Father William Warman Jr. dies at 85

Father William Warman Jr., a priest remembered for his deep spirituality and his sensitivity in healthcare ministry, died Feb. 23 in Timonium. He was 85.

“He was a considerate, dedicated and extremely faithful person, and his hallmark was his spirituality,” said Monsignor Richard Tillman, a retired priest who knew Father Warman and his family in their youth and who attended the same parish growing up, Church of the Immaculate Conception in Towson.

“He was very serious about his relationship to God,” Monsignor Tillman said. “He had a very active imagination. I think that’s sometimes an unused part of who we are. He could see the future and resurrection and eternal life. That imagination of eternal life is what kept him focused, especially in his later years. I think that was part of his spirituality.”

Father Warman was born in 1938 in Washington D.C. to William and Helen Warman. He attended Towson Catholic High School, graduating in 1956. Sensing a religious vocation, he attended St. Charles College Seminary on Paca Street before receiving his bachelor’s degree in sacred theology and a licentiate in sacred theology from St. Mary’s Seminary in Roland Park.

He was ordained to the priesthood in 1964 and was appointed as associate pastor of St. Joseph, Cockeysville. 

Father Warman served as associate pastor of Our Lady of Victory in Arbutus later that same year before serving as associate pastor of Holy Rosary in Fells Point beginning in 1971. 

Father Warman was co-administrator of St. Cecilia in Baltimore from 1976 to 1978. He was appointed to oversee ministry at Lutheran Hospital in 1978 and was in residence at St. Bernardine in West Baltimore until returning as associate pastor of Holy Rosary later that year. He continued to serve at that location until 1980 when he was granted sick leave. He returned to ministry as a health care chaplain at Lyons Veterans Hospital in Lyons, N.J., in 1980 and ministered in that area until his retirement from active ministry in 2013.

Speaking at her brother’s March 4 funeral Mass at Immaculate Conception, Franciscan Sister Patricia Warman, remembered the significance of the Towson parish to her brother. It was where he celebrated his first Mass as a priest, where he officiated at their sister Diane’s wedding and where he offered the funeral Masses for their deceased parents.

“So, it’s fitting that he himself should be sent forth from this very sacred place,” she said.

Sister Patricia reflected on her brother’s “loving and gentle spirit,” and recounted the ways he displayed his love for his younger siblings.

“Even as a young person he was caring for his little sisters,” she said. “He taught me to ride a bike when I was 6 and drive a car when I was a teenager. He didn’t want us to take up smoking, so he bet us the huge amount of $20 if we refrained from smoking all through high school.”

Monsignor Tillman, who preached the homily at his friend’s funeral Mass, told the Catholic Review Father Warman’s upbringing likely played a role in him becoming a priest.

“I think it was his Catholic school experience. I think it was his family experience and him getting to know the priest of his parish,” Monsignor Tillman said. “They were a solid Catholic family and he had a Catholic high school education. That probably established an imagination of being a priest and started him thinking of his own future. He had an affinity for the Eucharist. I think that was essential to his calling and that he was grateful for the calling that he was feeling.”

Although they lived in the same Towson neighborhood as youths, they did not become close until meeting again at St. Mary’s Seminary. Father Warman was a year ahead of him, and he and Monsignor Tillman were able to cultivate a friendship and even a friendly sports rivalry.

“He beat me very well on the basketball side of things, but I beat him very well on the tennis side of things,” Monsignor Tillman recounted with a laugh.

Although Father Warman never became a pastor at a parish in Baltimore, he was heavily relied upon by the pastors under whom he served, said Monsignor Tillman. He also assisted at the O’Dwyer Retreat House in Sparks, helping with the grade-school day camps taking place there during the summer.

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