Jesuit Father Erhart, former hospital chaplain, dies

A funeral Mass for Jesuit Father Henry J. Erhart, chaplain at Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson from 1976 to 1992, will be offered Aug. 8 in Merion Station, Pa. He died Aug. 3 from pneumonia.  

Father Erhart had been a Jesuit for 70 years and a priest for 57 years. He was 88.

A native of Philadelphia, Father Erhart entered the Jesuit Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pa. in 1942. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1955 at the former Woodstock College in Woodstock.

Father Erhart taught German at Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda in the Archdiocese of Washington in 1949.  

In 1974, Father Erhart was assistant chaplain at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. 

He was assistant pastor of Corpus Christi in Bolton Hill from 1975 to 1976.

From 1993 to 2000, Father Erhart was pastoral minister in local apostolates while living at the Jesuit community at Loyola Blakefield in Towson. 

Father Erhart earned a bachelor’s degree in classics from the former Weston Jesuit School of Theology, now Boston College, in 1948. He earned a master’s degree and licentiate in philosophy in 1949, also from Weston Jesuit School of Theology.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology from Woodstock College in 1956. 

Father Joseph F. Barr, pastor of Immaculate Conception in Towson who knew Father Erhart when he was chaplain at GBMC, said Father Erhart took his job as chaplain seriously.

“Henry was always known for his care of the patients and his attention to their spiritual needs 24/7,” Father Barr said. “That was one of his charisms.”

Father Erhart was “in his own way a patient advocate,” Father Barr said.