neighborhood continues to celebrate his legacy.
“Once you got to the point where you spoke with him,” Garcia said, “you could see the beauty. But it wasn't the outer beauty. You could see what was inside of him. He brought out the best in people, and he dealt with the worst that was happening in our community, and it never scared him. He always felt there was a solution to it.”
At the time, Barrio Logan was dealing with high rates of gang violence, but that didn’t deter Brown, who embraced the neighborhood, its Chicano culture, and the people who lived there.
He came just a few years after the construction of Interstate 5 tore through the once self-contained community, displacing thousands.
“All of a sudden,” Garcia said, “like ants that you pour water on and destroy their path? That’s the way everybody scooted out. And there was a sense of depression, I think, at that time, because what’s our identity now?”
Brown saw the need for the community to gather again. He opened the church’s doors to everyone, not just members.
“We have the best neighborhood in all of San Diego,” Garcia said. “It is rich with love, with talent, and a lot of people just don't know what a wonderful community this is to live in. He did.”
He brought a mariachi band into mass. He threw queen and court fiestas. He instituted a blessing of the lowriders, sprinkling their cars with holy water at a time when many in the city vilified them.
When Brown died, hundreds of lowriders processed from North Park to Barrio Logan in his honor, parishioners said.
“He had a Mexican heart,” Garcia said. “He loved our culture. He knew more about our culture than I think anyone I had ever met.”
He did more than just pray for the neighborhood. He walked its streets himself.
“He was this man who just had so much energy and love for people. You just wanted to be around him,” Garcia said.
Tears came to her eyes speaking about the street renaming.
“He deserved for generations to come to say, ‘Who was this man named Father Brown?’”
She said she hopes when people see the street sign that they will think about his work and ask themselves: “What can I do to help? How can I make a difference?”
Brown’s funeral was held during COVID-19 lockdown, and though 14,000 people watched the funeral online, few could attend in person. Garcia sees the renaming as a more fitting sendoff.
The celebration will kick off at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7 at the church. It will include many of Brown’s favorite things: food, oldies and lowriders. In Father Brown style, all are welcome.
