Reverend Daniel J. O'Rourke

Rev. Daniel J. O’Rourke, aged 74, died in Lewistown, Montana, on June 24, 2025, after having served as a Catholic priest for the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings for 37 years.

Father O’Rourke was born in Butte, MT on July 24, 1950. His parents were James and Rita (Dunne) O’Rourke, and the family moved to Great Falls in 1955. He attended the Ursuline Academy Grade School and graduated from Great Falls Central Catholic High School in 1968. He briefly attended the College of Great Falls (now University of Providence) and Carroll College in Helena. He worked as a draftsman for the Montana Highway Department until he discerned a vocation to the priesthood.

He entered Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, OR where he studied philosophy and theology. He returned to Montana in 1988 and was ordained a Catholic priest on June 22, 1988, at St. Luke’s Church in Great Falls.

His first pastoral assignment was associate priest at St. Leo’s Parish in Lewistown, MT from 1988 to 1993. At that time, he was transferred to St. Philip Bonitus Parish in Scobey, MT where he served as pastor for five years. In 1998, he returned to St. Leo’s Parish as pastor until he took an early retirement for health reasons in 2012.

Father O’Rourke also served as Bishop Anthony Milone’s Master of Ceremonies, and he pursued further training in Liturgical Art and Design in Chicago. He had a natural ability to connect art, design, and faith based on an appreciation of history as well as contemporary styles. He enjoyed a three-month sabbatical program in Rome, Italy, in 2006, at the North American College. This represented one of many occasions Father Dan traveled in his lifetime, visiting countries in Europe and South America as well as Mexico and Turkey. He made new friends wherever he went and always found new ways to express his faith and expand his experiences to share with others. He will be well-remembered for his ability to recall people and places, and for his generous hospitality.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers, James and John; and his sister and brother-in-law, Julie and Dennis Broxholm. He is survived by his sister, Carol (John) Bemis; sister-in-law, Janell O’Rourke; and sister-in-law, Sandy O’Rourke; as well as nephews and nieces.

Father O’Rourke’s vigil will be held on July 2, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. in Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Great Falls. His Mass of Christian Burial will also be at Holy Spirit Church on July 3, 2025, at 11:00 a.m., with burial to follow at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Great Falls. A special Memorial Mass will also be held at St. Leo the Great Church in Lewistown, MT on Saturday, July 5, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.