Father Dennis J. O'Brien, 70

UXBRIDGE – Father Dennis J. O'Brien, 70, a priest of the Diocese of Worcester for 44 years, died unexpectedly on July 17 at his home. He retired for health reasons in 2017 but one year later took on the role of diocesan minister to priests. 

A concelebrated funeral Mass will take place at 11 a.m. on Friday, July 23, in St. Mary Church, 77 Mendon St., Uxbridge, with Bishop McManus as principal celebrant. Burial will follow in St. Patrick Cemetery, Providence Road, Whitinsville.  

There are no calling hours. Instead, a prayer vigil will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 22, in St. Mary’s. He had been in residence at the parish since he retired in 2017. 

“It’s a big hole – for the whole diocese,” said Father C. Michael Broderick, who succeeded Father O’Brien as pastor of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Leominster. “He loved serving the Lord. He loved answering God’s call to him.”  

There at the last parish Father O’Brien served as a pastor “the grief is very deep,” Father Broderick said. “He left an amazing legacy of priestly ministry here.”  

“He is still well-remembered and beloved by so many people not only here in our parish community but throughout the Diocese of Worcester, where he served the Lord and the Church so faithfully for 44 years,” said a Flocknote message to parishioners and friends of St. Mary Parish in Shrewsbury, where Father O’Brien was associate pastor from 2000-2005.   

“The Diocese will miss him,” said Nancy Norberg, pastoral associate at St. Denis Parish in Douglas. She described Father O’Brien as “a joy-filled person” who often filled in there. Last week she accompanied him to anoint a previous pastor of theirs, Father William N. Cormier, who was preparing for a medical procedure, she said.  

“To me he was a priest according to Christ’s own sacred heart,” said Father Miguel A. Pagan, associate pastor of Annunciation Parish in Gardner. He said he met Father O’Brien shortly before entering the Father James Fitton House for Priestly Formation in Leicester, of which Father O’Brien was the first director. 

“He left a very important mark on me for living my priesthood,” Father Pagan said. He spoke of Father O’Brien’s “example of dedication to his priesthood, his zeal that was connected to kindness.”  Headded, “Everything flowed from his intense prayer life.” 

“We have known and loved him since he was a baby priest,” said Sister Dorothy Scesny, a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “He’s just really been very much a part of the Presentation congregation,” from the time he was taught by the sisters at St. Patrick School in Whitinsville. She said he had great admiration for Nano Nagle, the sisters’ foundress. Father O’Brien became an associate of the congregation in 1984. 

“He had a unique relationship with each sister,” and was with many of the sisters when they died, Sister Dorothy said.  

“He had a great sense of humor,” she recalled. “I taught with him at St. Bernard’s High School. He related so well to those high school kids and they thought the world of him. … He would challenge them. He got them involved in all kinds of social activities. … He was so full of life and energy. He just lit up a room. And his greatest gift was his preaching.” 

“I met him at St. Joseph Abbey,” when he was seeking to become one of the monks, said Catherine Brochu, whose confessor is one of the Trappists there. She also saw him at her parish, St. Joseph in Charlton. Hearing of his death when attending Mass there last Sunday, “I immediately prayed for him,” she said, “I thought the world of him.” 

Father O’Brien, son of William F. and Rita M. (Ducharme) O'Brien, was born in Whitinsville on June 17, 1951. He attended St. Patrick School in Whitinsville and graduated from St. Mary Central Catholic High School in Milford in 1969.  

He studied for the priesthood at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Connecticut; St. John's Seminary, Brighton, and the North American College in Rome. While in Rome, he studied at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, where he received his bachelor's degree in sacred theology in 1976. He completed his deacon internship at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, West Boylston. 

He was ordained by Bishop Bernard J. Flanagan on June 18, 1977, in St. Paul Cathedral in Worcester. 
Following ordination, Father O’Brien was assigned for the summer to Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Hopedale before returning to Rome for graduate studies at the Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical Gregorian University. He received his licentiate in sacred theology in 1978 and returned to Sacred Heart Parish as associate pastor.  

In 1981 he was assigned to the faculty of St. Bernard Central Catholic High School, Fitchburg. In 1983 he was named to the faculty of Holy Name Central Catholic High School, Worcester. He received his master's degree in administration and supervision from Boston College in 1985 and was appointed headmaster of Holy Name on July 11, 1986.  

In 1993 he entered the novitiate of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) at St. Joseph Abbey, Spencer. He spent more than four years with the Trappist community over a period of seven years. 
In 1996, Father O'Brien was appointed the first director of the Father James Fitton House for Priestly Formation in Leicester and taught in the diocesan permanent diaconate program.  

He has served as associate pastor of St. Leo Parish, Leominster; St. Mary Parish, Shrewsbury; and St. Joseph Parish, Fitchburg.  

In 2005 he was named pastor of St. Theresa the Little Flower Parish in Harvard and later was appointed pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Bolton as well. After the two parishes were merged in December 2008, he became the first pastor of the newly formed Holy Trinity Parish.  

He was named pastor of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Leominster on June 30, 2012. Father O'Brien was the dean of Deanery X, which included Leominster, Fitchburg and Lunenburg, and was chairman of the diocesan Presbyteral Council. He retired as pastor in 2017.  

Father O’Brien is survived by his brother, John F. "OB" O'Brien and Bethany Pomfret of Whitinsville; his uncle, John J. O'Brien of Whitinsville and aunt, Mary Jane O'Brien of Whitinsville, several cousins, friends, brother priests, classmates, and loving parishioners. He was predeceased by his parents, an infant brother Dennis O'Brien in 1950, and cousin William D. "Danny" Maher III. 

The funeral Mass will be livestreamed Friday morning on the St. Mary Parish Facebook page at facebook.com/stmaryuxbridge. There will also be a link to that page from the parish website at stmaryuxbridge.org/ 

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Father O’Brien may be made to: Priest Retirement Fund of the Diocese of Worcester, 49 Elm St., Worcester, MA 01609.