Thursday, 19 January 2012 14:50

Monsignor Charles W. Regan, 83, died Wednesday, Jan. 4. He had served the Diocese of Wichita for nearly 53 years.
A rosary was recited Sunday, Jan. 8, at Church of the Magdalen, Wichita. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 9, at Magdalen. Burial was at Calvary Cemetery in Wichita.
Msgr. William Carr said the best description of Msgr. Regan is “steady.”
“Bill did not go to extremes. He was always there when you needed him,” Msgr. Carr said. “He served the diocese and his bishop with his ‘steady’ hand. He was one who helped us to survive the turbulent days for the church in the ’60s.”
He said Msgr. Regan’s ‘steady’ hand helped Catholic education in the Diocese of Wichita flourish when Catholic education declined elsewhere.
“He served the Lord wholeheartedly and well with steadiness through his years in the priesthood,” Msgr. Carr said. “May he rest in peace.”
Msgr. Robert Hemberger also thought of Msgr. Regan’s work in Catholic education. Not only did Msgr. Regan’s leadership help Catholic schools survive, he said, but he helped it “thrive and remain authentically Catholic.”
Msgr. Hemberger said Father Ken Van Haverbeke shared a story about how Msgr. Regan once told him to commit to 15 minutes of spiritual reading per day, no more and no less.
“One gets through a lot of books in a year that way, and thoughts have time to soak,” Msgr. Hemberger said.
Father Sean O’Shea honored Msgr. Regan’s memory with a line from an Irving Berlin song and an Irish blessing: “The song is ended, the melody lingers on. May God hold Father Bill Regan in the hollow of his Hand.”
Msgr. Regan was born on Feb. 2, 1927, in Parsons. He studied for the priesthood at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, Mo., and was ordained on March 29, 1958, in his home parish, St. Patrick Church, Parsons. Father Regan was elevated to the rank of Domestic Prelate on March 4, 1998.
In addition to serving at many parishes in the diocese, Monsignor Regan served in several capacities in diocesan Catholic education. He was appointed chaplain of Notre Dame High School in 1962; Assistant Superintendent of Education in 1962; and Superintendent of Education in 1964.
Monsignor served in the following parishes: St. John, lola; St. Patrick Kingman; Holy Savior, Wichita; St. Vincent de Paul, Andover; and Church of the Magdalen and Christ the King, Wichita.
He retired from active ministry on July 3, 1998, with residence at the Priest Retirement Center, Wichita. Monsignor Regan was living at the Catholic Care Center at the time of his death.