By Jim Wright

Photos courtesy Parish of Saint Joseph archives except where noted
Click on any of the photos for a larger version

Reverend Stephen P. Sullivan was appointed the fourth priest to serve St. Joseph Church on May 15, 1925. He would serve the parish as its pastor for the next 30 years, the longest tenure of any pastor in St. Joseph’s history.

Father Sullivan was born in Chicago December 26, 1880 and was one of 8 children of Patrick and Catherine Sullivan. He was ordained June 5, 1909 and had been educated at St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Indiana. Following his ordination, Father Sullivan served as assistant pastor at St. Stephen Church in Chicago (1909-1916), St. Matthew Church in Chicago (1916-1918) and Queen of Martyrs Church in Chicago (1918-1920). In May 1920, Father Sullivan assumed his first pastorate when he was appointed to that post at St. Joseph Church in Rockdale just south of Joliet. At that time, Rockdale was a part of the Archdiocese of Chicago and became a part of the Diocese of Joliet when that diocese was established in 1949. Father Sullivan served in Rockdale until 1925 when he was appointed pastor of St. Joseph Church in Homewood and its mission, St. Anne, in Hazel Crest.

When Father Sullivan came to Homewood, the village, like many towns across the country, was experiencing a period of rapid growth. Homewood’s prosperity was being fueled by Chicagoans looking to move to a small town with easy access to the city. With the electrification of the Illinois Central’s commuter trains in 1926, Homewood fit the bill perfectly.

St. Joseph’s experienced growth during this period also. New families joined the church and one of Father Sullivan’s first projects was to establish an elementary school for the children of the parish. Father Sullivan set about planning for the school shortly after his arrival in Homewood and began fundraising immediately. Within a year of coming to Homewood, construction began on a 6-room school just north of the church. As a testament to Father Sullivan’s energy and perseverance, the school opened its doors for classes on September 7, 1926 with 72 children enrolled under the supervision of 3 Dominican Sisters from Adrian, Michigan.

The 1920’s was also a decade that saw anti-Catholic sentiment surface in some areas of the south suburbs. Ku Klux Klan activity was reported in Chicago Heights and, according to some early parishioners, Homewood did not escape this harassment. Undaunted, Father Sullivan worked hard to forge relationships with pastors and members of all faiths in the village. In fact, without the financial support of the whole community, St. Joseph School would not have been able to be built in such a short period of time.

As the 1920’s gave way to the hardships of the Depression, Father Sullivan frequently was called upon to help those in need in the village regardless of their religious affiliation. Father Sullivan’s relief efforts further endeared him to all of those in the community. Perhaps the one event that helped melt away any of the divisions between Catholics and Protestants in town occurred in the early 1930’s. Father Sullivan, faced with the sudden cancellation of a speaker for the 8th grade graduation, extended an invitation to the pastor of the Lutheran church to give the commencement address. The minister readily accepted and differences between the faiths didn’t seem to matter much after that. Throughout his pastorate, Father Sullivan fostered this ecumenism and often met with ministers of other Homewood congregations over a cup of coffee to discuss a wide range of issues ranging from politics to religion and even to fishing.

As the Depression years merged into the war years, Father Sullivan continued to be a stalwart in the community. As the senior clergyman in the village, he regularly was asked to speak and give the invocation or benediction at wartime ceremonies or Memorial Day events. Under Father Sullivan’s leadership, parishioners generously supported war fund drives and the school children were no exception. Students at St. Joseph School demonstrated their patriotism by participating in these federal bond and stamps drives too and the school was awarded the Treasury Department’s Minute Man flag in May 1944 for exceptional efforts selling over $17,165 in war bonds and stamps. Ninety percent of the children at the school participated in these fundraising efforts by making weekly purchases of stamps or bonds. Money collected by the school was used to buy an army jeep, field ambulance and a trainer plane named Our Lady of Victory, which included a plate mounted in the cockpit inscribed with the schools name.

By 1953, as Father Sullivan was approaching his mid-70’s, the strain of singly shepherding a parish burgeoning with growth in the post-war years was beginning to take its toll. For the first time in his pastorate, an associate, Reverend Joseph F. Burke, was appointed to assist Father Sullivan at St. Joseph. With the help of Father Burke, Father Sullivan immersed himself into completing plans for modernizing the parish’s facilities, plans that had been on hold for over a decade. Under his direction and during the remaining years of his tenure at St. Joseph, Father Sullivan oversaw the construction of a large school addition, a new convent for the school sisters, a modern church building to accommodate the growing congregation and a new rectory for the parish priests.

Construction of the rectory, the last of the buildings to be built, was completed by June 1955. After this, Father Sullivan, content his mission in Homewood had been accomplished, announced his retirement. Father Sullivan left St. Joseph’s on June 20, 1955. As a tribute to the beloved pastor, hundreds of parishioners and members of the community attended a reception to wish him well and thank him for his leadership and friendship. Remarkably, Father Sullivan spent his last years at St. Joseph the same way he spent his first years at the parish, building modern facilities for the church and school that would serve for decades to come.

After retirement, Father Sullivan lived at Sacred Heart Sanitarium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was called to his eternal reward on July 14, 1961. Funeral services were held at St. Jerome Church in Chicago and Father Sullivan was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston, July 18, 1961.

A true servant to the Church, Father Sullivan is still fondly remembered after all these years by many older parishioners and residents of Homewood for his wit, generosity, faithfulness and service to the parish and the village.

(This is the third in a series of articles looking back at the history of The Parish of Saint Joseph.)

Back to history index

Click to print this page