The Catholic New World 01/07/01 - Lt. Col. Listecki has parishoners, too

Lt. Col. Listecki has parishioners, too

Last Word on Ethics

By Hilary Anderson
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR

Amazing, energetic and pastoral are among the laundry list of words Dr. Patrick Guinan uses to describe Bishop-designate Jerome Listecki, who serves as chaplain of the Catholic Physicians Guild of Chicago.

Dr. Guinan, who is president of the organization, has worked with the bishop-designate for more than a decade on health care issues.

“His devotion to the guild is remarkable, especially in view of all his other obligations,” said Dr. Guinan.

“Father Listecki makes every meeting and always is on time. Sometimes he comes in his fatigues straight from his army chaplain commitments. The man is so loyal and enthusiastic. He has a gift for remembering names and knows every physician in the group on a first-name basis, but that’s true of most anyone he meets.” The physician says he is amazed by the number of people Bishop-designate Listecki knows and helps—but not surprised by the admiration they give him in return.

“Father Listecki is in every sense pastoral, a good shepherd,” said Guinan. “His liturgies are beautiful. You can sense his warmth. He loves being a priest.” More importantly, according to Guinan, the chaplain is an outstanding moral theologian.

“When matters of ethics come up, Father Listecki is the last word,” he said. “He is a great resource for us.”

Lt. Col. Listecki has parishioners, too By Patrick Butler
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR

Bishop-designate Jerome Listecki’s elevation to auxiliary bishop came as no surprise to fellow Army Reserve Chaplains Allen Russell and Douglas Oxborrow.

“He has a servant’s heart. He loves the Lord, he loves his church and he loves the Army,’’ said Russell, Listecki’s boss in the 330th Medical Brigade headquartered at Ft. Sheridan and a former pastor of the Galilee Baptist Church in the Lake View neighborhood.

“I got goose bumps when I heard,’’ said Oxborrow, a Mormon who teaches German and music at Joliet Junior College when he’s not on Army duty.

“The Catholic Church made a great choice,’’ added Oxborrow, who has known the 51-year-old lieutenant colonel “maybe 10-15 years.’’

The three chaplains, in fact, served together in the 85th Division before the future bishop became pastor of St. Ignatius Church in Rogers Park and worried he would no longer have time for the Reserves.

“So what we did was create a new position for Jerry as deputy chaplain with the 330th,’’ said Russell, who now wonders if that arrangement actually made things any easier for his old friend.

After all, the 5,500-soldier brigade works with 39 units in 22 cities in six Midwestern states, said Russell, who estimates the Catholic chaplain’s military “parishioners’’ at somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000.

“Right now, if you’re looking for the Army Reserve ‘Catholic coverage’ between Milwaukee and Gary, you’re talking to him,’’ chuckled Bishop-designate Listecki, who also ministers during summer drill weekends (for Reserves and National Guardsmen) at Ft. McCoy, Wis.

But in the Army, “when you’re a chaplain, you’re not just a Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or Muslim clergyman. You’re ‘The Chaplain’ for the entire unit,’’ said Bishop-designate Listecki, noting that ecumenism was a fact of military life long before most people ever heard the word.

Chaplains don’t just conduct religious services and do counseling, but are staff officers who advise the unit commander on morals and morale, he explained. When necessary, he added, chaplains even act as mediators between enlisted soldiers and their supervisors

“Every enlisted soldier knows, or should know, he or she can go to the chaplain and say things they wouldn’t dare say to a regular officer,’’ Bishop-designate Listecki said. “Although we have rank, the officers, NCOs (sergeants and corporals) and enlisted all claim us as their own.’’

Bishop-designate Listecki and his colleagues also work with families of Reservists on overseas deployment–an increasingly important role now that part-time soldiers make up more than half the U.S. military.

“Today, you know that if you’re in the Reserves, there’s a better chance than ever of your being deployed somewhere, sometime,’’ said Bishop-designate Listecki, who was himself getting ready to ship out for the Persian Gulf just as Operation Desert Storm ended.

The bishop-designate, who has been a chaplain for nearly 19 years and is in line for promotion to full colonel, said he first got interested in military ministry after meeting some American soldier/priests while studying in Rome.

“It appealed to my sense of patriotism, a desire to give something back to my country,’’ said Bishop-designate Listecki, who isn’t sure if he’ll be the Army’s only Catholic bishop if his new duties allow him to stay in the Reserves.

In the meantime, any question over how other chaplains are supposed to address a bishop in battle fatigues was quickly cleared up by Bishop-designate Listecki, Russell said.

“I asked, ‘Jerry, what do we call you now?’

“He said, ‘You call me Jerry, of course.’”

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