On December 9, the 96-year-old Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Raymond Goedert of the Archdiocese of Chicago departed from this life.
The archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, wrote in his obituary, “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.”
Cupich went on, “He served the archdiocese in a number of roles: as pastor, notary, vicar general, and as the archdiocese’s administrator upon the death of Cardinal Bernardin. “A loving brother to his siblings and a friend to many, he departs this life to attend Our Lord’s banquet. May peace be upon his soul.
On December 9, the 96-year-old Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Raymond Goedert of the Archdiocese of Chicago departed from this life.
On December 18, in the morning, Cupich will preside over the funeral liturgy at Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral. The homily will be delivered by Goedert’s friend Fr. Scott Donahue. After the funeral, Goedert will be laid to rest in River Grove’s St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery.
Donahue assisted Goedert in the early years 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.”
Born in the Chicago region on October 15, 1927, Goedert attended the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, a northern suburb of Chicago, for seminary. In 1952, he received his priesthood ordination and traveled to Rome to study canon law. Goedert made it through a boat crash while returning to the United States. About 200 miles from New York, the transatlantic ocean liner SS Andrea Doria perished after colliding with the passenger ship Stolkholm while he was traveling from Rome.
Goedert was consecrated to the ministry on August 29, 1991, by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, following his appointment as an auxiliary bishop of Chicago by John Paul II. He served as the archdiocese’s vicar general from 1995 until his retirement in 2003, but he took a short leave of absence in 2004.