Beloved Priest Buried

Father Kenneth Krause blended a unique sense of humor with uncommon kindness in his ministry, and that mixture, along with his spirituality, was recalled fondly Wednesday as hundreds paid final respects to one of Orange County’s most popular priests.

Krause was eulogized at a Mass of Christian Burial at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange. He died Friday of pancreatic cancer at age 63.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony came from Los Angeles to join several hundred mourners who crowded inside the church, some standing along the sides. Mahony said Krause was “a wonderful and extraordinary priest” who had “a wonderful sense of humor.”

He recalled Krause’s days as a seminarian and class organist. Mahony attended the seminary at the same time but was in a different class.

If one listened closely, the cardinal said, one could make out tunes such as “Yellow Rose of Texas” and “Hound Dog” that Krause would play very slowly and sneak in between hymns.

“Joy is an infallible sign of the presence of God, and Father Ken had joy in abundance,” he said.

Along with dozens of priests and bishops from Los Angeles and Orange counties, hundreds of other people whose lives he touched during his 34 years as a priest attended Krause’s funeral.

“Priests like him who get involved in the community and the parishioners’ lives are a rarity,” parishioner Paul Garrett said as he looked at a collage of photos of Krause’s life on display outside the sanctuary.

Many of the photos showed Krause enjoying himself at family gatherings or parishioners’ parties.

“Father Ken was not a stay-in-the-rectory priest. He’d show up at backyard barbecues or birthday parties, even if for only a few minutes,” parishioner Mary Callahan said. “He didn’t turn down many invitations.”

Inside the church, Father Eamon O’Gorman delivered the homily, remembering Krause’s life as a “brilliant biography of music, song, wine, experience and challenge.”

O’Gorman said that Krause continued to comfort others in his final days, drawing from his spiritual strength even as his physical strength was waning.

Recalling several poignant memories of the times they spent together and the lives Krause influenced, O’Gorman said rhetorically: “Is Ken’s life a magnificent ship that comes to port with so much beauty . . . and at the end sails into the horizon?”

He remembered his friend as a man with “compassionate, sensitive and gentle hands,” which he used to caress and anoint the sick and others in need of spiritual guidance.

Krause, a graduate of St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, was ordained May 1, 1965. He began the priesthood as associate pastor at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in South Pasadena. He later joined the faculty at Mater Dei High School, where he was named principal in 1974.

He also served as pastor of St. Joachim Roman Catholic Church in Costa Mesa and St. Joseph’s in Santa Ana. At the time of his death, he was living at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Newport Beach.

The Most Rev. Tod David Brown, bishop of Orange, bade farewell to Krause and praised him for following God’s mandate.

“Ken is at the end of his journey and has accomplished what God wanted him to do,” Brown said.

Krause’s body was interred at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange. Memorial Masses for him are scheduled today at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church and Monday at St. Joachim Church.