REV. David H Turner, O.S.B.

Our confrere, Father David Turner, died at St. Patrick’s Residence in Naperville, Illinois, on the afternoon of September 17, 2023.  Born in Chicago, Howard Turner attended Weber High School.  After trying his vocation with the Resurrectionists, he came to St. Procopius College as a philosophy major and pre-divinity student.   Joining the monastic community two years later, he professed vows on June 24, 1957.  As a cleric and then following his ordination by Bishop Raymond Lane in St. Raymond Nonnatus Cathedral, Joliet, IL, on May 25, 1963, Father David taught Religion and English at St. Procopius Academy.  During summers, he studied Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota, from which he obtained a master’s degree in 1963.  Over the next years, he continued his studies at the same school, earning a doctorate in 1970.  In Lisle, Father David taught Education courses and for two years served as Director of Public Relations and Publications at the College.  In 1974, he began four years as Illinois Benedictine College’s Dean of Academic Services.  He then accepted a one-year posting as Vice President of St. Martin’s College, Lacey, Washington.  While stationed on the West Coast, he fulfilled the requirements for the master of divinity degree from Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon.  In 1981, Father David took up campus ministry work, first at the Newman Center on the Champaign campus of the University of Illinois (until 1988) and then at Illinois Benedictine College (1988-1993).  From 1993, Father David, very articulate and well-read in matters pertaining to the Benedictine educational charism, assisted with work relating to institutional mission at the school, which became Benedictine University in 1996.  To equip himself further for this role, he took up studies at Princeton Theological Seminary that allowed him to obtain a doctor of ministry degree in 1996.  He also held many positions in the monastery over the decades:  Director of Oblates (mid-1970s-1981, and then from 2001-2021); editor of the Abbey’s News Quarterly (1975-1978, 1988-1990); Junior Master (1988-1991); Librarian (2002-2004), and, a member of the editorial board of The Clerestory.  His experience and range of knowledge led to many requests to serve on committees at the Abbey and University, and over the decades, he frequently served as a retreat master.  Physical ailments limited his mobility ever more in the 2010s, and at the end of 2020, he entered St. Patrick’s Residence.  

Fr. David is survived by his monastic community, his brothers, Jack, Steve and Jim, his sister Mary Jo Walsh, and his many nieces and nephews.  In memoriam, a candle burns brightly at a table in the monastic refectory in his honor. 

The Abbot and Monks will receive his body on Monday, September 25, 2023 at 7:00 p.m., at Vespers. The Community will celebrate the Mass of Christian Burial on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, at 10:30 a.m., with interment in the abbey cemetery on the campus of Benedictine University.  Please remember Father David in your prayers.

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