By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
Photographer: FILE
Father Charles D. Clements: Born Sept. 23, 1935; ordained June 30, 1962; died Feb. 12, 2022.
MIAMI | Funeral services will take place Monday, Feb. 21, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Doral for Father Charles D. Clements, an archdiocesan priest for nearly 60 years, who died Feb. 12 at the age of 86.
Father Clements was among the first priests ordained for what was then — June 30, 1962 — the three-year-old Diocese of Miami. He spent the last two decades of his priestly ministry as a hospital chaplain at Baptist Hospital and coordinator of chaplains in southern Miami-Dade County.
After retiring from fulltime ministry in 2008, he continued his ministry to the sick until his age and health no longer permitted it. He lived the past several years at St. Anne’s Nursing Center in Miami.
Born Sept. 23, 1935 in Martin County, Father Clements was one of six siblings: three brothers, three sisters. He was baptized in Fort Pierce and attended elementary school in Mount Dora and Stuart, Florida. He attended Martin County High School for one year, then entered the high school seminary of St. Andrew in Rochester, New York. He continued his studies at Mount St. Mary’s of the West in Norwood, Ohio, and followed that with four more years of study at the American College in Louvain, Belgium.
Prior to his hospital work, Father Clements served as pastor of Good Shepherd Parish in Kendall (1977-83) and San Pablo in Marathon (1983-88). He also served as parochial vicar at St. Brendan, Miami (1962-64); St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Pompano Beach (1964-65); Little Flower, Hollywood (1965-68); St. Joseph, Miami Beach (1968-69); and administrator of Holy Cross in Indiantown and St. Mary’s Mission in Pahokee (1969-77) — both of which were part of the Archdiocese of Miami at that time.
In the letter approving his retirement from active ministry, Miami’s archbishop emeritus, John C. Favalora, praised Father Clements “for the fine pastoral and spiritual care you have given to the sick at Baptist Hospital... It would be hard to estimate the many souls you have brought closer to the Lord in the twenty years you have served at Baptist Hospital.”
The funeral services will be as follows: viewing at 9:30 a.m. followed by Mass at 10:30 a.m., and burial immediately afterward at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church is located at 11691 N.W. 25 St., Doral, and the cemetery is adjacent.
