Marine on a mission: Father Patrick retires from St. Luke's

Father Patrick Ward at his last service at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Katonah.

By HERB FOSTER

When Father Patrick Ward came to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Katonah in March 2018 as interim minister, he expected he might be there for one or two services.

Six years later, on Sunday, Dec. 29, he retired as St. Luke’s priest in charge, in a service filled with accolades from parishioners.

Ward was not always a priest or even planning a formal religious career. Originally from Philadelphia, Pa., he joined the Marine Corps in January 1970 and, during his enlistment, he had a spiritual experience. It started with a serious bad reaction to a drug and, in the sick bay, a career gunnery sergeant reached out to him and said, “Jesus has got a better life for you.” 

In Ward’s words, “it was a born-again experience for me, and my faith became very real.”  

As a Marine, he attended the Southern Baptist Church on Okinawa, Hawaii, then after the Marine Corps, went to Wheaton College in Illinois and earned an undergraduate degree in biblical studies. During a summer program in Israel, he learned about the Anglican Church, and shortly thereafter visited a nearby Episcopal Church near Wheaton and officially became an Episcopalian. He then attended the Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Nashotah, Wis., and was ordained a priest in December 1980.

He worked as the primary priest at several churches over the next three decades, having periods lasting up to seven years. Then 10 years ago, he retired from full-time work, filling in as needed, as the interim minister in several parishes. 

This led him to St. Luke’s six years ago.

“Now, I am ready to retire,” Ward said. He plans to spend more time with his family and two granddaughters. “I might fill in at other places that need help, but I will not take full responsibility for pastoring another parish.”

One of the things Ward looks back to proudly is his involvement with the Episcopal Diocese of New York Tanzania Task Force. The group maintains a relationship with the Diocese of Central Tanganyika helping HIV AIDS orphans go to school. Ward has made nine or 10 trips there, and under his guidance, St. Luke’s has funded the planting of over 1,000 cashew trees in the Dodoma Region of Tanzania.

“And one of the best things the task force has done is to support seminarians in their last year of seminary at a theological college in Tanzania,” Ward said, “and I have visited there with parishioners from the U.S.”

Ward said he is going to remember the St. Luke’s parishioners and the people. 

“It is such a lovely community. They enjoy each other’s company. And, you know, the fellowship, the coffee hour, the camaraderie is wonderful, and they have an incredible music program. I will miss the music. They have a great organist,” he said of music director Harold Rosenbaum, “and he just does a really excellent job with the music program here.”

During his final service Dec. 29, the choir sang a custom song for Ward based on the “My Fair Lady” hit “Get Me to the Church on Time.” It was a spoof for Ward, who is always on time.

“I’m a stickler. I start church on time,” Ward said. “Church doesn’t start a minute early or a minute late, it starts at 10 o’clock, which people around here generally refer to as ‘Patrick Standard Time.’ You know, in my time in the Marine Corps, you know when something says 10 o’clock, it’s 10 o’clock. Not 10:05. Not 10:10.”

St. Luke’s Senior Warden Fred Piker spoke highly of Ward and his achievements during the Dec. 29 service.

“During his almost six years serving as our interim priest, Father Patrick and his wife, Barbara, brought Christ into our lives, nourished our parish family, and counseled and guided us toward St. Luke’s future,” Piker said.