Join us for the Installation Mass of our new pastor, Fr. Dan O’Neill, O.Carm. On September 27, 2015 at 10:00A.M. Most Reverend John W. Flesey the Titular Bishop of Allegheny, Auxiliary Bishop of Newark and Regional Bishop of Bergen County will be celebrating the Mass and installing Fr. Dan as pastor. Refreshments will be served immediately after the Mass in the parish auditorium and all are welcomed to celebrate with Fr. Dan and Bishop Flesey. It is with great joy that we welcome Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s twenty sixth pastor in her over one hundred and forty year history.
Fr. Daniel O’Neill was raised in Englewood where he attended Carmelite-run St. Cecilia’s Church and St. Cecilia’s Grammar School. He entered the Carmelite high school seminary in 1957, when he was not yet 14 years old. “I have been a Carmelite my entire life” he likes to say.
Following his ordination at St. Cecilia’s in 1969, Fr. Dan served in high schools in Los Angeles and Chicago, on the Carmelite Mission Band as a traveling preacher and was a vocation director. He worked in 4 parishes: St. Joseph in Demarest, St. Mary in Closter, St. Gelasius, an inner city parish in Chicago and was pastor of St. Anastasia’s in Teaneck. He served on many Carmelite boards and committees and was the Treasurer of the Carmelite Province in Chicago for 6 years. Fr. Dan earned an MA in English from Notre Dame and a Doctor of Ministry from University of St. Mary of the Lake in Chicago.
While at St. Anastasia’s Fr. Dan extended the construction at St. Anastasia’s, with a newly configured parking lot and, in 2007, converted the lower church into the multi-functional Redmond Center making it useful for everything from Children’s Mass to Fellowship Gatherings. Fr. Dan initiated other events, such as the Carmelite Forum and the Theology Round Table, for the discussion of religious books.