The Rev. E. Gerard Huesman, a retired Roman Catholic pastor and former Johns Hopkins Hospital chaplain, died of heart failure June 7 at St. Joseph's Nursing Home in Catonsville. He was 95.
Born in Baltimore and raised on Westgate Road, he attended St. Pius V and St. Agnes parish schools before entering the St. Charles Roman Catholic Seminary in Catonsville. He completed his studies at St. Mary's Seminary & University in Roland Park. Archbishop J. Michael Curley ordained him to the priesthood in 1941.
He was assigned to the old St. Andrew's Church in East Baltimore near Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he became a chaplain. Friends said that throughout his life, Father Huesman sought out the sick and ministered to their needs.
"He was devoted to the sick," said a fellow retired priest, the Rev. Manuel Roman. "Hospital work is demanding, and he took the responsibility well."
In 1950, he served at St. Bernardine on Edmondson Avenue, and while there, he became the director of Archdiocesan Catholic Hospitals and moderator of the Catholic Nurses Guild. For many years, he presented diplomas to graduates of Baltimore's Roman Catholic nursing schools.
In 1960, he was named pastor of St. Lawrence the Martyr in Jessup, where he also served as the chaplain at the House of Correction and the Maryland Reformatory for Women.
"He had a custom at St. Lawrence," said the Rev. Brian M. Rafferty, a friend and fellow pastor. "When he baptized a child, he rang the bell to let the community know that they had increased by one."
Father Rafferty said that Father Huesman was "quiet and self-effacing with a sharp wit who did not abide fools well." He said he was wedded to a gospel that put the good of his people first.
"He was well-read and was always thinking how the church could do better," said Father Rafferty. "He was full of new ideas, a priest's Thomas Alva Edison."
In 1968, he became pastor of St. Dominic's Church in Hamilton. Colleagues said that while there, he was concerned about the instability of the city and was the first chairman of a steering committee that founded what became the Harbel Community Association, an umbrella group of communities along Harford and Belair roads in the city and Baltimore County. He led an effort to raise $20,000 to hire staff for the group.
"He was so well respected that his influence helped other pastors to come on board and join the organization," said Regina Wirtanen Buker, who was the second employee hired at the organization, which remains active today. "He was beloved and highly thought of in the neighborhood."
Father Huesman defended a priest on his staff who took part in a peace march during the Vietnam War. In a 1969 Baltimore Sun article, as some members of his 3,800-member congregation called for the priest's dismissal, Father Huesman wrote, "If you say those things about him, you say those things about me too." He insisted that his parish did not "take any stand one way or the other" about the war.
After serving in Hamilton, he became pastor of Church of the Ascension in Halethorpe, where he led the construction of a new building. He had two successful fundraising drives for the $1 million project. When he left the parish in 1986, he had reduced the debt to $82,000.
He stepped down as a pastor that year but did not retire. He served at St. Mark in Catonsville and the Church of the Resurrection in Ellicott City and was a chaplain at Veterans Hospital and Franklin Square Hospital Center. He retired from the active ministry in 1999 and moved to an apartment in Mays Chapel Village, where he continued to celebrate Mass for residents. In a 2007 interview in The Catholic Review, he said, "I pray for the world. It's going to pot."
Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien will offer a Mass of Christian burial at 11 a.m. today at the Good Shepherd Center Chapel, 4100 Maple Ave. in Halethorpe, where Father Huesman had been chaplain at the home for troubled girls.
Survivors include a sister, Maris Stella Oake of Chandler, Ariz.; and nieces and nephews.