St. Joseph Joliet pastor Father Tim Andres says goodbye

The Rev. Tim Andres will say what is likely to be his last Mass in Joliet on Sunday at St. Joseph’s Church, where he has been pastor for the past 12 years.

Andres’ departure from Joliet is part of the consolidation that is occurring in the Diocese of Joliet as a number of churches close and parishes are being merged to deal with declining church attendance and the aging of the priesthood.

Andres himself, dependent on a walker because of health ailments, depicts the challenges the church faces, although he remains as fierce in his faith as when he came to Joliet in 1982 as a young Carmelite teacher at what was then Joliet Catholic High School.

“I feel fine,” Andres said during an interview at his office at the St. Joseph priory. “I love to teach and to preach. Those are two gifts given to me.”

Andres, now 67 and three years away from the retirement age for Catholic priests, will retire and live at his family home in South Holland after saying Mass at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

He acknowledges his physical limitations will prohibit him from coming back to Joliet to officiate at weddings and funerals for families with whom he has become close after so many years in the city.

“Really, it’s not easy for me to get around,” he said. “I don’t like calling people for help.”

Andres asked to remain at St. Joseph’s, saying it offered an opportunity for him to continue in the priesthood in his last years. He can move between the priory and the church next door. Beyond that, even getting to the car to drive can be an incredible challenge.

The Diocese of Joliet decided to make a clean break in the attempt to create a new parish, a decision that Andres said he accepts, although it’s evident not willingly.

“You can’t fight city hall, and you can’t fight the bishop,” he said of the decision to merge St. Joseph into a new parish in which the seat would be at St. Mary Magdalene Church.

That decision has been appealed by St. Joseph parishioners and remains under consideration by the Vatican.

In the meantime, however, Andres will leave Joliet.

Deep Joliet connections

It’s a city where Andres first taught high school students. He came back in 1997 as a teacher and then was principal at the new Joliet Catholic Academy from 1998 to 2002. He later taught grade school students at St. Joseph’s former parish school before becoming pastor.

Andres, however, dates his Joliet roots back to the 1930s, when his great-uncle, the Rev. Terence Fitzgerald, came to teach as the Carmelite order took over the former De La Salle High School when it was renamed Joliet Catholic High School.

“He was the first Carmelite to walk into Catholic High in 1933,” Andres said.

Despite his reluctance to leave Joliet, Andres said he strives to practice what he preaches and show the obedience that is expected from priests and all Catholics.

“That’s part of my life and part of all priests’ lives,” he said. “We’re expected to be obedient. We preach this in homilies.”

Andres grew up on the South Side of Chicago, a part of his biography that he often incorporates into sermons telling about the influence of his mother and father and their strong Catholic faith.

His first assignment as a novitiate yet to be ordained in the Carmelite order was to teach at the old Joliet Catholic High School, which was located in downtown Joliet and was a boys-only school.

“I had no interest in teaching, but the Carmelites tell you where you’re going to go,” Andres said. “I fell in love with teaching.”

It was one of his early lessons that obedience can lead to enlightenment. Andres also never wanted to be a pastor before he was given the assignment at St. Joseph’s.

“I was offered the pastorship three times, and I turned it down twice because I wanted to keep teaching,” Andres said.

During the course of his educational career, Andres was principal at both what is now Joliet Catholic Academy and Mount Carmel High School in Chicago.

Being an administrator was not something that he sought, but Andres believes he has done it well. He said St. Joseph’s Church was $1.1 million in debt when he became pastor, and it now has a $1 million surplus.

“That’s because of the generosity of the people,” he said. “The parish is in good shape.”

Proud of the parish

While Andres bows to the decision of the diocese to end St. Joseph as a parish, he’s not sure the Diocese of Joliet understands what the parish means to the people, especially those of Slovenian heritage, who built the church.

He points to the limestone church and the beauty of its interior, reflecting the commitment of the European immigrants who devoted themselves to building a church that would reflect their faith.

“Can you see building this place in 1903?” he said. “They built this edifice. That’s an incredible accomplishment. People love this place. I think that’s something the diocese doesn’t understand – any diocese.”

Neither the church building nor the priest who served as its pastor should be the reason people come to Mass, Andres said.

“You’re here because of Jesus Christ,” he said. “You’re here to be fed by Christ.”

Still, he said, the church says something about the devotion of the people who built it.

“You experience God’s beauty because of the beauty of the building,” he said. “That’s why they built places like this. You experience God’s mystery by being here.”

As for Andres, he leaves Joliet with appreciation for what the city has done for him.

“I have incredibly fond memories and friendships,” he said. “I became a teacher here. I really became a man here.”