Fr. Dennis Ruane celebrates 50 years of ordination

Intermountain Catholic

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Blessed Sacrament Father Dennis Ruane proclaims the Gospel March 2, 2008, during the 50th Anniversary celebration Mass of Immaculate Conception Parish. The Most Rev. John C. Wester, concelebrated the Mass.IC photo by Christine Young

COPPERTON — Blessed Sacrament Father Dennis Ruane will celebrate his Golden Jubilee Sept. 19. Fr. Dennis, as he likes to be called, is the pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Copperton, where he has been for two years.

Fr. Dennis grew up in downtown Philadelphia. He joined the religious community of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers and entered the seminary in 1948. Fr. Dennis spent two years in the junior college, two years in the novitiate from 1950-1952, and was in the major seminary for six years. He was ordained Sept. 19, 1959, in Cleveland, Ohio.

"I was in my teens when I started thinking about what I wanted to do," said Fr. Dennis. "In those days you had to start thinking about what you were going to do when you finished high school. You went out and got a job, went to college, joined the Army, or in my case, were inducted, or whatever.

"When I was ordained, my provincial asked me if I would be willing to go to the Philippines, and I said yes. Then while I was waiting for my Visa, he called me and said we have an emergency," said Fr. Dennis. "There is a professor in the seminary who has to have surgery. Would you take his place for six months and then you can go on? I said okay, I will do that. So I went to the seminary where I taught Latin and Greek, and learned them by teaching them, which was how it was done in those days. And ‘low and behold,’ he never came back, he was too ill to return.

"Then the provincial said to me people really like you, they think you are a good teacher. I had never considered being a teacher," said Fr. Dennis. "And I liked it. He asked if I would be willing to stay and teach at the seminary, but he said you are going to have to get your degree. And I said okay and I did that. I taught in the seminary and I went to Columbia University. Every summer I took several courses, and during the year I traveled down from Hyde Park in New York and I got my Master’s Degree in 1968."

Then in 1969, Fr. Dennis had the opportunity to go to Africa. To this day, the Blessed Sacrament Fathers have a place there. By now he was getting tired of teaching and wanted something different.

"In the irony of the whole thing, this was right before Idi Amin Dada took over the country, and they were not giving out Visas," said Fr. Dennis. "I was in Rome waiting or the Visa to come, and they were not giving out Visas. So my provincial said you can go to Tanzania where we also had Blessed Sacrament Fathers because this may take a long time. So I got my Visa for Tanzania and I went there in 1969.

"I learned the languages and stayed there for 15 years until 1984," said Fr. Dennis. "I worked with the Maasai in the Serengeti of Tanzania. Then I became very ill and I had to come home in 1984, with no prospects of going back because it took me a long time to recover. I had amebic dysentery and I was not responding to medication and it was getting dangerous."

So Fr. Dennis came home and then had to decide what to do. He then got degrees in psychology and his licenses, and his license in alcohol and drug counseling.

"Then by 1989, I had my degrees and two licenses as a professional counselor and a license as a drug and alcohol counselor and began a career immediately," said Fr. Dennis. "I worked in rehabilitation for five years, and on the reservation in New Mexico where the Blessed Sacrament Fathers had a church in Albuquerque. I would come back to the church on weekends. In Farmington, N. M., I also worked five years in family therapy at the Family Crisis Center, and I worked with the homeless. I did this until I came to Utah.

"I came to Utah, in 2000, because they were looking for a counselor at Juan Diego Catholic High School. I had worked with teenagers in substance abuse," said Fr. Dennis. "This opportunity came up and the Blessed Sacrament Fathers were here at Saint Martin de Porres Parish in Taylorsville at that time. So I faxed Dr. Galey Colosimo my resume and he called me for an interview. They paid my way to come out for an interview, and then I was interviewed by then Bishop George Niederauer (now Archbishop of San Francisco), and they hired me.

"I was at Juan Diego Catholic High Catholic High School until 2006," said Fr. Dennis. "During the summer I used to return to Uganda. While in Uganda I would train counselors. I trained counselors in India as well. So in 2006, I had an opportunity to do a prolonged stay. I stayed there almost two years to train people in psychology counseling. I trained about 90 Ugandan students. There are several training centers run by the Catholic Church in Uganda. These students were getting their degree in counseling. There is quite a need in Uganda because of all the violence they have been subject to because of gorilla warfare and other casualties. It is peaceful there now. But there is trouble now with murder in the Congo.

"Then when I came home in 2008, I decided to get my doctorate in psychology in drug and alcohol addition," said Fr. Dennis. "I just finished that now. My dissertation has just been accepted. I had to work almost full time on that as well as be pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, and I have been helping out at Saint Francis Xavier Parish in Kearns.

"My plans now are to go back to Uganda for six months and then on to India for another two months to train people again," said Fr. Dennis. "And then I don’t know what I am going to do."

Fr. Dennis is currently home in Philadelphia celebrating his Jubilee with his family and taking a vacation. He still has a brother and two sisters who live in Philadelphia. He comes from a family of four boys and three girls.

"It would take a book to say what it has meant being a priest," said Fr. Dennis. "I just want to express to the priests and the Catholics here in Utah how grateful I feel, and especially those at Immaculate Conception Parish. My gratitude to all the people who have really supported me. I am most grateful to them."