After a year-long fight against pancreatic cancer, Father Dennis Dale Donovan entered eternal life at 10:36 a.m. on Thursday, July 25, two days after entering the Joe Raso Hospice Residence in New City, New York.

Father Dennis, 70, was a member of the Marian Shrine community in Haverstraw-Stony Point, of which he had been director from July 2021 until June 30, 2024. He was a professed Salesian of Don Bosco for almost 51 years and a priest for 41 years.

Dennis Donovan was born to Thomas and Helen Rudolph Donovan on February 26, 1954, in Nyack. His early memories included the opening years of the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River. He was baptized at St. Ann’s Church in Nyack less than a month after birth.

After the family moved to neighboring West Nyack, he was confirmed at St. Anthony’s Church in Nanuet, their parish. The family also included Dennis’s younger sister Lynn. Dennis entered Salesian Junior Seminary, the aspirantate at Goshen, in September 1968, and upon graduation four years later was admitted to the Salesian novitiate at Ipswich, Mass. His master of novices was Father Theodore Ciampi, and some of his classmates were Thomas Connery, Allen Dec, James Horan, John Serio, and Eugene Walter. Robert Ferrara, one of his novitiate class who remained with the Salesians for a few years, paid tribute to Father Dennis shortly before he went into hospice.

“In Ipswich we put on the musical play 1776. I played John Adams. It turned out to be one of the best decisions made for me by Bro. German Martinez, as I was strongly reluctant to do so. The play never would’ve happened without the talent of Dennis Donovan, truly a phenomenal keyboard player (piano/organ). He was solely responsible for directing and performing all the music. He humbly did so with perfection. Through the years, I’m sure he allowed for tremendous prayer whenever he played at a service, encouraging many to join in song. They say that “those who sing, pray twice.” Well, I believe he taught many that prayer is meaningful and fulfilling through music. Thank you, Fr. Dennis for teaching us how to pray! You have nothing to fear! We pray for you!”

Brother Dennis and the others professed on September 1, 1973, at Don Bosco College in Newton, New Jersey, and then undertook college studies there. Brother Dennis earned a B.A. in philosophy at Don Bosco in 1977. He was certified in New Jersey to teach English and later was certified also in New York. Brother Dennis did practical training at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, New Jersey, from 1977 to 1979. He went to Columbus, Ohio, in 1979 to undertake theological studies at the Pontifical College Josephinum and was ordained by Bishop James Griffin at Christ the King Church in Columbus on May 21, 1983, with his classmates Fathers William Bucciferro, Thomas Connery, James Marra, Theodore Montemayor, John Nazzaro, Joseph Vien Hoang, Eugene Walter, and others.

Father Dennis’s first assignment as a priest brought him back to his alma mater, Salesian Junior Seminary, in Goshen, teaching and assisting the school’s treasurer, Father Joseph Stella, from 1983 to 1985. He returned to Columbus in 1985 as treasurer at the Salesian Center and the Salesian Boys & Girls Club until 1994. In those years he also served as chaplain to the Ohio State Senate—the capitol was four blocks from the Salesian Center—and to the central Ohio chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Playing the organ and learning about the instrument was one of Father Dennis’s passions.

He was also fascinated by clocks and watches. During those years he developed a secondary priestly ministry as cruise chaplain, starting in 1990. Eventually he became a member of the administrative board of the Apostolate of the Sea-U.S.A., which coordinates chaplaincies for seafaring men and women, both crews and tourists. He thoroughly enjoyed that work, which he combined with his own vacation time, meeting the three pastoral needs of hundreds of vacationers at sea as well as of the ship’s crew: sacraments, counseling, and occasionally a funeral. 

He told a reporter for The Tampa Tribune in 2009: “You actually get very busy as a priest. Passengers take advantage of a spiritual advisor who doesn’t live in their hometown. Some have not been to church in 20, 30 years. They figure, ‘This priest doesn’t know me. He won’t be judgmental.” One cruise chaplaincy later drew the attention of the National Catholic Register, which cited Father Dennis: “On every cruise, he encounters passengers who are not familiar with the work of the Salesians—and it’s not unusual for those passengers to contact him at his office, long after the cruise is over, to request more information or send a donation to support the [Salesians’] work.” In fact, he would usually return from a cruise with generous donations from the passengers. From Columbus, Father Dennis was called to the provincial house in New Rochelle, as director of development for the province. He served there from 1994 to 1998. He acted at the same time as province delegate for the Salesian Cooperators. In 1998 he was sent back to Columbus as executive director of the Boys & Girls Club for six years.

In 2004, Father Dennis moved to Mary Help of Christians School in Tampa as treasurer for the school and the Salesian community. Two years later he was appointed director there and served two terms (2006-2012), which included the closing of the school and the move of Good Shepherd Parish to the Mary Help campus and the parish’s renaming to Mary Help of Christians and the Salesian work renamed Mary Help of Christians Center. The center’s retreat program was developed further. The center is also the home of the Saint Philip the Apostle Residence for senior Salesians, a work that led to Father Dennis’s developing a province plan for the care of elder confreres.

Father Dennis’s management skills were good enough for him to be named province treasurer in 2012 and to move back to the provincial house for nine years. He served briefly as director of the community (2017-2018), which included the merging of the Salesian High School community with the provincial house. The general treasurer of the Salesian Society, Brother John Paul Muller, wrote from Rome: “I am very grateful to Father Dennis. On the one hand, he has helped me a lot and supported us here in finding solutions. On the other hand, he was a very committed pastoral caregiver. I am sure that his illness prepared him well for his encounter with our Lord Jesus. Here in Rome, we will remember him at our Mass on Monday. I had two good teachers from your province, Father Cappelletti and Father Dennis. Both are different, but both convinced and exemplary Salesians. Father Dennis is survived by his sister Lynn and her husband Andrew Krakaur of West Nyack, and his nieces Lauren (Matt Finn) of Montrose, New York, and Erin (Matthew Dybus) of Norwalk, Conn., and many members of the Donovan family. Father Dennis was one of 56 cousins of the Donovan clan!”

Donations in Father Dennis’s memory can be made to:
The Marian Shrine
174 Filors Lane
Stony Point, NY 10980

Wake and Reception of the Body

Tuesday, July 30, 2024
1 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.

Marian Shrine Chapel
174 Filors Lane
Stony Point, NY 10980

Mass of Christian Burial

Tuesday, July 30, 2024
7 p.m.

Marian Shrine Chapel
174 Filors Lane
Stony Point, NY 10980

Interment
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
10 a.m.

Salesian Cemetery
3 Craigsville Road
Goshen, NY 10924