Fr. Mark Payne, OSB Obituary (1951

After leading a life devoted to the physical, intellectual and spiritual formation of young men, Fr. Mark (Matthew) Payne, O.S.B., died on Sunday, July 10, 2016 at Villa Marie Clair in Saddle River, having suffered the effects of Lewy Body Dementia for a number of years. Viewing will be in St. Mary's Church (Newark Abbey) on Tuesday, July 12 from 4 - 9 pm with Mass at 5 pm and Vespers at 7 pm and on Wednesday, July 13 from 2 - 9 pm with Mass at 5 pm and Office of the Dead at 7 pm. A Funeral Mass will be offered on Thursday, July 14 at 10 am with interment following at St. Mary's Cemetery in East Orange. Born in Cleveland, Ohio to Matthew and Mary (nee Nolan) Payne, Fr. Mark also lived in Niagara Falls, Canada before moving with his family to Montclair, NJ. His parents chose St. Benedict's Prep in Newark for the education of their oldest child. At St. Benedict's he would continue to develop his love of science and of the theater, and would begin a relationship with the monastic community that would lead to his taking vows as a monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Newark in 1977. Before joining the monastery, Fr. Mark attended the University of Notre Dame, where he majored in Physics and pursued his love of the technical aspects of theatre, specializing in lighting. He continued his education at Columbia University, where he earned a Master's Degree and was embarking on a Ph.D. program when he decided it was time to join the Benedictine community. Fr. Mark was a consummate educator, who honed his teaching skills first with his younger siblings, then with the members of his Boy Scout Troop as Scoutmaster of Troop 99 in Montclair, on the staff of Camp Glen Gray and finally with his students at St. Benedict's. In 1994, he was awarded Project U.S.E.'s Willi Unsoeld Award for Leadership in Experiential Education. At St. Benedict's, he was a much-beloved teacher of Physics. He had come to the monastery soon after the reopening of St. Benedict's Prep and was instrumental in developing the freshman backpacking project, the overnight and the group system, all key elements of the St. Benedict's Prep experience. He believed that teen-aged boys should do as much as possible for themselves, with adults acting as guides. He also served for many years as Admissions Director, helping to shape the composition of the student body, and he held that if a boy was willing to work, he should be given a chance. Fr. Mark loved experiencing nature and studying nature, an attitude he tried to instill in the young people under his care. He was a devoted teacher who did not like to see his students fail, and so, made himself available for endless hours to help students. Ordained in 1981, Fr. Mark was known for his well-crafted homilies. At the age of thirty-six, he was appointed Prior of the monastery, a position he held for twenty-five years, until ill health forced him to relinquish the position. Fr. Mark is survived by his siblings, Ann Edlen (Mark), Thomas (Stephanie), Frank (Karen), Julia Cooper (Nigel), Ellen, and Meg Nelson (Chris) and nine nieces and nephews, as well as his monastic confreres. In lieu of flowers, the Payne family requests donations, in Fr. Mark's memory, to the St. Benedict's Prep (Backpacking Project), 520 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Newark NJ 07102. 73, KC2 EBQ