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Father John F. Dwyer, pastor emeritus of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart parish in Tappan, died Jan. 12. He was 90.
Auxiliary Bishop Edmund Whalen offered the Funeral Mass Jan. 16 at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church. The homilist was Msgr. Dermot Brennan, a retired priest of the archdiocese.
Father Dwyer was pastor of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart from 1990 until his retirement in 2006. Before that, he was a parochial vicar there for three years. He was a parochial vicar at Corpus Christi parish in Manhattan for eight years, beginning in 1956.
He served for 23 years as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force, 1964-1987. He was stationed overseas in Turkey, Germany, Great Britain, Okinawa and the Philippines and served at eight stateside bases. He retired with the rank of colonel.
He was also a chaplain for the Tappan Volunteer Fire Department and the American Legion Carl A. Schelin Post of Tappan.
A native of the Bronx, he graduated from St. Luke’s School and Cardinal Hayes High School, both in the Bronx, and Fordham University before entering St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie.
He was ordained in 1956.
He earned a master’s degree in theology from Lexington Theological Seminary and a bachelor’s in psychology from Fordham University. He did advanced studies at Georgetown University in the School of Linguistics.
He was preceded in death by his sisters Eileen Dwyer and Sister Mary Noel Dwyer, O.P., and his brother, William.
Burial was at Tappan Cemetery.
