Deacon Daniel Dashner: Wisdom of the ages

► Age: 71

► First assignment: St. Peter, Covington; part-time chaplain, St. Tammany Hospital

► First Mass:  June 6, 11 a.m., St. Genevieve, Slidell

By Beth Donze
Clarion Herald 

When people detect Deacon Daniel Dashner’s approachable demeanor and spot his Roman collar, they tend to jump to conclusions about his vocational status.

“I get called ‘Father’ a lot,” chuckled Deacon Dashner, a 30-year Marine veteran who will be ordained to the priesthood at an older age than usual – 71.

“One person came up to me and said, ‘Can you hear my confession?’ I told them, ‘I can hear your confession, but I can’t give you absolution, as I am a transitional deacon (right now). But after June 5, I will be more than happy to hear your confession!’”

One of six children of a devout Catholic father and Catholic-convert mother, Dashner grew up in Grand Haven, Michigan, serving his parish as a choir member and altar server.

During his senior year of high school, a Marine Corps recruiter encouraged the 18-year-old to enroll in the Corps’ 120-day delay program, in which future Marines could sign up early and formally commit to military service before high school graduation. He would go on to serve in active duty for 30 years, including a year in Vietnam in 1970-71.

“I held on very close to my faith when I was in Vietnam,” said Deacon Dashner, who attended Mass a few Sundays a month, either outdoors or in a makeshift chapel. “Sometimes it was on ammunition boxes. It was the only time in my life that I received general absolution, which was authorized by the bishop of Vietnam at that time for people who were in combat.

“My mother told me that when I was in Vietnam, she prayed a rosary for me every day. I know in my heart that contributed to why I came back from Vietnam unharmed – Mary wrapped her mantle around me and protected me.”

Deacon Dashner came to New Orleans in 1989, serving as the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing Ordnance Chief. By the time he retired from active duty in 1999, he had climbed to the top of the enlisted ranks as a Master Gunnery Sergeant.

Settling on the Slidell waterfront with his widowed mother, Deacon Dashner found a parish home at St. Genevieve Church, where the pastor, Father Roel Lungay, eventually recruited him to lead the ushers, lectors and extraordinary ministers of holy Communion and to ultimately serve as sacristan.

“Father Roel told me I was a deacon, but I was a ‘little d’ instead of a ‘big D,’” Deacon Dashner said. “He kept prodding me to apply for the diaconate.”

Although losing his house to Katrina would scuttle his first foray into the diaconate, he reapplied to the program after rebuilding and was ordained in 2015 as a permanent deacon for St. John of the Cross Church in Lacombe.

While engaged in his ministry with the sick and dying, he became aware of the many times he would have to find a priest to anoint and hear the confessions of those nearing the end of their lives.

“That (realization) opened that door for me,” said Deacon Dashner, who entered Notre Dame Seminary for priestly formation in 2019. “(As a priest) I’ll be able to bring many people home; instead of just taking them to the threshold, I’ll be able to take them over that threshold and into their eternal reward.”