Little Sister of the Poor Vincent (Mary Catherine) O’Neill, 100, died Dec. 28, 2022, in Palatine.

Born in Philadelphia, she professed temporary vows in her community in 1944 and perpetual vows in 1950. During her religious life of 78 years, she served the elderly poor with devotion.

She spent 47 of those years in the Archdiocese of Chicago, serving at both St. Mary’s Home in Chicago and St. Joseph’s Home in Palatine. 

Deacon Ismael Pineiro, 78, died Dec. 20, 2022. He was ordained in 1983 and had served outside the Archdiocese of Chicago for many years.

Deacon Pineiro was born in Puerto Rico, one of 14 children. He married his wife, Virginia, in 1968, and they had three children.

After he was ordained a deacon, he served at St. Peter Canisius Parish and later in Clermont, Florida.

His wife predeceased him. He is survived by his children Ismael Jr., Laura and Maria; seven grandchildren; and his siblings Francisca, Ana, Mercedes, Carmen, Marta, Ana Maria, Laura, Juan, Domingo, Luis and Martin Jr.

Benedictine Sister Margarita Walters, 83, died Nov. 20, 2022, in St. Joseph Court Infirmary.

Sister Margarita was born in New York and moved with her family to Wilmette, where she attended St. Joseph School. After graduating, she enrolled at St. Scholastica High School and graduated in 1956.

Shortly after Sister Margarita finished high school, she moved to California and spent the greater part of her adult life there. She was married and eventually widowed. As her five children grew to adulthood, her success in the business world began to be less important to her than a yearning for a deeper relationship with God. After she tested that call with short memberships in the Carmelites and a small Italian community, she finally entered St. Scholastica Monastery in 1995.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Margarita served as director of alumnae relations for St. Scholastica Academy High School, director of the development office for the school, and following her profession of vows, the vocation minister for the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago.

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Barbara (Rosellen) Sheehy, 91, died Nov. 28, 2022, in Hazel Green, Wisconsin.

Born in Chicago, Sister Barbara made her first religious profession in 1951 and her perpetual profession in 1954. She was a teacher, principal and diocesan assistant superintendent, and she helped develop and lead a workplace computer training program. She ministered in the District of Columbia, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, Illinois and Massachusetts.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Barbara was principal at Queen of Peace, Burbank (1973-1986).

Divine Word Brother George Haegele, 75, who worked in accounting and business administration for the Society of the Divine Word for decades, died Dec. 3 , 2022, in Techny.

Born in Chicago, Brother George grew up in St. Sabina Parish. He professed first vows in 1968 and perpetual vows in 1974.

He served as treasurer for Divine Word Seminary in Perrysburg, Ohio; business manager for the Divine Word community in Pittsburgh; and treasurer for the Society of the Divine Word New Jersey District.

He worked as a bookkeeper for the Divine Word Missionaries at Bordentown, New Jersey, and in pastoral care in East Troy, Wisconsin. He also served as chairman of the Society of the Divine Word Chicago Province Budget Committee and as a member of the province’s Finance Committee.

Brother George retired in Techny in 2017.

Divine World Father Mark Weber, 68, died Dec. 14, 2022, in Chicago. Father Weber served two terms as his community’s provincial and was its general secretary for formation and education internationally. He also served as a missionary in Ghana.

“Mark was an advocate for those in need, a leader who preferred working with his hands rather than governing with a pen,” said Divine Word Father Roger Schroeder, Louis J. Luzbetak, SVD professor of mission and culture at Catholic Theological Union, and a good friend of Father Weber.

Born in Iowa, Father Weber was ordained to the priesthood in 1982, He spent almost eight years in West Africa: two years as a seminarian and six years as a missionary priest. In 1983, he became chaplain and teacher at St. Paul Technical School in Kukurantumi, Ghana. By 1989, tropical illnesses, such as malaria and typhoid, took a toll on him and he returned to the United States.

Upon his return, he joined the staff of the 8th Day Center for Justice in Chicago. For most of the 1990s, Father Weber worked on the formation staff of Divine Word Theologate in Chicago and eventually was named rector.

After his time there, Father Weber served St. Anselm Parish in Chicago’s Washington Park neighborhood. Divine Word Missionaries have staffed the predominantly African American parishes of St. Anselm and St. Elizabeth (now among the former parishes united as Our Lady of Africa Parish) since before World War II. Father Weber lived and worked at the parish for five years, including three as pastor.

In 2005 and 2008, Father Weber was elected as Chicago provincial. When Father Weber’s second term as provincial superior ended, the religious order’s international leaders chose him as the generalate’s secretary for formation and education. His one request when accepting the position was to make his base at St. Anselm Parish in Chicago instead of Rome. In the role as formation and education secretary, he traveled the world to meet with Divine Word formation directors and candidates and to improve the congregation’s formation and education processes.

He is survived by four sisters: Jeanne Kluesner, Ann Their, Joan Weber and Marilyn Mootz; and a brother, Michael Weber.

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Joann (Antonia) Feist, 88, died Dec. 6, 2022, in Hazel Green, Wisconsin.

Born in Bloomington, Sister Joann made her first religious profession in 1954 and her perpetual profession in 1957.

She taught for 46 years at all levels of formal education and in community adult learning centers, specializing in teaching science and computer skills. Sister Joann also served as a chaplain for one year and in fundraising for five years. Sister Joann served in Wisconsin, Illinois, Montana, Nebraska, Alaska, Alabama and the District of Columbia.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Joann taught at St. Luke, River Forest (1956-1961 and 1976-1979); St. Barnabas (1965-1968 and 1989-1990); Unity Catholic High School (1980-1983, 1984-1985 and 1986-1988); Mother McAuley High School (1988-1989); Sts. Faith, Hope and Charity, Winnetka (1991-1994) and St. Thomas More (1997-1998). She ministered as a teacher at Maria Shelter (1994-1997) and Connections Adult Learning Center, now the Learning Center, (2000); and as a teacher and grant administrator at Malcolm X College (1998-1999). She worked in the Development Office at the Mission of Our Lady of Mercy Home (2000-2005). 

She is survived by a sister, Genevieve Feist, and a brother, Bill Feist.

Deacon Frank Beil, 88, died Nov. 26 at his home in Glenview. He was ordained in 1984 and served at St. Catherine Laboure Parish in Glenview and St. Isaac Jogues Parish in Niles.

Born in Cleveland, he moved with his family to Oak Park as a child. After high school, he worked at his family’s furniture store and served in the U.S. Army.

He married his first love, Joan Ann Swinhart, while in the service in 1957. They had five children before she died 13 years later.

He met his second wife, Carolyn Elaine Wenzel, through the NAIM support group for Catholic widows and widowers. Deacon Beil adopted his new wife’s son, she adopted his children and they had one child together. At the time of his death, they had been married 51 years.

Deacon Beil worked in sales for Fruehauf and Pitney Bowes prior to starting his own business with his wife Carolyn.

In addition to his work at St. Catherine Laboure and St. Isaac Jogues, he trained as a chaplain at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge and served as a chaplain at Resurrection Hospital.

Deacon Beil is survived by his wife, Carolyn, and six of his children: Julie Migacz, Laura Deters, Mark Beil, Brian Beil, Gene Beil, and David Beil-Adaskin; 12 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and his brother, David Beil.

Mercy Sister Rosalie (Carlita) FitzPatrick, 97, died Sept. 7 at Mercy Circle.

Born in Chicago, Sister Rosalie was a member of her congregation for 80 years. She taught math for 34 years at Saint Xavier University and for four years at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island. She also taught at Mercy High School; Queen of Martyrs; St. Xavier Academy; Immaculate Conception; Little Flower; St. Cecilia; St. Rose of Lima.

After retiring in 1995, she tutored at Mercy Girls Home and served as a minister care at St. Germaine Parish, Oak Lawn.

She is survived by her brother, Larry.

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Cecilia (Elianne) Davis, 82, died Nov. 17 in Hazel Green, Wisconsin.

Born in Nebraska, Sister Cecilia made her first religious profession in 1960 and her perpetual profession in 1965. She was a teacher and assistant principal, and cared for a family member. Sister Cecilia served in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Cecilia taught at St. Vincent Ferrer, River Forest (1970-1976); St. Giles, Oak Park (1976-1982), where she was also unit coordinator; St. Eulalia, Maywood (1986-1987); and Mary, Seat of Wisdom, Park Ridge (1987-1996). She was assistant principal at St. Domitilla, Hillside (1985-1986), and cared for a family member in River Forest (1999-2003).

Sister Cecilia is survived by a sister, Joan Hill, and a brother, Frank Davis.

Divine Word Father John “Jack” Farley, 90, died Nov. 17.

Born in Massachusetts, he entered the Society of the Divine Word in 1946 and professed religious vows in 1952. He was ordained a priest in 1960.

Despite his wish to serve overseas, after ordination, he was assigned to serve as assistant mission director for the Mission Office at Techny. He was editor of Missionary Youth magazine and director of the Latin America Office of the Divine Word Mission Office for 11 years.

He led a Divine Word Seminary in Perrysburg, Ohio, for five years before returning to Techny as director of programs and being charged with renovating the former St. Mary’s Seminary, turning it into Techny Towers Conference and Retreat Center and creating Divine Word International, a museum that featured missionary work around the world and believed to be the only museum of its kind.

In 1980, upon completion of the renovation, he asked for a pastoral assignment and served as a retreat director in Massachusetts; as a seminary director in Washington, D.C.; and as a staff member for a parish renewal program with assignments in Nigeria, Ghana, India and the Philippines.

Father Farley retired in Techny in 2015.

He is survived by his twin sister, Notre Dame Sister Joan Farley.

Divine Word Father Richard Thibeau, 93, died Nov. 17.

Born in New York, he began his studies with the Divine Word Missionaries in 1943; professed vows in 1949; and was ordained to the priesthood in Techny in 1957.

For the first three decades of his priesthood, he served as pastor, teacher and overall general contractor in the United States, finding new ways to use the society’s buildings.

In 1988, Father Thibeau received his first foreign mission assignment, which took him to Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he served in an administrative capacity and built several parishes. Father Thibeau also provided pastoral care for the Zapotecas people in the Sierra Juarez Mountains. For this assignment, he needed more than his knowledge of Spanish; he learned Zapotecan, the language of the indigenous people.

During his years in San Juan Bautista Parish in San Juan Yaeé, Oaxaca, he was the only priest for a population of about 7,000, and he recognized the need for a medical facility. To reach the nearest hospital, residents had to travel five hours down the mountainside. To remedy this problem, Father Thibeau built Our Madonna of the Rosary Medical Center in Oaxaca.

In 2016, Father Thibeau moved to Divine Word Residence at Techny and continued his missionary ministries. From a distance and well into his 90s, he supported missionary projects in Mexico, including Instituto Infantil Teresita School in Morelos.

Dominican Friar Richard John (John Francis) Woods, 81, died Nov. 19 in Tallaght, Ireland, where he had been hospitalized for several months due to brain and neck injuries resulting from falls.

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he entered the Dominican novitiate in 1962 and professed simple vows in 1963. He earned bachelor’s (1964) and master’s (1966) degrees from the Dominican House of Philosophy at St. Thomas Priory in River Forest, and made his solemn vows in 1966.

In 1969, he was ordained to the priesthood after earning a master’s degree in theology from the Aquinas Institute of Theology in Iowa.

Following his ordination, Father Woods began doctoral studies at Loyola University Chicago, receiving a Ph.D. in the philosophy of religion in 1978. Among many other awards and honors, he received the honorary Master of Sacred Theology from the Dominican Order in 2000.

He taught at numerous institutions throughout the United States, including the Institute of Pastoral Studies of Loyola University Chicago and, from 2000-2022, Dominican University in River Forest. From 1991-1997, he was also a visiting tutor and lecturer at Blackfriars Hall, the University of Oxford, England.

Father Woods was a prolific producer of books articles, and lectures in professional journals and societies. His interest in and contribution to scholarship included spirituality and mysticism, sexuality, the Celtic harp (which he played masterfully), Celtic studies, the occult and Meister Eckhart. He also wrote or contributed to five volumes of fiction.

Father Robert J. Roll, 71, died Nov. 21. He was the former pastor of three parishes.

Born in Chicago, Father Roll attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary, Niles College and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary before being ordained in 1977.

He was associate pastor of St. Constance, St. Cornelius, St. Josephine Bakhita and St. Giles. He was pastor of Sts. Peter & Paul Parish, St. Maurice Parish and St. Bride Parish. He also served as a dean for three years, 1998 to 2001. He retired in 2021.

Dominican Sister of Peace Joan Monica McGuire, 90, died Nov. 21 in Kentucky.

Sister Joan served in the Archdiocese of Chicago as director of the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs from 1987-1992 and from 1996 until she retired in 2013. 

Early in her tenure as director, she was very involved in establishing a covenant relationship between the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Archdiocese of Chicago. Sister Joan led the procession on Oct. 31, 2017, when Cardinal Cupich renewed this covenant with Bishop Wayne Miller of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod on the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Sister Joan was a delegate of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s Chicago Catholic-Jewish Dialogue visit to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and under the leadership of Cardinal Francis George, she co-directed “A Pilgrimage of Love” to Constantinople and Rome.

While serving in the archdiocese, Sister Joan was an instructor in the Institute of Pastoral Leadership at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein. She also served as a member of the joint working group of the World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission and as co-chair of the Illinois Council of Churches.

Sister Joan was instrumental in making the 1993 convening of the Parliament of the World’s Religions a reality and remained deeply involved in the parliament’s work for many years.

“Sister Joan was a wise, humble and compassionate leader who worked tirelessly to build lasting relationships among Christians and with people of the world’s religions,” said Susan Pudelek, assistant director of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s EIA Office. “She will be deeply missed by those who came to know and work with her. We all benefit today from her legacy of faithful leadership in the name of Jesus.”

As a testimony to her remarkable contributions to ecumenical and interreligious relations, the archdiocesan EIA Office named an award in her honor, which recognizes outstanding contributions to local Christian and interreligious dialogue.

“For more than three decades, Sister Joan McGuire expertly directed ecumenical and interreligious affairs for the Archdiocese of Chicago,” said Dan Olsen, director of the EIA Office. “Her pioneering and exemplary work helped build the deep relationships among religious communities in Chicago that persist to this day. The interreligious fabric of Chicago has forever been changed for the better because of Sister Joan.”

Born in Nebraska, Sister Joan entered the Dominican Congregation in 1955 and professed final vows in 1958 at St. Catharine, Kentucky.

She taught at St. Michael, Orland Park, and Academy of Our Lady.  She was elected president of the former Dominican Sisters of St. Catharine from 1972 to 1980 and served on their leadership board from 1992 to 1996.

In 2014, Sister Joan moved to St. Catharine Motherhouse, where she provided community service. In 2017, she moved to Sansbury Care Center, also in St. Catharine, where she began a ministry of prayer and presence.

BVM Sister Bernadette Marie (David Ann) Schvach, BVM, 92, died Nov. 10 in Iowa.

Born in Chicago, she entered the BVM congregation in 1948, from St. Frances of Rome Parish, Cicero. She professed first vows in 1951 and final vows in 1956.

Sister Bernadette was an elementary teacher in Chicago and Berwyn as well as in Iowa, Colorado and Kauai, Hawaii, where she also served as principal.

Servite Father Philip M. McGlynn, 84, died Nov. 12.

Born in Chicago, he entered the Servite Order in Hillside and completed his religious formation in Wisconsin, Northern Ireland, and Illinois and professed solemn vows in 1962. 

Father McGlynn was ordained a priest in 1965 and served in various parish and educational ministries primarily in the Archdiocese of Chicago, including pastor of his home parish, Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica Parish, from 1973 to 1982. He also served as an instructor at St. Philip High School (1966-1968), St. Patrick High School (1970-1973), Notre Dame High School (1984-1990), and as director of the Servite Development Office (1990-2006). In retirement, he assisted in various nursing homes and parishes in the Chicago area.

He is survived by siblings Marianne McGlynn, John McGlynn and Providence Sister Patricia McGlynn.

Providence Sister Regina Ann (Mary Regina) Lynch, 91, died Nov. 15 in St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana.

Born in Indianapolis, she entered the Sisters of Providence in 1948 and professed final vows in 1955.

Of her 74 years as a Sister of Providence, she ministered in elementary education, as a nurse’s aide and as a volunteer in health care in Indiana, Illinois and North Carolina.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at Our Lady of Mercy, Chicago (1950-1955).

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Vicki Lauria, 93, died Nov. 17 in Footville, Wisconsin.

Born in Albany, New York, Sister Vicki made her first profession as a Dominican Sister of Kenosha in 1957 and her perpetual profession in 1976. In 1997, she transferred her religious vows to the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. Sister Vicki taught, was a novice director, was a general councilor and cared for family and loved ones in Illinois, New Mexico, Wisconsin, California and New York.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Vicki taught at Providence of God.

Sister of Christian Charity Bernadette (Virginia) Voss, 81, died Nov. 19 Sacred Heart Convent, Wilmette.

Born in Evanston, she entered the Sisters of Christian Charity in 1960, made her first vows in 1963 and made her final vows in 1969.

Sister Bernadette served as portress in the motherhouse in Wilmette and as homemaker at St. Raphael Convent in Chicago and Sacred Heart Convent in Wilmette.

From 1980 to 1995 Sister Bernadette ministered in St. Louis.

In 1996, Sister Bernadette moved to Josephinum Convent, where she helped with ministry to the poor and taught religious education. After three years in Tucson, Arizona, she returned to Josephinum. From 2003 until 2008, Sister Bernadette served in pastoral ministry and religious education and was a eucharistic minister at St. Elizabeth Hospital.

In 2009, she suffered a stroke; she moved to Sacred Heart Convent, where she embarked on her ministry of prayer and presence.