John Hotstream

Brother John Hotstream, S.C. 1937 - 2024 Brother John Hotstream (Brother Lucian) passed peacefully into eternal life Wednesday, December 25, 2024, at Ochsner Hospital Westbank in Gretna, LA, at the age of 87 and after 73 years of religious life. Brother John, the eldest of the nine children of Esther Mae Aprill and John B. Hotstream, was born March 19, 1937, in New Orleans, LA. He attended 8th grade at Saint Stanislaus in 1950 where he met the Brothers of the Sacred Heart and was inspired to join. On September 8, 1951, young John began his juniorate formation as a high school student in Metuchen, NJ. He entered the novitiate class there four years later on August 14, 1955. Brother John professed his first vows as a religious Brother on August 15, 1956. His perpetual vows were pronounced at Spring Hill, AL, on July 28, 1962. Brother John earned a Bachelor's degree in Secondary Education with a major in English from Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL, in 1961, as well as a Master's degree in English from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA, in 1971. In a short time after entering the classroom, Brother John was recognized as a "Master Teacher," employing his unique style and sometimes unorthodox methods to capture the minds and hearts of high school students. Though he taught his pupils to appreciate fine literature and to express themselves in the written word, he did even more to teach, by word and example, how to reflect on life and to put their faith into action. Practically speaking, Brother John ministered in Brothers' schools in the South, like St. Aloysius (New Orleans, LA); McGill Institute (Mobile, AL); Catholic High School (Baton Rouge, LA); E.D. White Catholic High (Thibodaux, LA); and Saint Stanislaus (Bay St. Louis, MS). He also answered the call to serve in the foreign missions, teaching and evangelizing youth in Nyapea, Uganda, and Gulu, Uganda for five years. In recent years, Brother John focused his attention and his energies on the poor at St. Anne's Mission in Klagetoh, AZ. It was on the Navajo Reservation for 18 years that John practiced what he called the "ministry of the doorbell," responding to the needs of the people as they presented themselves each day. During his "retirement," John continued his ministry of evangelization through his adult Scripture study classes at St. Luke's Parish in Thibodaux, LA, and at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Baton Rouge, LA. John is preceded in death by his parents, John and Esther Mae Hotstream, his brother Fred, two brothersin-law, Bruce Reed and Gerald Smith, and niece Aimee Hotstream. He is survived by three brothers: Lionel (Lynne) Hotstream, Neuville (Julé) Hotstream and Stephen Hotstream; four sisters: Rose Mary (Barry) Gresham, Carol Smith; Sr. Jane Hotstream, RSM, Aprill Reed (Howard Thompson), sister-in-law, Judy Hotstream, and numerous nieces and nephews, great and great-great nieces and nephews. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, January 11, 2025, at St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic Church (10021 Jefferson Highway, River Ridge, LA 70123). Mass will begin at 10:30 AM. Since Brother John donated his body to science, his cremains will be interred in the Brothers' cemetery behind Saint Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis, MS, when they are returned to the Province in a year or so. A reception and a viewing of Brother John's memorabilia will take place in the Msgr. Bendix Center on the parish grounds following the Memorial Mass. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Brothers of the Sacred Heart Foundation (4600 Elysian Fields Ave., New Orleans, LA. 70122) are preferred.