Heralded with bunting, musical compositions and suggestions of canonization, the Ven. Dr. Walter J. Baer’s retirement was celebrated – to his great surprise – during the recent annual Convocation Convention at the Wilhelm-Kempf-Haus in Germany.
Baer has served as the Convocation’s archdeacon since 2017, shortly after he moved to Europe in “an attempt to retire,” he laughed. “In the best sense of the word, he was a godsend to the Convocation,” said Fr. Chris Easthill, rector of St. Augustine’s of Canterbury (Wiesbaden) and longtime colleague and friend. “He brought structure, reliability, and an aspect of professionalism to his work.”
“The thing is, Walter is truly the embodiment of a Renaissance man. He’s benevolent, compassionate, merciful; he has the ability to bring people together,” said Janet Day-Strehlow, chair of European Institute for Christian Studies. “He has made such a huge impact. It was like a light switched on when he arrived.” More than one person commented on Baer’s transparency and ability to make things happen while often staying in the background in a position that was constantly changing.
Organizers of the surprise tribute decorated the room with Swiss flags in a nod to Baer’s dual nationality and distributed buttons asking: “St. Walter … pray for us.” Rev. Richard Easterling, rector of St. James (Florence), was a young camper at Camp Hardtner in Louisiana when Baer was one of the clergy “who would take a week from work to spend time with us in the sweltering heat.” Easterling created a celebrated adaptation of “Edelweiss” from the Sound of Music to recognize Baer’s retirement home in Vienna.
Walter Baer, Walter Baer,
Praise for you is up-springing,
Calm and bright,
Always right,
Virtues merit our singing
Baer, who grew up in Wisconsin, spent 30 years in parishes in Louisiana, the last 15 in New Orleans. There he was the rector of a multicultural parish with Anglo, Latino and African communities that he helped rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. He also served six years in various positions at an Episcopal school and ran summer camps for youth.
“The structures (of the Convocation) are similar to that work, but there is a totally different dimension, such a diverse membership,” Baer said. “There are endlessly new things and interesting new things. It’s a privilege to talk about God in a European context. People respond to different things. People crave speaking about social things in a more compelling way than in the American South.
“I’m taking away a deep appreciation for worldwide Christianity, and our little place of that in the Convocation,” he said. “I will miss a lot of aspects – especially going around to different convocations. (My job) has given me opportunities to meet interesting people – the Pope, archbishops of Canterbury. But I will be around – one of my little jobs is to continue some of my ecumenical work.”
Baer has done much of the ecumenical work for the Convocation. He has worked on the committees to establish full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria and the Church of Sweden and worked to move those agreements through general convention. He works with the Old Catholics, for whom he was also a supply priest, and is in dialogue with the Methodist Church (UMC). He is on the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations and is a regular deputy to general convention. Outside the Convocation, he is the vice president of Province II of Episcopal Church (New York, New Jersey, Europe, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Virgin Islands and Cuba) and has visited all 13 dioceses except the Virgin Islands.
“In this position, it’s so important to encompass more than one siloed area. And Walter is NOT siloed,” concluded Day-Strehlow. “Walter embraces everything. And that is one of the things that makes him a phenomenal person.”
