UPDATE: Fr. Hensy’s Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, February 2, at 10 a.m. at St. Paul the Apostle Church, 10750 Ohio Ave., Los Angeles, CA.

Burial will follow in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, CA.

With sadness, we announce that our brother, Paulist Fr. Patrick Edwin Hensy, entered eternal life on Thursday night, January 24, in Los Angeles at the age of 80.

He had been a member of our missionary society for 45 years and a priest for 40 years.

Fr. Hensy was born on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1938, in Arkansas City, KS, the son of Frank and Lulu Bloomheart Hensy.

In 1943, his family moved to Oklahoma. He graduated from Marquette High School in Tulsa, OK, in 1956.

In 1960, he earned a bachelor of science in chemistry from the University of Oklahoma, where he also did graduate studies.

He was an experienced high school chemistry teacher when, in 1973, at age 35, he joined our novitiate.

Fr. Hensy made his first promises to the Paulist community on August 17, 1974. He was ordained a deacon on October 15, 1977.

He was ordained a priest on May 13, 1978.

For most of his priesthood, Fr. Hensy was a Catholic campus minister, including service at:

• University of California at Berkeley in Berkeley, CA (1978 to 1982);
• University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, CO (1982 to 1986);
• University of North Carolina in Greensboro, NC (1987 to 1991);
• University of Texas at Austin in Austin, TX (1992 to 2000); and
• UCLA in Los Angeles, CA (2002 to 2007)

Fr. Hensy also served at St. Austin Church in Austin, TX; St. Patrick Church in Memphis, TX; St. Sebastian Church in Los Angeles, CA; and St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Community in Los Angeles.

In 2000 and 2002, he spent brief periods in Sudan, in a village called Turalei, about 150 miles southwest of the capital, Khartoum. While there, he organized a training program for catechists.

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Fr. Hensy also held an M.A. in theology from The Catholic University of America; an M.A. in counseling from the University of Northern Colorado; and a doctorate in ministry in spiritual direction and counseling from the Pacific School of Religion.

Fr. Hensy’s elder sister, Sue Hensy Litton, is deceased.

In addition to his Paulist brothers, he is survived by his nephews, Tom, Bob and Ron Litton.

Our prayer for our brother, Pat:

May the angels lead you into paradise,
may the martyrs come to welcome you,
and take you to the holy city,
the new and eternal Jerusalem.