Photo Courtesy of Archdiocese of Atlanta 

ATLANTA—Father Richard Paul Wise, ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Atlanta in 1981, died May 13 at Grady Memorial Hospital. He served numerous parishes and quietly took on the role as a foster father to three Ethiopian refugees. Father Wise was 78 years old. 

Father Wise was born in Peoria, Illinois, to Roy and Mary Frances (Easterwood) Wise on Dec. 1, 1947. He attended St. Boniface Grade School in Lafayette, Indiana. He and his twin brother, Stephen, were altar servers at St. Boniface Catholic Church and assisted in the sacristy after school. Father Wise graduated from Central Catholic High School in Lafayette in 1965 and was a lifelong supporter of the school. He attended Saint Joseph’s College (Seminary) in Rensselaer, Indiana, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Theology. He also attended the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. 

Father Wise served as a religious brother with the Society of the Precious Blood prior to journeying to the priesthood. He served inner-city youth in Cleveland, Ohio, and worked with troubled children while living in Chicago.  

He was ordained a priest by Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan on Dec. 12, 1981, at the Cathedral of Christ the King. His service in the Archdiocese of Atlanta began as a parochial vicar at St. Pius X Church in Conyers. Father Wise also served as assistant pastor at St. Oliver Plunkett Church, Snellville; St. Philip Benizi Church, Jonesboro, and at Corpus Christi Church in Stone Mountain. 

Father Wise’s first pastorate was at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Decatur, from June 1987 to July 2002.  

During his time in Decatur, he took on the role as a foster father to three young men from Ethiopia, who were in danger of being conscripted into the communist army or grabbed by rebel forces in their homeland. With the permission of the archbishop at the time, he accepted what he felt was a call from God to help the family.  

Father Richard Paul Wise

He was first approached by the cousin of the young men on the steps of the church for help with their dire situation. Yamlak, Selam and Agegnehu Tsega, arrived in the United States as teenagers, went to St. Pius X High School in Atlanta, living first with a local family and later at the parish. All three graduated from Xavier University in New Orleans. All three achieved graduate degrees. They were exceptional youths, Father Wise said of them. Parish staffer Lily Turnipseed helped the priest in guiding the teens. 

He then served the community at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Blairsville as its pastor from July 2002 to July 2011. The parish grew greatly during that time, including construction of the parish hall. He dedicated the church’s library room to his mother, Mary Frances Wise.  

He was the pastor of Our Lady of the Mount Church in Lookout Mountain and administrator of St. Katherine Drexel in Trenton from 2011-2013. He retired in 2020 as administrator of St. Gerard Majella Church in Fort Oglethorpe and returned to Blairsville to continue his visits to the sick, to counsel prisoners, celebrate Mass and to help when called upon for weddings and funerals and wherever needed. 

Father Wise’s service to the archdiocese also included taking on the role of assistant director of vocations, and membership on the Priests’ Retirement Board, the Council of Priests and the College of Consultors. He spent 55 years in prison ministry. 

Upon his 25th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood, Father Wise told The Georgia Bulletin he was “overwhelmed with what the Lord has done in my life and through my life, the various gifts that people have received through the priesthood God has given me.” 

He said the priestly ministry brought him to every segment of society “from Death Row through parish life, to working in various cultures and various environments, to being able to speak not only with the movers and shakers, but the outcasts, working with drug-addicted people, the homeless and the poor … that whole gamut.” 

Two keys to his priesthood, he said, were prayer and a sense of humor. 

“You have to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus,” Father Wise said. “If you look at the faults and foibles of the Church, the scandals, the politics, you can lose heart. But if you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, you can handle all that. You learn to repent of your own sinfulness and inadequacies. The more you experience that (forgiveness), the more you are able to share that forgiveness with other people.” 

St. Pius X played a role in his spiritual life. Father Wise prayed at the saint’s tomb in Italy as a young man while discerning a vocation. Within a year, he felt drawn to becoming a priest. After coming to Atlanta, he learned that the archdiocese was under the patronage of St. Pius X and his first parish assignment was at the Conyers church named for the late pope. 

The priest penned his own reflection to be shared upon this death, calling the Catholic Church “a very large tent.”  

“We have many languages, cultures, races, and by the grace of God, we are One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church,” he wrote. “Serving in the Catholic Church has been the greatest gift that God has given me.” 

Father Wise is survived by his sisters Janet Wise and Susan Wise; nephew Joshua and his wife, Amanda, and their children Eloise, Benjamin and Harper; and sister-in-law Patti Whitney-Wise and niece, Lilly Whitney-Wise. He was predeceased by his parents and twin brother, Stephen Wise.  

A viewing will be Wednesday, May 27, from 9 to 11 a.m. at St. Francis Church, 3717 Hwy 515 E
Blairsville. The rite of reception and viewing will be from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 28, at the Cathedral of Christ the King, 2699 Peachtree Rd, NE, Atlanta. Bishop Bernard E. Shlesinger III will preside.  

Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., will celebrate the funeral Mass on Friday, May 29, at 10 a.m., at the Cathedral of Christ the King. Burial will follow at Arlington Cemetery in Sandy Springs.