Father James Baker retires as pastor of St. Mary, Garden City

After nearly 44 years of pastoral and canonical work, Father James E. Baker, JCL, has retired as pastor of St. Mary Parish in Garden City, and from the offices of Judicial Vicar and Vicar Forane (Dean) of the Garden City Deanery.

Father Carlos Garcia-Pena, SJ, will continues to serve as parochial vicar at St. Mary’s, while Father Anthony Judge, CSsR, a member of the Redemptorist Hispanic Missionary Project, has been appointed parochial administrator.

"He has been a good and faithful servant, and it is my hope that retirement will afford him the time to attend to his own physical, emotional, and spiritual needs," Bishop Ronald M. Gilmore noted of Father Baker. "He has the gratitude of the Diocese, and I know he will carry your gratitude with him as well."

Father Baker explained that just as God led him to the priesthood, so did He lead him to his decision to retire.

"The Gospel story of the blind man who came to Jesus begging, ‘Lord, I want to see,’ has always been a major part of my vocation and ministry discernment all the way back to my junior year in high school when I was trying to decide if seminary was for me. In faith, often in retrospect, God does give sight. God does provide a vision. The opportunity to purchase a house, the health challenge of open-heart surgery, lingering health concerns, the need for a healthy, energetic, Spanish-speaking pastor at St. Mary’s and numerous other factors were parts of God’s visioning process that prompted me … to ask the bishop for permission to retire from active ministry."

Father Baker will continue to live in Garden City at 1707 Belmont Place, which he finds important to his ministry in retirement.

"Accent, please, living. I see retirement as a time to live now in such a way as to live eternally. I do not count myself among those who see retirement as a time to prepare to die."

As long as he can remember, Father Baker has always wanted to be a priest, he said. "I used to play priest as a child growing up. My parents and many Sisters and Priests encouraged me along the way.

"Daily, my parents celebrated their love and commitment to each other in the sacrament of marriage. To earn a living, dad worked in manufacturing, and mother worked for a number of years, after us boys grew up, in retail sales.

"Church involvement was always a top priority for my parents and us boys," he added. "We were always at Sunday Mass and other weekly devotions. One of the things I vividly remember was my parents’ commitment to Catholic schools. We didn’t have one, so my dad and their pastor led other volunteers in the parish in literally building a Catholic school – today one of the largest Catholic schools in the Diocese of Erie. I was in third grade when St. George School opened. I graduated from there in the spring of 1951. It is from my parents that I acquired my own love and commitment to Catholic schools."

Father Baker has two brothers; one is retired from the military and the FBI and lives in Virginia, while the other is a retired professor living in Pennsylvania.

When asked how a boy from Erie, PA, wound up in the Diocese of Dodge City, he responded, "It’s all part of God’s mysterious plan, I suppose, but I always wanted to be a diocesan priest – but in a mission diocese. I don’t know why. That’s just the vocation awareness I always had: wanting to be a priest in a mission diocese. As I was about to begin major seminary, Bishop [John B.] Franz asked the Apostolic Nuncio – at that time he was called an Apostolic Delegate – to appoint me to the Diocese of Dodge City. He did, and here I am."

Father Baker was ordained on May 25, 1963. He received his bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from Pontifical College Josephinum in 1959, and in theology in 1963. He earned a degree in Canon Law from St. Paul University in Ottowa in 1986. He has served as pastor and assistant pastor at several parishes throughout the diocese. Among other canonical positions he has served have been those of diocesan chancellor, Diocesan Director of Family Life, Defender of the Bond and Scout Chaplain.

The best part of being a priest? "Celebrating Mass, celebrating the Eucharist, celebrating Sacraments and preaching have always been my joy and still are."

When asked his accomplishments over the last 43 years, he said that he leaves those for God to evaluate, "but I trust those accomplishments will have been a part of the faith journey, the Christ-centered, Spirit-filled, journey that so many faithful people walked with me over more than 43 years of priestly ministry in southwest Kansas."

Discerning the highlights of more than four decades of service was equally daunting.

"I find discerning highlights quite impossible. I would have to say that whatever highlights there are would come from ministry that my canon law background has afforded me."

Father Baker offered his sincere gratitude for the support he has been shown over the years.

"I am most thankful to God for blessings in super-abundance. Certainly among my most cherished blessings are the people I have been privileged to serve. I thank all of them from Liberal to Hoisington to Hugoton; from Medicine Lodge to Garden City and so many places in between, even as I beg their prayerful remembrance. My brother priests are also a magnificent blessing to me. I have always cherished their love and support and still do, and I thank them from the depths of my heart.