Polish American Priests Association News

October 21, 2009

Fr. Edmund Siedlecki dies

Catholic World

CHICAGO--Father Edmund J. Siedlecki, a pastor and assistant pastor for more than 30 years on Chicago's Northwest Side, died Sept. 27, at Condell Medical Center in Libertyville of heart failure. He was 82 years old and retired from active ministry since 1997.

Father Siedlecki was born in Cicero and graduated from St. Casimir School and Quigley Preparatory Seminary. He was ordained in 1952 and continued at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary for post-graduate studies until 1956. He then begin an eight-year term as assistant pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish.

From 1964 to 1971, he served as assistant pastor at two more Northwest Side parishes, St. James (1964-68) and St. Eugene (1968-71). For the next three years, he served as pastor at St. Susanna Parish in Harvey, which is now closed.

For 13 years beginning in 1975, Father Siedlecki was the pastor of St. Wenceslaus Parish. He was pastor for one year at St. Helen Parish before being named pastor of Five Holy Martyrs Parish on the Southwest Side in Brighton Park in 1990, where he served until 1997. For one year (1996-97) he was administrator of the Cardinal Stritch Retreat House in Mundelein. Father Siedlecki retired from active ministry in 1997 and was named pastor emeritus of Five Holy Martyrs Parish.

In 1975, he was named chairman of the archdiocesan Liturgical Commission. He was a lecturer at Niles College and graduate studies advisor at Mundelein Seminary. In addition to his parish duties, Father Siedlecki was the chaplain at Prosser High School for a period beginning in 1964. In the 1980s he was a dean in the area of Vicariate III that covered parts of Chicago's Northwest Side, a senator on the archdiocese's Presbyteral Senate and served on the archdiocese's Board of Consultors.

Father Siedlecki was responsible for the Polish Pastoral Plan prepared for the Polish American Priests Association (PAPA) and authored a Polish-English catechism that was never published. It is available for anyone who would want to publish it.