REQUIESCAT IN PACE
Father Richard F. Wagner, SSJ
By Lisa Harlow
Father Richard F. Wagner, SSJ, the oldest Josephite at the Josephite Senior Residence in Washington, died April 26. He was 91.
Despite moving in 2021 into the Josephite Senior Residence, located on the second floor of St. Joseph’s Seminary, Father Wagner did not have the word “retirement” in his vocabulary. He remained active and served as the spiritual director for the seminarians.
“I never thought my priestly work would end up with seminarians and helping them on their own priestly life,” he said in an interview with The Josephite Harvest last year.
Born and raised in Rochester, New York, Father Wagner was ordained a Josephite priest in 1959. Throughout his more than 60 years as a Josephite, he ministered in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Maryland and Florida.
“Father Wagner was very creative and kind of restless in the true sense of the word,” said Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, superior general of the Josephites. “He was always into something else, something better and more exciting. He impacted a lot of lives.”
Bishop Ricard said when Father Wagner was pastor of St. Veronica church in the Cherry Hill neighborhood in Baltimore, he helped create their Head Start program, which Bishop Ricard said was one of the very first Head Start programs in the country.
“He was always involved in innovative things over the years,” he said. “In the 1960s when he was chaplain at Xavier University, he held a rosary march.”
Father Wagner said he became a Josephite because they were the only group that offered a commitment to the Black community.
“I wanted to serve the Black community because of what I had seen, what I grew up with in the age of segregation,” he said. “Things were not as they should be. The church was not committing itself as they should be. Now there is more of a need for the Josephites in the Black community than ever before.”
DeBorah A. Smith worked with Father Wagner for 18 years when he was pastor at Shrine of Our Mother of Mercy in Rayne, La.
“He was a genuine, godly man,” said Ms. Smith, a lifetime parishioner who has been a part-time secretary at the parish for the last 40 years. “Priesthood was his life. He loved being a priest and he said he would never retire from the priesthood.”
She said, “Every day he would write a love letter to all of us – his parishioners – and he would read it to us. Sometimes he would read it at Mass on Sunday. He was a beautiful person.”
Ms. Smith said Father Wagner loved trains and liked to show off his train collection.
He celebrated his 60th anniversary as a priest at the parish in June 2019 and soon after, he left to serve as pastor of St. Therese of Lisieux church in Gulfport, Miss.
After Father Wagner moved, Ms. Smith said they talked by phone every day, something they would continue after he moved to the senior residence. She said he cared for the parish even after he left and sent money to have the restrooms in the church renovated.
“Father Wagner was a blessing to be around,” said Ms. Smith. “He didn’t judge you. He was my angel and my spiritual advisor. I have so many memories. I’m going to miss him so much.”
According to Father Paul Oberg, SSJ, rector of the senior residence, Father Wagner had been in declining health for several weeks. Prior to that, he loved to swim and ride his exercise bike.
He would have turned 92 on May 23.
“In his role as spiritual director at the seminary, Father Wagner brought a lot of good history of the Society,” said Father Oberg.
“The seminarians come from other countries, and they don’t know much about the Josephites. They related very well to him, even with the age difference.”
Father Oberg added, “He was a wonderful, hardworking priest, and he was very committed to the African American community. He loved people and he had a lot of friends. He touched many lives.”
Visitation for Father Wagner will be 10 a.m., May 3 at the Church of the Incarnation, 880 Eastern Ave. NE, Washington, D.C.
A funeral Mass will be offered at 11 a.m. with Bishop Ricard as homilist.
Father Wagner will be buried in Rochester.
