October 11, 2020

Reverend Jerome Arthur Beat

Father Jerome A. Beat, a priest of the Diocese of Wichita for 57 years, died Sunday, Oct. 11. He was 83. Fr. Beat was born on Jan. 24, 1937, at Willowdale, Kansas. He received his elementary school education at St. Anthony School in Wellington. He then spent 12 years at Conception Seminary in Conception, Missouri, as a high school student, and then as a college student earning undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Fr. Beat was ordained on May 25, 1963, by Bishop Leo C. Byrne at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita. He served as an assistant pastor or pastor between 1963 and 1973 at St. Joseph, Andale; St. Francis Hospital, Wichita; St. Francis of Assisi, Wichita; and St. Patrick, Chanute. Fr. Beat volunteered in 1973 as a missionary to the diocesan mission in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. He returned to the diocese in 1987 and was named director of Cursillo. In 1991 he was named pastor of Church of the Magdalen in Wichita while continuing his Cursillo duties.

Fr. Beat was named pastor of St. Patrick Parish and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Wichita in 1995. He was named an assistant pastor at All Saints Parish in Wichita in 2003. The next year he was named chaplain of Via Christi St. Joseph in Wichita. Fr. Beat was named spiritual director of the Spanish Cursillo in 2007 and retired on June 14, 2010.

Fr. Beat’s funeral was at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on October 16, 2020. He is buried at Ascension Cemetery.