An 11 a.m. Memorial Mass will be celebrated for Father Henry J. Dahl on Thursday, December 10, in St. Peter the Apostle Church in Provincetown, where he served as pastor for nine years.

Father Dahl, who had moved to Sun City, Ariz., upon his retirement, died November 22 at Abrazo Hospital in Glendale at the age of 79.

Born on June 26, 1941, in Staten Island, N.Y. He was the son of the late Harry Dahl and Hazel (Boone) Dahl.

He attended grade school in Staten Island and high school in San Antonio, Texas. After high school he entered the U.S. Air Force in 1960, serving until 1964.

He spent 30 years in the retail credit and personnel management field in Southern California and Oregon, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Management of Human Resources in 1991.

In a 2011 interview in the diocesan newspaper, The Anchor, he said, “My Catholic faith was always very important to me through those years. I was very blessed to be successful and happy, and there came a time in my life that I sensed that I wanted to thank God for all those blessings. The time had come for me to express my thanks in a radical way, and that’s when I entered the seminary.”

Father Dahl received a Master of Arts degree from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Conn. in 1995, and a Master of Divinity in 1996.

Father Dahl was ordained to the priesthood by then-Bishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM, Cap., on June 8, 1996, at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River. Following his ordination, Father Dahl served as a parochial vicar at Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich. Later, he was also a parochial administrator at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in New Bedford, and chaplain at St. Luke’s Hospital, also in the Whaling City.

Father Dahl also served as the diocesan director of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults from 2000 to 2005.

In 2002 Father Dahl was named pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Provincetown, where he remained until retirement. During his time at St. Peter’s a fire destroyed the church building in 2005. He told The Anchor that was a trying time for him and his parishioners, “but they are a great community of believers. Despite having lost the place where generations were baptized, married and received the Sacraments, they made it through the ordeal and were part of building a great new church.” The rebuilt St. Peter’s was blessed and dedicated in 2008.

Father Dahl retired from his pastorate in Provincetown in June of 2011, but continued to serve in parishes in and around Sun City, Ariz.

He is survived by his sister, Deborah J. Lizarralde of San Antonio, Texas.

Father Dahl’s Mass of Christian Burial took place in St. Clement of Rome Catholic Church in Sun City on December 3. Interment took place in Holy Cross Cemetery in Avondale, Ariz.

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