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March 2, 2008

He blends ‘war’ and peace into his ministry

By Dolores Madlener

STAFF WRITER

Interviewee

Father Robert J. Miller, pastor of St. Dorothy Parish, said he feels called to work in the inner city with the African-American community. Catholic New World/Natalie Battaglia

He is: Father Robert J. Miller, pastor of St. Dorothy Parish, 450 E. 78th St., since June 2006. Born May 31, 1950 in Grand Rapids, Mich., ordained a Redemptorist in 1976. Incardinated into Chicago as a diocesan priest May 1995. Has bachelor’s in philosophy, a masters in religious education and master’s of divinity. Web site: robertjmiller.net

Part of the old seminary system: At 14, he entered the Redemptorists, completing high school, college and graduate studies. He lived St. Alphonsus Parish here, 1981-1989, as part of the order’s mission team.

Childhood: He grew up in a very Catholic family, the oldest of four children. “My dad took up flying before there was an air force. He loved it.” But dad settled down as a business machine repairman and got married. His mom was a secretary in a Grand Rapids law firm where (future president) Gerald Ford worked.

Priests weren’t strangers: “Probably the most significant factor in my vocation was I saw clergy around our house in a friendly way. My mother’s brother was a priest; her sister was a nun. My father’s four cousins were Redemptorist priests.”

Life is a learning process: Some time after ordination, “I got involved with Catholic Charismatic Renewal and for the first time, I made a conscious decision to serve the Lord. I had been a good Christian Catholic but hadn’t really accepted the Lord. That day turned my life around and focused me on my single-minded vocation to put Jesus in the center of my life.”

Second event: Around age 40, being incardinated a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, he felt “called to follow the Lord by serving the African-American community in the inner city.” He’s served at St. Joachim on the South Side and became administrator at Holy Angels in Bronzeville. “I took a sabbatical 10 years later, and went to Notre Dame to write my sixth book, about the Civil War and religion.”

Other books: His lectio divina series: “Surprised by Love,” “Falling into Faith,” and “Fire in the Deep,” have a meditation for each Sunday’s readings, with applications for life to be “chewed on.” They’ve also been called homily helpers for clergy.

Why a Civil War book? “It’s part of my crazy background — I love history. I’ve taught church history in lay ministry and deacon formation programs for 15 years.” As a Civil War buff, he’s traveled to Civil War battle fields, and is past president of the Chicago Civil War Round Table. “In reading all the important books on the war I wondered ‘what about the religion of the people who fought, and the people who brought the country to war in the first place?’ There was nothing out there.”

No stranger to ‘war fare’: When he was at Holy Angels, there were gunshots in the neighborhood every other night. “I stumbled into community involvement. Due to our location, it was obvious gentrification was coming.” He came to realize, “If we wanted to make a difference, we had to provide affordable places for our people to live.” Genesis Housing Development Corp. began in 1996. “We had three goals: build affordable housing, provide homeowner and financing education and offer job training for youth.”

Genesis today: “Genesis has grown immensely. Originally just a little office with another volunteer and me, it’s grown into over a million-dollar organization with a staff of six people. We’ve built over 43 homes, and educated thousands of people.” It is now a partnership of five churches and expanding to other wards. “It is one of the four leading not-forprofits in the City of Chicago.”

Motto: “All for Jesus.”