Most Rev. John Gorman

Two former auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Chicago are being remembered for their leadership in the Catholic Church and being a blessing to all with whom they came into contact.

Most Revs. John Gorman and John Vlazny both died in recent weeks.

Gorman

Most Rev. John Gorman, vicar general from 1988-95 and auxiliary bishop emeritus for the Archdiocese of Chicago, died June 2. He was 99.

Gorman was born Dec. 11, 1925, in Chicago to Kathryn Maney and Lawrence Gorman. He attended Leo High School and Quigley Preparatory Seminary, both in Chicago, and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary. He later earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from Loyola University Chicago.

He was ordained to the priesthood on May 1, 1952, by Cardinal Samuel Stritch, and he celebrated his first Mass on May 4 of the same year at Visitation Parish in Chicago (now known as St. Basil Visitation Church).

“Bishop John ‘Jack’ Gorman was the last member of the Class of 1952 to go home to God just shy of his 100th birthday,” said Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago. “He was a deeply pastoral and visionary leader whose ministry left an indelible mark on all who encountered him. As a rector and teacher, he helped form generations of seminarians, not merely in doctrine, but also in the art of being truly pastoral.

“I will miss him dearly, but I am grateful his legacy of faith, dedication and service to the Church will live on.”

Seventy-three years ago, after ordination to the priesthood, Gorman served as assistant pastor at St. Andrew Parish on Addison Street in Chicago and St. Odilo Parish in Berwyn, and later as pastor at St. Michael Parish in Orland Park for 13 years. He taught at Quigley Preparatory Seminary, and then at Niles College Seminary, where he eventually chaired the psychology department,. He also served on the faculty of Loyola University Chicago’s Institute of Pastoral Studies and taught summer school at the University of Notre Dame.

In addition, Gorman spent eight years as rector/president of the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, and a few years as director of the Department of Parish/Pastoral Services. He was ordained an auxiliary bishop in 1988 by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. As a bishop, he served as vicar for regional services/vicar general and vicar for Vicariate I (which includes much of northwest suburban Cook County and Lake County) and Vicariate V (which covers a large part of the Southwest Side and the Southwest Suburbs). He retired in 2003.

Bishop Lawrence Sullivan, vicar general for the Archdiocese of Chicago, was a senior in college seminary, 37 years ago, when Bishop Gorman was ordained an auxiliary bishop.

“Bishop Gorman was an example of servant leadership with an emphasis on organizational structures, parishioner support and lay leadership growth,” Bishop Sullivan said. “He used his advanced degrees from Loyola University in modernizing the learning experience of seminarians at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary when he was appointed rector in 1965. I have been told by countless priests, who were students at that time, that Bishop Gorman was an amazing rector who was able to adapt the seminary to a post-Vatican II era.

“His creativity, ingenuity, faithfulness, and compassion were a true blessing to the seminarians and, therefore, to the Church of Chicago and beyond.”

Bishop Francis Kane, auxiliary bishop emeritus of the Archdiocese of Chicago, remembered his former seminary teacher as a “wonderful mentor for our class.”

Bishop Kane added that Gorman was someone who meant so much to people as a pastor and as a bishop. “He was really a great man,” Kane said.

“He was a visionary who certainly led the archdiocese in being the rector and implementing many different things from Vatican II,” said Rev. Edward Mikolajczyk, a student at Mundelein from 1967 until he was ordained in 1972. “Bishop Gorman was very good at being visionary about what the Church was going to look like in the years ahead.

The most important thing he taught the seminarians, Mikolajczyk said, was how to be pastoral.

“He helped us understand what it meant to be pastor,” he said. “He showed us how to be present and pastoral to the people. His mind was wonderful,” Mikolajczyk said. “He was always up on what was happening in the church and the news. We had a number of theological discussions.”

Mikolajczyk said, “it was a privilege to live with him in retirement.”

Rev. Robert Heidenreich was a student at St. Andrew School in Chicago when Bishop Gorman was assistant pastor at St. Andrew Parish.

“After he served at our parish, Bishop Gorman went on to teach at Quigley where he was my Latin teacher.,” Heidenreich said. “What I found attractive in the priesthood is what I saw in Father Gorman as a priest, and that’s what brought me to the seminary in the first place. Gorman would be standing in front of the Church after Mass, and he would be surrounded by teens I was one of them.

“He was just a great minister  who we as kids could look up to. He had a lot to do with shaping our (1969) class. In 1965, Cardinal Cody tapped him to go to Mundelein Seminary, eventually as rector. Our class was taught and influenced greatly by Bishop Gorman.”

Rev. Michael Foley was pastor at Our Lady of the Woods for 11 years while Bishop Gorman resided there after retirement, but he first met the bishop in 1985, when Foley was a deacon preparing for priesthood ordination and Bishop Gorman was pastor of St. Michael Parish in Orland Park.

“He was very people-centered,” Foley said. “He was holistic. His background was psychology — he was a psychologist.

“He listened to people, not just what they were verbalizing, but what their hearts and minds were saying.”

Funeral services were at Our Lady of the Woods Parish in Orland Park. Cardinal Cupich was the main celebrant of the Mass and Foley was the homilist

Vlazny

Most Rev. John Vlazny, archbishop emeritus of Portland and former auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of

Archbishop John Vlazny

Chicago, died May 24 at the age of 88.

Vlazny was born Feb. 22, 1937 in Chicago. He attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago, the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He also earned post-graduate degrees at the University of Michigan and Loyola University in Chicago.

He was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Chicago on Dec. 20, 1961, by Most Rev. Martin O’Connor, rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He celebrated his first Mass on July 22, 1962 at St. Gall Parish in Chicago.

After ordination to the priesthood, Vlazny served as assistant pastor of St. Paul of the Cross Parish in Park Ridge, and at St. Aloysius Parish on West Le Moyne Street, St. Sylvester Parish on Humboldt Boulevard and Precious Blood Parish on Congress Parkway, all in Chicago. He was pastor of St. Aloysius Parish from 1979-81 and rector of Niles College of Loyola University for two years. In 1983, Vlazny was appointed auxiliary bishop of Chicago, where he served until 1987. He was elected bishop of the Diocese of Winona, Minnesota, in 1987 and was appointed to the Archdiocese of Portland in 1997. Archbishop Vlazny retired in 2013.

Rev. Daniel Brady, retired archdiocesan priest, remembered Archbishop Vlazny from their seminary days and said that he was “a wonderful priest, good archbishop and a blessing to us all.”

Rev. Robert Oldershaw, retired archdiocesan priest and Archbishop Vlazny’s classmate at Mundelein Seminary, said Archbishop Vlazny was chosen to study in Rome.

“He was an excellent student, very pleasant person, friendly to all, cheerful and with a wonderful sense of humor,” Oldershaw said. “John was always close to his classmates and would gather with us when he was in town. He had a true love for the Church.”

Services were at St. Mary’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland.