Father Whitman celebrates 40 years as a priest

In four decades, the convert from North Carolina has served in several East Tennessee parishes

By Dan McWilliams

Father Dan Whitman left a career in advertising more than four decades ago to pursue a vocation to the priesthood, and countless East Tennessee Catholics have been blessed by his ministry ever since.

Father Whitman, now retired from active ministry and living in Knoxville, celebrated his 40th anniversary of priestly ordination on Nov. 11. To mark the occasion, he went to Mass at St. John XXIII Catholic Center on the University of Tennessee campus and to a dinner with friends afterward.

“I wanted to keep it kind of quiet and laid-back,” he said.

One of his former parishes did not let either the priestly milestone or his Nov. 3 birthday go by unnoticed.

“Notre Dame in Greeneville surprised me with a little get-together Nov. 10. That was my last assignment before I retired,” Father Whitman said. “There were quite a few people there. They had a huge meal and cards and Masses for me for my special intentions. That was really great.”

Father Whitman, except for a brief assignment at the start of his priesthood at St. Henry Parish in Nashville, has primarily served in the Knoxville and East Tennessee area.

He twice served short assignments as associate pastor at Sacred Heart in Knoxville before and after it became the cathedral parish upon the Diocese of Knoxville’s founding in 1988. Between Sacred Heart assignments, he served three years as an associate pastor at St. Mary in Oak Ridge. Father Whitman later served 10 years at St. Therese in Clinton and St. Jude in Helenwood, 13 years at Holy Trinity in Jefferson City and Good Shepherd in Newport, and five years at Notre Dame.

He could not name a favorite parish but rather recalled the pastors he served under in his early days as an associate.

“I was very blessed to have great pastors when I was an associate pastor,” he said. “I had Father Bob Hofstetter at my first assignment at Sacred Heart Church. I was here at Sacred Heart Church for about a year and a half. Then I went to be associate pastor at St. Mary’s in Oak Ridge with Father Bill Gahagan. Then when we became a diocese in 1988, Bishop [Anthony J.] O’Connell wanted two priests full-time at the cathedral, so I came back to Knoxville to Sacred Heart Cathedral. I was there for a little over a year and a half.”

In those days, Father Mike Sweeney was serving as pastor of five churches, including St. Therese and St. Jude, along with Blessed Sacrament in Harriman, St. Ann in Lancing, and the mission that later became St. Christopher Parish in Jamestown.

“Bishop O’Connell wanted to break up the mission churches, the five churches, so I got assigned to St. Therese Church in Clinton and St. Jude Church in Helenwood,” Father Whitman said. “Mike Sweeney was doing five churches, and Bishop said that’s crazy, so I took on two and Father Mike kept the three.”

Father Whitman said each of his parishes has had its own qualities that make it stand out.

“Every place I’ve ever been as an associate pastor or pastor has just been unique and different, which I enjoy as a priest,” he said.

Bishop James D. Niedergeses of the Diocese of Nashville, who ordained Father Whitman, added another duty for him in his Oak Ridge days: director of youth ministry for the Knoxville Deanery. That role grew to diocesan director when the Church in East Tennessee was founded.

“When I was going to St. Mary’s in Oak Ridge, Bishop Niedergeses said, ‘And also, Dan, I’d like you to be the deanery coordinator for our youth ministry for the Knoxville Deanery.’ And when we became a diocese, Bishop O’Connell said we need to have our own youth ministry, so he appointed me diocesan director,” Father Whitman recalled.

Father Whitman served for many years as moderator of the charismatic movement for the Diocese of Knoxville. The movement has influenced his ministry in an “awesome” way, he said.

“A couple got me involved when I was at St. Therese in Clinton. They said, ‘Father Dan, we need somebody for charismatic ministry.’ ‘Well, I’ve never done it before.’ ‘Well, we need somebody. Can you do it?’ ‘Sure, OK,’” he said. “It’s really strengthened my faith even more. I have a deeper faith in the Lord and deeper trust in God and Jesus Christ. And I like the praise music and the music during the Mass.”

Father Whitman is the longtime chaplain for the Knoxville Diocesan Council of Catholic Women and for the Smoky Mountain Deanery CCW.

“The Church would be lost if we didn’t have the women of the CCW,” he said. “They’re the foundation of each parish I’ve ever been in.”

Father Whitman is a native of Winston-Salem, N.C., and grew up in the Methodist Church. He attended elementary school in Pfafftown, N.C., and junior high and high school in Clemmons. After one year at Atlantic Christian College in Wilson, N.C., he switched to the Harris School of Advertising, Art, and Design in Franklin, Tenn., where he attended for three years. After advertising school, he worked for three years for the Genesco firm in Nashville from 1973 to 1976.

After not attending church much in his late teen and early adult years, he was drawn to Christ the King Parish in Nashville.

“I was searching for a home church, and it ended up being a Catholic church that I joined,” he said. “On June 3, 1973, I got baptized, confirmed, and received my first Communion at Christ the King Catholic Church on Belmont Boulevard in Nashville. Being 21 years old, I helped out in different ministries. I got very involved with the Church at Christ the King. I became a Knights of Columbus member. I volunteered helping around the parish and helping at Christ the King School. All that was leading up to my vocation.

“Becoming Catholic really changed my life, what I believed, and how I live.”

Sister Emmanuel White, RSM, served as principal at Christ the King School and recruited the future priest to assist her.

“I’d usually go to the 7 o’clock Mass and then go to work. But I went to an 8 o’clock Mass, and that’s when the kids went to Mass, and she said, ‘Dan, what are you doing after Mass?’ ‘Well, it’s my day off.’ It was a holiday or whatever. ‘There are things around the school that need to be done. Can you help me?’ It ended up being all afternoon,” Father Whitman said.

While at Christ the King, he met a young woman, Cindy, and the two considered marriage at one point. Father Whitman kept up with Cindy in later years until she passed away after suffering from multiple sclerosis and cancer.

“She was an amazing woman. She taught me a lot about faith and trust, and she never complained about all the things that happened to her,” Father Whitman said. “Her family was amazing. I fell in love with her family before I ever got to know her. She was going to school in Ohio when I met her mom and dad and siblings.”

A Cursillo weekend influenced the course of Father Whitman’s life from marriage to the priesthood.

“I was in Cursillo in Nashville, and that really changed my life even more,” he said.

Father Whitman left the Genesco company and enrolled at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in English, and Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wis., where he received a master of divinity degree.

He was ordained a deacon by Bishop Niedergeses in March 1983 at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville. Bishop Niedergeses presided at his ordination to the priesthood later that year on Nov. 11 at Christ the King Church.

Ordination day, a Friday, was “really exciting,” Father Whitman said.

“I had family from all over North Carolina and friends from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan. They all came down for my ordination and for my first Mass of thanksgiving at Christ the King. I chose Nov. 11 because it was Veteran’s Day, and most people had the day off, so they could travel on Thursday for the ordination on Friday morning at Christ the King. I just remember the church was almost filled,” he said.

His vocation was “rooted” at Christ the King, he said.

“People said, ‘Dan, you ever thought about being a priest?’ ‘No, I want to get married and have kids,’” he remembered.

Father Whitman’s hobbies formerly included hiking, but Parkinson’s disease—diagnosed while he was serving at Notre Dame—has forced him to curtail that activity.

“I was an avid hiker,” he said. “I had all these plans, things I wanted to do [in retirement], and with Parkinson’s, it kind of limits my ability to do things now.”

God “indeed” had other plans for him when he thought he was headed for a life in advertising, Father Whitman said.

“It’s been an awesome 40 years.”