Father Keith E. Canterbury, a beloved priest of the Diocese of Sacramento for more than 25 years and who served for 12 years as pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Weaverville, died on Feb. 16. He was 90.
Bishop Jaime Soto will preside at a funeral Mass for Father Canterbury on Friday, Feb. 28 at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph Church, located at 2040 Walnut Ave. in Redding. A reception will follow the Mass. A vigil service will be held on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. at St. Joseph Church in Redding.
A celebration of life, including a potluck lunch, will be held at the Veteran’s Memorial Hall in Weaverville on Saturday, March 7 at 11 a.m.
Father Canterbury, pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Weaverville from September 1996 to August 2008, retired on Aug. 19, 2008 and was named pastor emeritus of St. Patrick Parish. He was ordained on June 11, 1994 by Bishop William K. Weigand when he was 65 years old. He served as parochial vicar of St. Anthony Parish in Sacramento for six months following his ordination, and then for 18 months as parochial vicar of Sacred Heart Parish in Red Bluff.
Since his retirement, he had lived in Weaverville and assisted with Masses at St. Patrick and its mission churches as well as other Redding-area parishes.
“I love this place. I absolutely love the Trinity Alps,” Father Canterbury told The Catholic Herald upon his retirement in August 2008, when he was 78 years old. “It’s easy to see God in this environment – snow and all.”
He noted that the role of pastor in Weaverville, the small community at the base of the Trinity Alps, was difficult, because it involves traveling lengthy distances. The pastor is responsible for four outlying missions and stations: Holy Trinity Mission in Hayfork, St. Gilbert Mission in Lewiston, Mad River station and Trinity Center station.
“My daughter always reminded me that I told her while I was in the seminary that I wanted a nice little country church where I could have a little country group. I became a happy camper really fast,” he told The Catholic Herald. “Once I got rooted in here it would have been hard to move me. The people are wonderful – loving, caring and nurturing.”
During his time as pastor, Father Canterbury was known for leading the Cursillo movement in Trinity County, which brought local churches together in a three-day learning, sharing and experience of living in a Christian community.
He said his most important achievement in Weaverville was building the ecumenical community with other ministers in town. Parishioners were also involved in an ecumenical soup kitchen run by a group of churches. He and parishioners were also involved in the Douglas City Soup Kitchen, the yearly Douglas City Christmas Party, the Hayfork Clothing Drive and clothing for the children of Hayfork Elementary School. Father Canterbury also served on the board of Northern Valley Catholic Social Service.
A native of Faribault, Minnesota, Father Canterbury grew up on his family’s farm until the 11th grade, when his family moved to Minneapolis. While a junior in high school, he professed his faith in Jesus Christ and attended the Nazarene Church. At age 17, he joined the U.S. Navy. He had a 20-year career in the Navy and was a veteran of three wars.
While working at Mare Island Naval Hospital in Vallejo, he met his wife, Cora May Bounds, and they were married in 1949. The Canterburys had three children: Rosellen and Deborah, who were born at the military hospital on Mare Island, and son Charles (who died in 2018), who was born at Sharps Hospital in San Diego.
Father Canterbury and his family converted to Catholicism after he was in an auto accident in San Diego and hit a car driven by a Jesuit priest. On the day of that fateful crash, he was a Methodist and his Cora belonged to an evangelical denomination. “But we both had kind of drifted away as our children got older and their schedules took more time,” he told The Catholic Herald in 2008.
He had become curious about the Catholic Church, but had not made any attempt to find out about it through formal inquiries. After the collision he went to see the Jesuit priest about insurance details.
At the end of their conversation, Father Canterbury told the priest of his interest in learning more about the church. The Jesuit arranged for him to meet the pastor of a nearby parish. Instructions soon followed and the entire family became Catholic. Soon after their entry into the Catholic Church, the family became active in the Catholic Youth Organization, the Christian Family Movement, and later in the charismatic movement.
After he retired from military service, Father Canterbury worked in clinical laboratories for several years. Life changed dramatically when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. “We knew we needed to live now. So we sold everything and went on the road,” he recalled in The Catholic Herald story.
They traveled extensively. When their cash reserves dwindled, they stayed in one place while he got a job. One of those places was Vallejo, where he had previously served at Mare Island, and they attended St. Catherine of Siena Church. “We came full circle back to where we met,” he said. “We were so well received at St. Catherine’s.” Father Canterbury became active in the Cursillo movement at St. Catherine and in 1985 made his first Cursillo. Later, Cora made her Cursillo and she loved the experience.
He and Cora decided to pursue entering the permanent diaconate program in 1986. They had been involved in the program for two years when Cora succumbed to cancer in November 1988 at age 57.
“After my wife died, I began working for the school system and continued with the deaconate program,” Father Canterbury said. He eventually applied to study for the priesthood for the diocese, but was initially turned down because he was 61. Persistence paid off and finally he was accepted as a seminarian by Bishop Francis A. Quinn.
He studied for four years at Sacred Heart Seminary in Hales Corners, Wisconsin, along with other Sacramento seminarians, Patrick Henry, Terry Fulton, Michael Hebda and Joseph Nguyen. He was ordained to the priesthood along with his classmate, Father Fulton.
Prior to his retirement, Father Canterbury guided St. Patrick Parish in its efforts to build a new parish hall, named St. Patrick Parish Canterbury Hall, and parishioners completed a Stations of the Cross walkway behind the church, where they can spend time in prayer. Father Canterbury placed a memorial plaque along the Stations in memory of his wife, Cora.
Father Canterbury was preceded in death by his wife, Cora, his son, Charles Edward, and his granddaughter, Jennifer. He is survived by his brother, Dean Canterbury, his daughters, Rosellen Schmidt of Huber Heights, Ohio, and Deborah Sweere, and son-in-law, Gary, of Weaverville. He is also survived by eight grandchildren and 16 greatgrandchildren.
Donations in his memory may be made to St. Patrick Parish, P.O. Box 3187, Weaverville, CA 96093.
Information for this story was taken from an article by Christine Vovakes in the Aug. 2, 2008 issue of The Catholic Herald and a biography written by Father John Boll.