LA’s Father Chris Ponnet, revered chaplain and advocate, dies at 68
Longtime Los Angeles hospital chaplain and social justice advocate Father Chris Ponnet died Oct. 7. He was 68.
Ponnet had been pastor of the St. Camillus Center for Spiritual Care near downtown Los Angeles for the last 30 years. During that time, he also served as director of the nearby LA County + USC Medical Center’s Department of Spiritual Care, leading an interfaith team of chaplains ministering at one of California’s largest hospitals.
“A shepherd to our community for over 30 years, Fr. Chris lived the Gospel through action — loving the marginalized, lifting the forgotten, and showing us all what true faith looks like,” read a statement posted to the St. Camillus Center’s website on Wednesday.