Father Denis O'Brien Memorial

Fr. Denis Edward O’Brien, M.M. (Maryknoll Missioner) was born in old St. Paul’s Hospital in Dallas, October 8, 1923. He was in danger of death and was baptized in the hospital. After the ceremonies his godparents went to the Blessed Virgin altar and committed him to her care. Later, at our Lady of Good Counsel elementary school in Blessed Sacrament parish, the nuns said that must have saved him from reform school.

After graduation from W.H. Adamson High School in 1940, Father, a child of the depression, found work as an errand boy at Neiman-Marcus and later as a clerk at the Dallas Power and Light Company. In 1941 he went to St. John’s Seminary in Little Rock, and after Pearl Harbor he decided to serve his country. He returned for a while to the Light Co. and when he was 18 was accepted by the U.S. Marine Corps. After boot camp he was sent to Camp Elliott, CA for training as an artillery forward observer. Father was very privileged to join the First Marine Division FMF (Fleet Marine Force) in Melbourne. The veterans of Guadalcanal were still recuperating from wounds, starvation and malaria. He was trained to be like them, an "Old Breed" Marine. Because Father had a year of college, he was sent to Division HQ as a clerk.

He participated in three campaigns, Café Gloucester, Peleliu and Okinawa. There were no desk jobs during campaigns! After he was mustered out with an honorable discharge in November, 1945, Father applied to Maryknoll, a mission society. He had seen the results of missionary activity in the Pacific islands. The Catholics in Peleliu had been denied the sacraments for at least twenty years. When they assisted at their first Mass their reverence was awe inspiring.

After ordination on June 13, 1953, Father was assigned to Tanganyika. In 1957 he was recalled for vocation and fund raising activities. In 1957 he was assigned to the Maryknoll Missions in Yucatan, Mexico. He lived mostly in the jungle area where modern facilities were almost unknown, especially running water and light. During those years he was able to obtain by correspondence post-graduate studies in the Social Doctrine of the Church and the History of the Ecumenical Councils. In 1972 he was elected the Mexican Region’s delegate to the Maryknoll General Chapter. After the chapter closed in January of 1973 he was assigned as pastor of the Parish of the Resurrection in Mexico City. Life was fairly easy there. (In 1971 he had taken on the Parish of San Camilo de Lelis in Mexico City—110,000 parishioners, at times without an assistant!) After the Roe V. Wade decision, Father tried to find a way to protect the land of Our Lady of Guadalupe from the horror of murdering unborn children. Little by little he obtained pamphlets in Spanish. He obtained a 16 mm. Film in Spanish—"Abortion - A Woman’s Decision."

In 1995 Father was appointed archdiocesan director of Pro-Life Action. This was in addition to parish work - and serving as a chaplain for the Pan American games and of translating one night for Mother Teresa during the "Year of the Woman" in 1975. In 1977 the Mexican Episcopal Conference appointed him to be their counselor for Pro-Life activities. As a consequence, Father spent 7 years traveling to and revisiting dioceses.

In 1983 the Catholic Physicians Guild asked him to help them prepare their National Meeting which would take place in Mexico City that year. Sickness set in with what turned out to be a gangrenous gall bladder. When he could return to Mexico he began to set up a program for mentally challenged children. The object was to try to help those with slight impairments make their First Holy Communion, even if it would take years. The lay population of Mérida made it possible. Many children have learned enough to make their First Holy Communion. There is now a day care center for severely affected children so their parents can do other things for a few hours although a few incurable and abandoned children live in the hospice. Father entertained all the children with his bagpipes!

In 1988 Father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It was "yanked" out at Baylor. Msgr. Weinzapfel, whom Father had known for years (since Fr. Denis had taken Masses for him) offered Fr. Denis a place to stay. Father is still at St. Pius X! To mention only one of Msgr.’s many charitable acts: in tropical countries people wear light clothing. When winter began to set in, Msgr. handed Father $500 and said, "Go get some winter clothes." $500!! WOW!! Missionaries don’t see such fantastic sums very often. And so life goes on.

Father served as the National Chaplain of the First Marine Division Association, Spiritual Director of the American Life League and Chaplain for the K.C. Council 799. Fr. Denis enjoyed watching documentaries on TV, steak and mashed potatoes, Hershey’s and studying. He always knew what it meant to say, "Get your gear on, boys, we’re moving out again. Make your packs light and keep your voices thin."

In early 2002 cancer came back with a vengeance. Msgr. Larry, Mike Sansone - a fellow Marine, Tom Welch, Virgil Zipper, many volunteers and the Cardinale family attended to Fr. O'Brien's every need. We thank the wonderful parishioners of St. Pius, and particularly Mike, Tom and the Cardinales for being there for Father during his last days with us and for Msgr. Larry who shouldered tremendous responsibility with compassion and understanding to help Fr. O'Brien through his last days. These were the heroes for a man who performed heroically in his day. Thank you to all.

To honor the accomplishments of Fr. O'Brien, donations may be made to Maryknoll (PO Box 305, Maryknoll, NY 10545) for the purpose of supporting Fr. O’Brien’s home for SPECIAL children in Mexico.