Father Daniel Finn, Former Pastor of Saint Mark Roman Catholic Parish and Saint Ambrose Parish and Immigrant Advocate, Dorchester, MA

Father Daniel Finn is a native of Kanturk, Ireland, and became a citizen of the United States in 1973. Father Finn served as Pastor at Saint Mark Roman Catholic Parish in Dorchester, MA, from 1993-2015 as well as concurrently serving as Pastor at Saint Ambrose Parish, also in Dorchester, from 2010-2015. He co-founded the Irish Pastoral Center in Dorchester in 1987 when thousands of young Irish were emigrating from Ireland due to a faltering economy. He recognized the need to help new immigrants become acclimated to life in the United States. Father Finn provided assistance and consultation in many areas including employment matters, health care, housing, and immigration and citizenship issues.

In 2005, Father Finn helped lead the effort to establish a program to provide English language and citizenship classes to working adult immigrants in Dorchester and surrounding areas. Saint Mark Roman Catholic Parish, a fiscal year 2009 USCIS grant recipient, continues to provide services to promote the civic integration of immigrants through its Community Education Program. With this funding, the program expanded and enhanced services for the immigrant community through additional English language and citizenship preparation courses, evening and weekend classes, year-round programming, and a new computer lab for its students.