July 22, 2020
Reverend Kent Alan Hemberger
Father Kent A. Hemberger, a priest of the Diocese of Wichita for 32 years, died Wednesday, July 22, at age 59. Father Hemberger, the brother of the late Monsignor Robert Hemberger, was born on March 3, 1961, in Wichita. He studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical College Josephinum, in Columbus, Ohio, and was ordained on May 28, 1988, at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Wichita.
His first assignment was as an assistant at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and for St. Anthony Parish in Wichita. Fr. Hemberger was named pastor of St. Anne Parish in Wichita in 1991 and served there until 2007. He then studied Ignation Spirituality while on sabbatical in Canada. The next year he was named director of the Spiritual Life Center in Wichita. Fr. Hemberger served at the diocesan retreat center until 2011 when he was named pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Andover where he served until the time of his death.
Father Hemberger’s Mass of Christian Burial was be celebrated at Church of the Magdalen on August 1, 2020. Those attending the funeral were asked to social distance due to the pandemic the country was experiencing at the time. He is buried in the natural burial section at Ascension Cemetery.