Raymond E. Goedert via the Archdiocese of Chicago
CV NEWS FEED // Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Raymond Goedert of the Archdiocese of Chicago passed away on December 9 at 96 years old.
“As we grieve the death of Bishop Emeritus Raymond Goedert, we thank God for giving his servant to us and the Church for 71 years,” said Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, in his obituary.
“He served the archdiocese in a variety of roles: As pastor, notary, vicar general and as administrator of the archdiocese after Cardinal Bernardin died,” Cupich continued. “A friend to me and to so many and a caring brother to his siblings, he leaves this earth to be at the banquet of Our Lord. May his soul rest in peace.”
Cupich will preside at the funeral mass on the morning of December 18 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chciago. Fr. Scott Donahue, a friend of Goedert’s, will give the homily. Goedert will be buried in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in River Grove following the service.
Donahue worked with Goedert during the beginning of his own ministry
“A very good man has been called home to God,” he said of Goedert. “As a priest I have received many blessings in my life. One of the greatest blessings in my 42 years of being a priest is my friendship with Bishop Raymond Goedert.”
Goedert, born October 15, 1927, grew up in the Chicago area and attended seminary at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, a northern suburb of Chicago. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1952 and studied canon law in Rome.
Goedert survived a boat collision on his journey back to the U.S. As he rode the transatlantic ocean liner SS Andrea Doria home from Rome, the liner collided with a passenger ship, the Stolkholm, and sank about 200 miles from New York.
John Paul II appointed Goedert as an auxiliary bishop of Chicago in 1991, and Cardinal Joseph Bernardin consecrated him to the ministry on August 29 of that year.
He was vicar general of the archdiocese from 1995 until he retired in 2003, though he returned to the role for a brief period in 2004.