Feb. 5, 2013
Father Stephen R. Baxter
Father Stephen R. Baxter was born in Seattle, Wash., and was educated at St. Patrick Seminary in Ireland. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Wichita on May 16, 1981, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita. He received a licentiate in canon law in 1986 from St. Paul University, Ottawa, Canada, and served from then on in the diocesan Tribunal Office. In addition to his work as a judge and defender of the bond in the Tribunal Office, he served as a pastor or as an associate at the Church of the Magdalen, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and St. Margaret Mary in Wichita; Holy Cross in Hutchinson; and at Sacred Heart, Fredonia, and St. Ignatius, Neodesha. He was named spiritual director of English-language Cursillo in July of 2007 and was considered the primary pastor of the Hutchinson Correctional Facility where he regularly celebrated Mass. He is buried in Ascension Cemetery in Wichita.