By Paula Day

His engaging, creative personality and prophetic gifts were remembered by fellow priests this week mourning the death of Father Kenneth Bayer, MSFS.

"We have had a great loss in leadership," Father Henry Gracz, vicar for clergy said, responding to the news of Father Bayer's death Sept. 27.

"He was a fresh, ebullient person, His spirituality (motivated him) to be comfortable with the young and I think that kept him young," Father Gracz added.

Father Bayer, who underwent a bone marrow transplant for leukemia a year ago, traveled to Denver in August where he celebrated Mass with Pope John Paul II during World Youth Day events. He attended the installation Mass of Archbishop John F. Donoghue Aug 19 and a few days later was admitted to Emory Hospital with pneumonia where he died. He was 44.

Born in St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 19, 1948, he was the eldest of Grace and Kenneth Bayer's 10 children, and was ordained a priest Sept. 13, 1975 by Archbishop Thomas Donnellan at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in St. Louis. He received a degree in philosophy from Kenrick Glennon Seminary there and a Theology degree from Heathrop College at the University of London.

A member of the religious order, Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales, Father Bayer was first assigned as assistant pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Norcross in 1975. In 1979 he began studies leading to a Ph.D. in ministry at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. His course was interrupted when he was asked to become pastor of St. Lawrence Church in Lawrenceville in 1981, a post he held until he was named pastor of the Norcross parish in 1989.

In June 1992 Father Bayer was diagnosed as having a life-threatening form of white cell cancer, myelocytic leukemia. He underwent chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant in September at Emory University Hospital with his sister, Christine, as his donor.

In a recent interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he expressed the hope that after bouts with shingles, infection and graft-versus-host disease, he was a "cancer survivor, not a cancer victim." He said he found blessings everywhere, even in the cancer. "It renewed me in my priesthood. I am a privileged man."

He used his near-death transplant experience to help others, said Father Marty Kopchik, MSFS. "He was changed so much by the bone marrow procedure."

In an interview with The Georgia Bulletin shortly after his six-week ordeal in the hospital, the priest described the experience as "extremely spiritual. I found a lot of personal growth. I'm letting go of nonsense -- of hurts, wounds, anger. Little things don't bother me so much."

Father Kopchik, pastor of St. Lawrence, noted that Father Bayer was "a great teacher in his homilies, using his own life experiences to make the Gospel come alive."

In the Bulletin interview Father Bayer asserted, "The first time I preach at the Easter Vigil, I'll speak with a better understanding of the whole idea of death and resurrection. I understand more now that one alone is God and He is not us. All of life is a sheer gift. We cannot claim the next breath in our lungs as our own."

Emory doctors asked him to talk to their patients because he "had an incredible maturity with what was going on," Father Kopchik said.

A contemporary of Father Bayer's at Catholic University, Father Kopchik remembers the priest as "engaging with people" and taking an active role in the Marriage Encounter (ME) movement. In the Atlanta archdiocese, he continued this interest as a member of a team of priests helping with ME weekends.

"He had an incredible personality," commented the Lawrenceville pastor, "and a very creative mind." Father Bayer loved the outdoors and hiked a lot, Father Kopchik said. "But his first love was his church. He was a prophet with extremely high ideals about living the Gospel. He challenged people to live the Gospel."

Father Bayer was a past president of the Atlanta Council of Priests. The consultative body advises the archbishop on matters pertaining to pastoral needs of the archdiocese and priestly life. He was also active in a prayer and support group of priests which included Father Gracz, Father Richard Kieran, Father John Kelley and Father Edward Everitt, OP.

In addition to his parents, Father Bayer is survived by seven sisters, Christine, Cindy, Judy and Merry Bayer, all of St. Louis; Lindy Bayer of Grand Prarie, TX, and Jeanette Cattaneo and Bonnie Stewart, both of St. Louis; by two brothers, Robert of St. Louis and Jerome of Denton, TX, and numerous nieces and nephews.

The Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated Friday, Oct. 1 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Patrick's Church. Due to a prior out-of-state commitment, Archbishop John F. Donoghue will be unable to celebrate the funeral Mass. Monsignor Edward J. Dillon, VG, will represent the archbishop at the Mass. Interment will be on the grounds of St. Patrick's Church.

The Norcross parish hosted several days of visitation and held prayer services the evenings of Sept. 29 and 30.