Father Brendan Dalton

Rev. Brendan Dalton, 73 entered eternal life December 31, 2107 at his loved parish of St. Bernadette in Hollywood, Florida. He was 73, and had served as a priest in the Archdiocese of Miami for 48 years.  Father Dalton will be buried in Ireland following the Mass of Christian Burial.  Visitation is being planned at St. Bernadette Roman Catholic Church.  Visitation will be held Thursday at the church from 5:00-9:00PM. Vespers will be held at 7:30 PM; Mass of Christian Burial will be held Friday 10:00AM.   He is survived by his younger brother, Father Bryan Dalton, also an archdiocesan priest and current pastor of St. Ambrose Church, Deerfield Beach. In addition to his brother, Father Bryan Dalton, he is survived by two sisters, Rosemary and Mona, and a number of nieces and nephews. “My heart is broken,” said Barbara Asfendis, “because he won’t be around any more to tell me, ‘Barbara, you’re a piece of work,’ which I took as a compliment until I heard him say that to everyone else. But I loved his spirituality, his dedication to St. Bernadette.” Asfendis has been a parishioner there since 1989, two years before Father Dalton became pastor. She is president of the parish’s Council of Catholic Women and past president of the Miami Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women. She described Father Dalton as “very supportive of everything we do. He wore a Panama hat to our tea one time because I told him he had to wear a hat.” Father Dalton self-published a book for his parishioners on the 40th anniversary of his ordination. It was called, “Walking with Jesus… Everyday. A year in the life of a priest.” The author’s description on the back cover describes him as “the heart of St. Bernadette Parish,” and cites his “inexhaustible zeal and energy.” “He has molded us into a parish family, always seeking new ways to serve, desiring greater holiness for us all, instilling pride in ourselves as Catholics and in the accomplishments that we have achieved together,” the description states. “He is truly our priest, our pastor, our leader and our friend.” Fred Maas, police chief of Sunny Isles Beach, is also a St. Bernadette parishioner. But his family’s relationship with Father Dalton stretches back to one of the priest’s earliest assignments, at Sacred Heart Church in Homestead just a year after his ordination. Maas’ parents and their seven children were parishioners. His mother was a native of Ireland. “Over the next 47 years, he baptized, married, heard confessions, and gave Eucharist, including first Holy Communion, to four generations of our family,” Maas wrote in an email to the Florida Catholic. “He was so proud of the fact that on Sunday mornings he would have three generations of Maas family members on the altar serving in various roles.” Maas added that Father Dalton always offered his services as chaplain to local police officers “and would always encourage their efforts in tough times.” He called him a “truly a compassionate and caring priest.” “He rarely forgot anyone and people rarely forgot him,” Maas added. Born in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland, on Sept. 14, 1944, Father Dalton attended high school at St. Clement’s College in Limerick with the Redemptorist priests. He was ordained in his native Ireland June 8, 1969, one of three Irish priests ordained that year for the Archdiocese of Miami. He and his brother, Bryan, followed in the footsteps of two uncles, Father Jimmy Dalton and Father John Dalton, who both served in the Archdiocese of Louisville, Ky. Father Brendan Dalton served as parochial vicar at St. Matthew, Hallandale (1969-70),Sacred Heart, Homestead (1970-73), St. Bartholomew, Miramar ((1973-74), St. Mary Star of the Sea, Key West (1974-76), St. Gregory, Plantation (1976) and Epiphany, South Miami (1976-81), before being named pastor of Visitation Church, North Miami, where he served from September 1981 to June 1991. He took over as administrator and then pastor of St. Bernadette in June 1991, and in 2004 also was named supervising principal of Archbishop Edward McCarthy High School in Southwest Ranches. On the 10-year anniversary of his service there, he noted how the style of education today is “so different from my school days. The students sit on couches, rugs, or chairs, similar to a university setting and work on projects using their iPad. With a swipe of a finger they have access to the latest information available.” He was proud of the high school’s accomplishments, including the fact that it was “consistently recognized” by the Catholic High School Honor Roll “as one of the top Catholic high schools in the nation. We do all this to help our students live up to their fullest potential,” he said at the time.In his memory donations may be made to St. Bernadette Catholic School in his name.  Arrangements by T.M. Ralph Plantation Funeral Home 954 587-6888