OBITUARY Info:
Carmelite Priest David Blanchard Dies
(February 27,2022; Darien, IL) The Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary (PCM), Order of Carmelites, mourns the death of the Reverend David Blanchard, O. Carm., who died at the age of 71 on February 27, 2022.
Tribute and Holy Mass for Fr. Blanchard will be held at 6PM on February 28, 2022, at Parroquia Nuestra Señora de Lourdes in Ciudad Delgado, El Salvador, followed by visits to communities until midnight. Visits to communities will resume on March 1, 2022, and continue until his funeral Mass which will be held at 2PM at Parroquia Nuestra Señora de Lourdes in Ciudad Delgado, El Salvador, and be presided by Msgr. José Luis Escobar Alas, Archbishop of San Salvador. Mass will be followed by a wake in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.
David was born to Warren E. Blanchard and Stella L. (Duffy) Blanchard on December 1, 1950, in Greenfield, Massachusetts. His given name at baptism was David Scott Blanchard.
David completed Carmelite Junior Seminary in 1969 and went on to a B.D.I.C. in Anthropology from University of Massachusetts, an M.A. in Social Science and a Ph.D. in Symbolic Anthropology from University of Chicago, and a M.A. in Church History from Washington Theological Union. He professed simple vows as a Carmelite on June 18, 1984, made his solemn vows with the Carmelites on June 12, 1987, and was ordained a Carmelite priest on December 19, 1987, at St. Clara Church in Chicago, Illinois.
Father David’s first assignment was in 1987 as a teacher at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, Illinois. In 1988 he moved to Washington, D.C., where he taught at Washington Theological Union. In November of 1991 David moved to San Salvador, El Salvador, where he served as Investigator of Ethnography and as associate pastor of Nuestra Señora de Lourdes in Ciudad Delgado. In 2000 he was named pastor of Nuestra Señora de Lourdes. In 2008 he was named First Formator at Centro Xiberta in Ciudad Delgado, El Salvador and additionally resumed his duties as full time pastor in 2010, where he served until his death.
May he rest in peace.
Donations in honor of the Reverend David Blanchard, O.Carm., may be made to: The Society of Mount Carmel, 1317 North Frontage Road, Darien, Illinois, 60561.
For further information on the Reverend David Blanchard, O.Carm., or the Order of Carmelites, please contact Carmelite Media at (630) 971-0724.
