—Br Brendan MacCarthaigh

I had the privilege of living with Bro Dermot Barrett in community 1977-78 & 1980. Bro Barrett was the cornerstone in the houses of formation — the Novitiate and the Scholasticate. Mystic, saint, scholar ... truly he was God’s work of art. His devotion to the Eucharist, Mother Mary and the Rosary was and is a benchmark, worthy of emulation. However, for me personally, what really inspired me was his love for and interpretation of the Sacred Scripture. Incisive, thought provoking, inspiring, dazzling. Truly he proved the Bible to be a life source, which could be used for every moment of our daily lives.

He was indeed God's work of art.

I can imagine how profound the absence of Dermot would be for the Christian Brothers of the Indian Province. In the words of Gloria Burrett:

Imagine the apostles lost without their teacher and friend on that one Friday, which could not have felt “good”

Imagine Mary Magdalene looking for her special one who knew and yet loved her with no hint of Judgement

Imagine the Magi and the shepherds leaving the cosy space where sacredness, delight and humility wrapped together in beautiful form, to trudge back to their less-full worlds

Imagine Mary touching the ice cold body she knew so intimately which once on her lap was life itself

Imagine and know what losing Dermot feels like.

—Stephen de Silva (1972)

It is with some sadness that I read of the death of our dear friend, Dermot, who died a day after my wife, Loretta, and I celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary.  He claimed he played a part in our romance and told her that she was too good for the Brothers: at 15 I had harboured ambitions of joining the Brothers.

We became very good friends and he told us that we were a part of his extended family.  When he visited Australia in the late 1960s to run seminars for the Brothers here in Australia, he always made time to stay with us in Perth for a couple of days.  Our first son, Richard, was named after him.

We always enjoyed these opportunities to meet and had many good “heart to heart” chats that went into the early hours of the morning. He possessed the true gift of communications — he was a master of initiating a conversation and then imperceptibly handing over to us — he was one of the truly great LISTENERS. He would merely intervene to keep the conversation going. He made us feel that we were the only people in the world that mattered to him, but yet I know he used this technique with all his friends — a gift well worth striving to imitate.

He was a mentor to me in my final year in 1955, and continued as a confidant to us and a person we relied on for advice especially when making the most serious decisions of our lives.  Unfortunately, we lost touch with him in recent times and in spite of many attempts to re-establish contact we were unsuccessful.

There are many stories to share but for now I will just recall his great love and devotion to Our Lady — our Queen as he called her in his letters and conversations.

We now join with all the many students of his extended family and say Rest in Peace dear friend.  You  have fought the good fight and now all that awaits you is the reward that you so richly deserve.

We are all part of Brother Barrett's immediate family through osmosis, and his death is our personal loss, so my condolences go out to all of us. It was a pleasure to speak to him a month ago and a comfort to know that this time I was not too late — sadly, I missed speaking to our own class master, Brother Bennett, before he died. They were both the last of a very special breed and we were fortunate to have them in our lives to give us models toward which we could only hope to aspire.

—Ashley Shemain (1956)

Who holds us together?
[Tom Keene]

-

A sacred tradition has it
that at all times and all ages
there exists a minimum of ten souls,

scattered and unknown
even to one another,
who with their hungers and thirsts,
their prayers and deeds,
hold the world together,

ever gluing back our family shards,
redoing our undoings, our killings,
redeeming our failures
to stand under one another.

To know such a one is almost enough

Dear People of God,

You and I have been so blessed. We have known such a one. Richard Dermot Barrett decided early in his life that the search for God was worth staking his whole life on. And with that commitment and determination that we saw all the time, he followed the path of his dreams.

They say of Jesus, that when his disciples looked at him they saw what a life full of God looked like. A life full of God. There are so many aspects of our lives that are full of God. But there are also so many aspects of our life bereft of God. But in Jesus we had a life full of God. Dermot wanted that fullness. Like the mystics of all ages and every religion he recognised the One in whom his soul delights — and everything else paled into insignificance in comparison.

The mystics tell us that not only are we made by God, we are made of God. Can you imagine that! Made of God. That is what being created in God's image is really like. God's wisdom is in us. God's compassion is in us. God's creativity is in us. God's forgiveness is in us. God's love is in us. Our task — like the life of Jesus — is to make that God within us visible. Dermot showed us how to do that.

At its best, this is the vocation of the religious brother. To us Brothers here, we have a long way to go to make this a reality. But Dermot shows us it is possible. To the rest of us, Dermot's life tells us that God is real, that God takes us seriously. That nothing, truly nothing will separate us from the love of God. Believe that!

—Br Philip Pinto

It was the biggest shock to receive a very early morning call on Sunday Morning from Sunil, who's been such a good friend, to inform me about the passing away of Dermot. I have known Dermot since our days in Shillong. Dermot had been like a father to me and had been part of my life, especially since I got married to an Irish man, and now living in Ireland, our relationship became stronger than ever.

The last time I got the chance to see Dermot was when he came home last summer and my daughter and I went to meet him in Dublin, and couldn't believe that he had become so frail and still managed to get on the bus to O'Conell street. He was so delighted to see me and spoilt my daughter rotten. We spent the day reminiscing our times in Shillong and had the best of craic.

Never dreamt that that day would be my last time to be with him. The last time I spoke to Dermot was in December to wish him a Happy Christmas.

Dermot, both my husband Gerry and daughter Bianca thought the world of you. You shall always have a place in our hearts and in our prayers. We know you're in heaven and next to Our Lady. Please pray for us and remember my family. Slán Dermot dear and may you rest in peace.