A funeral Mass for Jesuit Father Carl Dehne was celebrated May 17 at St. Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis. Father Dehne died May 13. He was 80 years old, a Jesuit for 58 years and a priest for 46 years.
Born on Nov. 13, 1936, in St. Louis, he graduated from St. Louis University High School and St. Louis University. He entered the Society of Jesus at St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant on Aug. 17, 1958. After professing first vows, he studied philosophy at SLU, earning a licentiate. He studied theology at St. Mary’s in Halifax and at Toronto School of Theology, earning a master’s in divinity in 1972. In 1978, he received a master’s in liturgical studies from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.
He was ordained on June 4, 1970 at St. Louis Cathedral in St. Louis. He pronounced final vows on Dec. 8, 1976, at Rockhurst University in Kansas City.
Father Dehne spent a major part of his life as a teacher of theology at Rockhurst University (1964-67 and 1976-78) and at Loyola University in Chicago (1978-97). He was known for his love of the liturgy, and received permission to celebrate the liturgy according to the Byzantine rite, helping congregations to have a genuine experience of worship.
In 1997, Father Dehne shifted from university teaching to eldercare, serving as chaplain at Mother of Good Counsel Home in Northwoods (1997-2003) before becoming a pastoral minister, located at the Jesuit Hall Community in St. Louis (2003-2015). For several years, he worked full time in a retreat ministry with communities of women religious. He was missioned to the Fusz Pavilion in St. Louis in 2015.
He is survived by a cousin, Sister Joan Lacey, CSJ.
