Bishop-designate Listecki and Cardinal George at the Nov. 7 announcement of his elevation. Photo: Catholic New World/Sandy Bertog Related Stories: Nothing comes between this brother and sister On the air: recalling radio days Lt. Col. Listecki has parishioners, too Friends, former students recall a tireless teacher

Joyous ordination slated for Jan. 8

By Mary Claire Gart
ASSISTANT EDITOR

Bishop-designate Jerome E. Listecki, pastor of St. Ignatius Parish, will be ordained to the episcopacy Jan. 8, the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, at Holy Name Cathedral. Cardinal George will be the consecrator and principal celebrant of the 2 p.m. Mass during which the new bishop will receive the office of teaching, governing and sanctifying.

Co-consecrators at the ceremony will be two former Chicagoans, Archbishop John G. Vlazny of Portland, Ore., and Archbishop James P. Keleher of Kansas City, Kan. Archbishop Vlazny formerly headed Niles College Seminary and Archbishop Keleher was rector of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary.

Concelebrants of the Mass will include approximately 35 other bishops, including the seven auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Chicago and some 200 priests. Father George Rassas, chairman of the Presbyteral Council, will present the bishop-designate at the ceremony.

The ordination rite will include the anointing of the bishop’s head, the presentation of the Book of the Gospels and the investiture with ring, mitre and pastoral staff. Attendance at the ceremony is by invitation only.

News of the elevation of the 51-year-old pastor to the episcopacy was announced by Cardinal George at a press conference Nov. 7. The cardinal said the new bishop would remain pastor of St. Ignatius Parish for the immediate future and later would take responsibility for one of the six vicariates or geographical regions that make up the Archdiocese of Chicago.

As an auxiliary bishop, he will assist Cardinal George in the pastoral administration of the archdiocese. He will also be the titular bishop of Nara.

The Chicago-born priest grew up on the Southeast Side of Chicago, where he attended St. Michael the Archangel School. He studied for the priesthood at Quigley Preparatory Seminary South, Niles College Seminary and St. Mary of the Lake Seminary. He was ordained May 14, 1975, and served as associate pastor of St. Margaret Mary Parish in his first assignment.

In 1976, he was named dean of students at Quigley Preparatory Seminary North. From 1979 to 1983, he studied canon law and moral theology in Rome, earning a licentiate and doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. He also holds a law degree from DePaul University.

After returning from Rome, he joined the faculty of the major seminary, where he taught moral theology for 17 years until being named pastor of St. Ignatius Parish this fall. He also has served as an appellate judge on the Matrimonial Tribunal and as in-house counsel for the archdiocese.

Bishop-designate Listecki has been a chaplain in the U.S. Army Reserves for more than 18 years. He also serves as chaplain for the Catholic Physicians Guild of Chicago, as a member of the Archdiocesan Medical Ethics Board and as associate liaison for health care under Auxiliary Bishop Edwin M. Conway.

Viewers of the “Mass for Shut-ins” will remember him as a frequent celebrant of the Mass when it aired on WGN-TV. In the late 1970s, he also hosted a radio program, “Catholic Conversations,” on WIND.