Barstow priest known for warm heart, open arms

While growing up I lived across from the Catholic Church which our family attended. I served as an alterboy for several years. I vividly remember Fr. Marion during those years, he was humble, but strict. He always insisted we wash our hands before the mass. He will surely be missed.

BARSTOW - St. Joseph Catholic Church members traveling to or from Las Vegas would often stop in Baker to visit with the Rev. Marion Coslowsky, their former priest. They would be immediately welcomed by the man known as "our little priest" and treated to an impromptu Mass. "He was a busy man but he loved people and always made time for them when he was needed," said longtime friend Katherine Hughes of Barstow. Coslowsky, the beloved Barstow area priest, died July 12. He was 90 and was born Sept. 10, 1916, in Poland. He grew up in Poland and attended several universities there, eventually earning a doctor of philosophy degree. He was also an excellent theologian, spoke a multitude of languages, including Russian and English, and was well acquainted with the physical sciences. He was ordained as a priest in 1942 in Prague. Because this was during World War II, he liked to tell people that the music in the background was the sound of a bomb going off. Because he was a Catholic priest, he later was imprisoned by the Germans in a concentration camp and subjected to different types of torture. "They put chicken feed in his throat, ruining his esophagus and mistreated him in other ways. It was a terrible time," said Hughes. The torture of the Polish priest was so extensive that although he later lived in the heat of the desert, he was always cold and wore an overcoat, remembered Eddie Garcia, who knew Coslowsky from the Knights of Columbus and St. Joseph. After Coslowsky was released from the camp, he remained in Europe for a time before coming to St. Joseph's in 1957. Although he had an extensive education, he was known as one of the most humble people you would want to meet, said the Rev. Richard Humphrys, the priest at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Bloomington, who first met Coslowsky at St. Joseph's. "When he talked to people he was animated, his face lit up and there was a twinkle in his eye," Humphrys said. "He treated everyone the same and had time to talk to all and loved them all." He also learned to speak Spanish fluently in order to communicate with the many Spanish-speaking people in the Barstow area. Coslowsky and Humphrys initially worked as assistants to the Rev. Michael Noonan, who sent them out in the community on many assignments. Coslowsky soon became known as a wonderful organizer, setting up the Legion of Mary, comprised of groups of congregation members. The groups were assigned to go out and work with needy families and evangelize in the community, recalled Hughes. Coslowsky would hear confession anywhere, even under trees at ranches in Barstow. If someone was sick, he would visit them without requiring an appointment, she said. During his years in Barstow, the Polish priest became a member of the Knights of Columbus and celebrated Mass at the Marine Corps Logistics Base chapel in Barstow. "The commanding officer requested he be chaplain there when they did not have a chaplain," said Garcia. He studied theology every day, kept up-to-date on things going on in the church and learned Portuguese for when he visited Brazil, a very Catholic country. At home, he had a fondness for chicken, sweet potatoes and green apple pie that Hughes, who often cooked for him, would make. After Coslowsky retired he continued helping out at St. Joseph's and especially in Baker. In Baker, 60 miles east of Barstow, he ministered to poorly paid Mexican workers and their children, married many Native American couples - some from as far away as Arizona - and converted many in the community. He also recruited people from St. Joseph's to help build a beautiful altar-church in Baker and got the Knights of Columbus to bring Christmas gifts to the children. He later returned to Barstow and purchased a home, where he would celebrate Mass at 4:15 p.m. every day. He is now sorely missed by thousands in the Barstow area, said those who knew him. "I will miss his presence. He really did a lot to benefit the people here," Garcia said. His well-attended funeral was held July 20 at St. Joseph Catholic Church.