Priest who served Streamwood, Round Lake promoted ministry in Spanish

Rev. Donald J. Lund, who served parishes in Streamwood and Round Lake and who promoted the importance of services in Spanish, died Oct. 29, at Woods Crossing in Brodhead, Wisconsin., where he had lived near his family since his retirement in 2010. He was 74 years old.

Rev. Edward Gleason, who knew Lund from 1959, said the soft-spoken priest spoke Spanish fluently after enhancing his language skills in Mexico.

And Rev. Michael Ahlstrom, a classmate of Lund's through 12 years of seminary, said Lund inspired him to learn the Spanish language and culture, which led Ahlstrom to begin a ministry to Spanish-speaking faithful when he became a pastor of St. Colette in Rolling Meadows in 1989.

"He always cared for the marginalized," said Rev. Michael Ahlstrom, vicar emeritus for deacons and administrator of Divine Infant Jesus in Westchester. "He was a quiet individual, but one thing that angered him was hypocrisy and those who lorded it over others.

"What I will always remember about Father Don is his love for ordinary people and his humble demeanor," Ahlstrom said in a news release from the Archdiocese of Chicago.

After ordination in 1969, Lund served in a number of parishes, including St. John the Evangelist Parish in Streamwood from 1976 to 1982 and as associate pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Round Lake from 2003 to 2010, when he retired due to a very serious hearing loss.

"He was a very dedicated priest who realized early on the need for priests who spoke Spanish," Auxiliary Bishop Francis J. Kane, who knew Lund for almost 60 years, said in the news release. "He spent his life serving parishes that were often very poor."

Lund, Ahlstrom and Gleeson were part of a group of 16 classmates who bought a cottage in Michigan City, Indiana, as a getaway for physical and spiritual renewal.

"We would go every week during the summertime and spend a day at the cottage to swim, have lunch, sit around and talk," Gleason said in the news release of the camaraderie that developed in the group.

Services for Lund, who was born in Chicago, were Friday in Durand, Illinois.