A Letter from Fr. Tim

Dear Friends,
 
On Sunday, October1^st, Bishop Kevin Birmingham, one of the Auxiliary Bishops for the Archdiocese of Chicago and the new Vicar of Vicariate VI, was present to congratulate volunteers from his Vicariate, along with newly retired Bishop Perry, at the Chritstifideles Award Liturgy at Holy Name Cathedral, which honors volunteers from parishes across the Archdiocese. While I saw him there, I didn’t get a chance to speak with him, as he and other Vicars departed right after the liturgy to head to a dinner for the Permanent Deacons for the Archdiocese of Chicago. That night, Bishop Birmingham passed away very unexpectedly in his sleep. He was just shy of his 52^nd birthday and had been a bishop for three years.
 
I had known Bishop Birmingham for several years. I served on the Priest Placement Board for four years before the pandemic, and our meetings were held most Fridays from Labor Day until Memorial Day at the Pastoral Center downtown. As we were there all day, we had lunch catered in and they were usually great lunches. Then Fr. Birmingham was Secretary for Cardinal Cupich, so as soon as he smelled lunch, he’d come down from his office and join us for the meal. We had many conversations together about his golf game, plans for the weekend and his unfortunate baseball allegience (Bishop was a Sox fan, I’m a Cubs fan). It was all in good fun! He would also be my connection to the Cardinal on the rare occasion that I would need the Cardinal’s help with something.
 
When I became administrator of St. Matthew and St. Hubert Parish, the Vicariate boundaries had been re-drawn on July 1, so I discovered that Bishop Birmingham would be the new Vicar for Fr. Matt and me and the rest of the newly formed parish. I was grateful for that because I knew he would make a very good Vicar.
 
Shortly thereafter, Bishop Birmingham had lunch with Fr. Matt and me just to get to know Fr. Matt a little better and to find out how he could be of assistance to us. It was a very pleasant lunch and Fr. Matt and I were both grateful he would take the time from his busy schedule to be with us. 
 
We were both sad to hear he was moving to Vicariate VI when Bishop Perry retired, but happy for “his people,” as he described them – he was a native son of the far south reaches of the diocese.
 
Imagine our shock when Fr. Matt received a text from a friend letting us know that he had passed away during the night on October 2^nd, which also happens to be my Mom’s birthday, who has been with Jesus for almost 15 years. Neither of us could believe that he had died so suddenly and unexpectedly. It was an eerie reminder of the unexpected passing of Fr. Mike the beginning of August.
 
Bishop Birmingham’s funeral was on Saturday, October 7^th. Please pray for the repose of his soul, and please pray for the Holy Father, that he will name worthy successors to Bishops Birmingham, Perry and Wypych. Bishop Wypych also recently retired.
 
As I write this column on Sunday, the news is still very fresh of the war that has been declared between Hamas and Israel. Hundreds of people have been killed, many of them civilians, and scores more abducted. Please pray for peace in the Middle East, Ukraine and anywhere else in the world that conflict exists. On October 7^th, we celebrated the feast of Our Lady, Queen of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady, Queen of Peace. May the Blessed Mother intercede on our behalf and help those at war discover a means to peace and an end to the violence that tears people apart.
 
May God bless you all.
 
       Fr. Tim Fairman