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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING BISHOP JOHN GORMAN FOR HIS 70 YEARS AS A CATHOLIC PRIEST
WHEREAS, John Robert Gorman was born on December 11, 1925, and is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church; and
WHEREAS, Bishop John Gorman was ordained a priest in 1952, when Harry S. Truman was president of the United States and Venerable Pius XII was pope; and
WHEREAS, he served as Assistant Pastor at St. Odilo in Berwyn, St. Andrew, and St. Nicholas of Tolentine Parishes in Chicago; and
WHEREAS, he began teaching at Quigley, and then Niles College Seminary, where he became chairman of the psychology department; and
WHEREAS, he served on the faculty of Loyola University Chicago’s Institute of Pastoral Studies, teaching summer school at the University of Notre Dame; and
WHEREAS, his active ministry spanned five decades, the ministries of five popes, and included 14 years as the Pastor of St. Michael Parish in Orland Park, eight years as Rector/President of the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, and served as director of the Department of Parish/Pastoral Services; and
WHEREAS, as a Bishop, he served as Vicar for Vicariate I, which includes much of northwest suburban Cook County and Lake County, and Vicariate V, which takes in a large swath of the Southwest Side and the southwest suburbs; and
WHEREAS, Cardinal Bernadine summoned Bishop Gorman from St. Michael to lead the Archdiocese’s department that handled services to parishes. While in that role, Pope John Paul II named him an Auxiliary Bishop; and
WHEREAS, Bishop Gorman turned 95 on December 11, 2020, and is now the oldest Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago, having retired from active ministry in 2003; and
WHEREAS, he celebrated that birthday with his fellow priests in the rectory at Our Lady of the Woods in Orland Park, opening hundreds of birthday cards sent there by parishioners; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Cook County Board of Commissioners does hereby honor Bishop John Gorman in recognition of his extensive contributions over 70 years as a Catholic priest, leading by example and challenging his peers to develop their abilities to be compassionate and understanding, being always present for people; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a suitable copy of this Resolution be tendered to Bishop John Gorman as a means of communicating our deepest gratitude and well wishes.
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