Obituaries

Chicago (Dec. 11, 2024) – Rev. Joseph C. Taylor, retired priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago and former associate pastor of St. Edward Parish on Sunnyside Avenue in Chicago, passed away Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, at the age of 97.

Taylor was born on April 7, 1927, in Chicago. He attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein.

Taylor was ordained to the priesthood on May 1, 1953, by Cardinal Samuel Stritch, and he celebrated his first solemn Mass on May 3 of the same year at St. Pascal Church in Chicago.

After ordination to the priesthood, Taylor was assistant pastor at the following parishes in Chicago: St. Thomas the Apostle Parish on Woodlawn Avenue, St. Maurice Parish on Hoyne Avenue, St. Cajetan Parish on 112th Street and St. Gabriel Parish on Wallace Street. He was also assistant pastor at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Wheeling before serving as pastor at St. Francis Xavier Parish on Nelson Avenue in Chicago.

Later, Taylor served as associate pastor at St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy Parish in Oak Park and St. Edward Parish. He retired in 1997.

Rev. Dominic Clemente, pastor at St. Edward Parish, remembered Taylor as a kind-hearted, humble and faithful priest. “He would attend Holy Mass daily, even when he couldn’t celebrate the Mass,” Clemente said. “He loved hearing confessions, anointing people and offering pastoral counseling. Being with people and celebrating the Sacraments are what gave him life.”

Rev. Michael J. Cronin, pastor emeritus of St. Edward Parish, said, "Fr. Joe will be remembered for his quiet, calm way, which included making people smile with his delightful, gentle sense of humor.” Cronin added that Taylor was “a wonderful priest, very generous and dedicated. Even throughout his retirement he was saying Masses and having confessions to help at the parish and he would say Masses and doing anointings of the sick at three different nursing homes. He kept up his ministry and was proud of his 71 years serving the archdiocese. I think that many people benefitted from his generosity and ministry.”

All funeral services will take place at St. Edward Parish, 4350 W. Sunnyside Avenue in Chicago. Visitation hours will be Thursday, Dec. 12 from 5 to 8 p.m., with a prayer service at 7 p.m., and Friday, Dec. 13 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. The funeral Mass will take place on Friday, Dec. 13 at 10:30 a.m. and will be celebrated by Most Rev. Robert G. Casey. Clemente will be the homilist. Interment will take place at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in River Grove.