Erhart, Henry J.

Jesuit Father Henry J. Erhart died August 3, 2012, at Manresa Hall in Merion Station, Pa., of pneumonia. Fr. Erhart, who was a Jesuit for 70 years and a priest for 57, was 88. Among his many assignments, he spent 15 years at the University of Scranton and 16 at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

Henry J. Erhart was born June 5, 1924, in Philadelphia, the son of Elizabeth Clifton and Joseph F. Erhart. Following graduation from St. Joseph’s High School in Philadelphia, he entered the Jesuit Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville in 1942. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in classics from Weston College (at Boston College) in 1948. He continued his studies at Weston, earning his Masters of Arts and licentiate in philosophy in 1949.

Fr. Erhart was ordained to the priesthood June 19, 1955, at Woodstock College, in Woodstock, Md. In 1956 he earned his Bachelor’s degree in sacred theology from Woodstock College.

Fr. Erhart’s assignments throughout his 70 years as a Jesuit were quite varied: as a teacher, pastoral minister and hospital chaplain with his longest assignments at the University of Scranton and Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

His first assignment, as a scholastic, was at Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Md., where he taught German in 1949.

Fr. Erhart then taught theology at the University of Scranton from 1957 to 1972. For the next 40 years, he engaged in pastoral work in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington, D.C. His assignments included serving as assistant pastor at Holy Rosary Church in Scranton, 1972-1973; and at St. John’s Church in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 1973-1974; Corpus Christi Church in Baltimore, 1975-1976, and St. Patrick’s Church in York, Pa., 1991-1993.

Twice, Fr. Erhart was assigned to minister in a hospital. In 1974, he spent a year as assistant chaplain at Georgetown University Hospital. In 1976, Fr. Erhart took on the role of chaplain at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, a ministry he continued until 1992.

From 1993 to 2000, Fr. Erhart served as a pastoral minister in local apostolates while living at the Jesuit Community at Loyola Blakefield. He continued there until 2000.

Fr. Erhart’s next assignment took him to the Jesuit Center in Wernersville where he was a pastoral minister and helping with retreats from 2000 to 2008. That year, he took on the assignment of praying for the Church and the Society at the Jesuit Center and was transferred to Manresa Hall in 2009.