John Francis Kartje, 36

First assignment: St. Benedict, Chicago

Education: Our Lady of Grace, Highland, Ind.; Bishop Noll Institute, East Chicago, Ind.; University of Chicago

Parents: Maryann and Steve Kartje

First Mass: 11:15 a.m. May 19 at St. Clement, Chicago

John Kartje had an inkling he might have a vocation to the priesthood as an adolescent, at the end of elementary school and beginning of high school. But his family was not close to any priests, and he didn’t find many role models for the priesthood or religious life. He did find plenty of opportunities to pursue his other love, science. “There were lots of role models, and I could sort of picture what that life might be like,” he said.

So Kartje went to the University of Chicago, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in math and physics and a doctorate in astrophysics, and where he met Father Willard Jabusch, chaplain at Calvert House. In addition to inviting Kartje to serve as a lector, Jabusch asked him to be a minister of care at the University of Chicago Hospitals, a ministry Kartje found spiritually fulfilling.

“I gained a real appreciation for the power and the beauty of the sacramental life,” he said.

After working as an astrophysicist at the university for two years, Kartje faced a crossroads: take another academic position out of state, or seriously explore his vocation to the priesthood. With Jabusch’s encouragement, he entered Mundelein Seminary.

As a priest, Kartje hopes to help start a dialogue between faith and science, as a resource for the many Catholics who work in or study scientific fields. But his main goal is to help parishes use the energy of their ritual and sacramental life to reclaim the places they once held in neighborhood life. “It is realizable, in a contemporary and realistic way,” he said.

While the current focus on scandal makes for a difficult atmosphere, the possibility of reform has contributed to a lot of “reclaiming and revitalizing” of parishes, Kartje said.

And, after his years at Calvert House and Mundelein, he now has plenty of good religious priestly role models who have shared the wisdom.

“What they told me is that at times like this, more than ever, you need good women and men in ministry,” he said.

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