Br. Blane Grein, OFM, 88, passed away Nov. 27 at Lovelace Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was a professed Franciscan friar for 70 years and a priest for 62 years. Most of Br. Blane’s ministry was devoted to missionary service, and he was known for his openness, generous spirit, dedication to the Gospel mandate of solidarity with the poor and deep love for the Navajo people.  

A memorial service for Br. Blane will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at Our Lady of Fatima Mission, Chinle, Arizona. A wake service for Br. Blane will be held Saturday, Dec. 14 at 9 a.m. at St. Clement Church, 4536 Vine Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217, followed by a Funeral Mass at 10 a.m. Committal will immediately follow in the mausoleum at St. Mary Cemetery. The Mass will be livestreamed on the parish’s website.  

Br. Blane was born Dec. 14, 1935, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Joseph and Elsie Grein (née Schappacher). He attended St. Charles Borromeo School in Cincinnati.  Many of his family members served as Franciscan priests and sisters, and Br. Blane developed an early interest in ministering to other cultures, inspired by two relatives who were missionaries.  

He attended St. Francis Seminary in Cincinnati and was received into the Franciscan Order on Aug. 15, 1953, at St. Anthony Shrine in Cincinnati, professing his first vows there on Aug. 16, 1954. Br. Blane was solemnly professed on Aug. 16, 1957, at Duns Scotus College in Southfield, Michigan. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 14, 1962, at St. Leonard College in Centerville, Ohio. 

Immediately following ordination, Br. Blane received his first mission assignment at St. Anthony Indian Mission in Zuni, New Mexico, as associate pastor from 1963 to 1965. He was then sent to the Philippines, where, after studying the language, he served as associate pastor at St. Michael Parish in Maripipi, Leyte, from 1966 to 1968, and as associate pastor (1968 to 1972) and pastor (1972 to 1975) of St. Rafael Parish in Kawayan, Leyte.  

He returned to the United States in 1975, serving in pastoral ministry for one year at St. John Parish in Roswell, New Mexico, followed by a year at St. Mary Parish in Metamora, Illinois. From 1977 to 1978, he ministered as associate pastor at St. Patrick Parish in Port Sulphur, Louisiana.  

In 1978, Br. Blane learned of an opening for a priest at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Chinle, Arizona, serving the Navajo people. He arrived to find an old stone church with structural issues and the challenge of ministering at three distant missions – Lukachukai, Many Farms and Pinon. Before long, one of the men approached him and expressed the community’s desire for a Hogan church modeled after the traditional Navajo dwelling. Br. Blane was fully supportive but also concerned because the local diocese required the parish to raise 90 percent of the building fund before construction began.  

Ten years and many fundraisers later, their efforts were successful. Dedicated on June 3, 1990, the six-sided church faces east to welcome the rising sun and beautifully blends aspects of native culture and Catholicism. Br. Blane worked with Charlotte Frisbie, a professor emerita of anthropology at Southern Illinois University, to preserve the old stone church and several nearby historic structures. In 2007, the Chinle Franciscan Mission Historic District was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. 

Br. Blane served as pastor at Our Lady of Fatima Parish until 2012, when he returned to Cincinnati for health reasons. The missionary spirit and Franciscan desire to serve others remained strong, though, and Br. Blane was soon filling in for his fellow friars at Church of the Transfiguration in Southfield, Michigan, in 2013, and as associate pastor as Mary, Gate of Heaven Parish in Negril, Jamaica, from 2014 to 2017. His deep love for the Navajo people led Br. Blane back to the Southwest in September 2017, where he served in pastoral ministry at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Fort Defiance, Arizona, remaining active until declining health recently necessitated a move to Albuquerque. 

He is preceded in death by his parents, brothers and cousins who were friars: Brothers Brice Mulroy, OFM, Cornelius Grein, OFM, Jerry Breitfelder, OFM, and Bruce Hausfeld, OFM. He is survived by cousins Bryant Hausfeld, OFM, and Tim Sucher, OFM, as well as many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, friends and his brother Franciscan friars of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe.