Priest offered comfort quietly to his parishioners

On the very day that terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001, the Rev. Ronald Folger began a new class teaching adults interested in becoming Catholics at his parish, St. Peter's Church in Antioch.

One of those in the class, Bill Lamb, still remembers that of the dozen or so adults enrolled, they all had the same thought.

"We all turned to each other that night, and thought, 'Gosh, I think we need to be here,'" Lamb recalls.

As the main instructor of the program, and a longtime priest with the Archdiocese of Chicago, Fr. Folger offered them comfort as much as he did knowledge about the Catholic faith, Lamb said.

"He just seemed to connect with people," Lamb adds, "in an old-school kind of way that was never condescending, but easygoing and comfortable."

Fr. Folger passed away Aug. 29 at the St. Benedict Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Niles after a 41-year career in the priesthood. He was 67.

For more than 40 years, Fr. Folger ministered to parishioners throughout the Archdiocese of Chicago. In all, he served as an associate pastor at seven parishes in Chicago, and suburban Cook and Lake counties.

His assignments began in 1967 at St. John Brébeuf in Niles before taking him in 1974 to St. Daniel the Prophet in Chicago, and then to St. Joseph in Round Lake in 1979.

Fr. Folger then served at Transfiguration Church in Wauconda from 1984 to 1989, before moving to Queen of the Rosary Parish in 1989 in Elk Grove Village, St. Joseph in Libertyville and ultimately to St. Peter's in Antioch in 1999, where he served out his ministry.

"He was very quiet and didn't like to be in the spotlight," says the Rev. Ronald Anglim, St. Peter pastor, "but when anyone needed counseling or consolation after a loss, he was right there."

Parishioners in Elk Grove still remember Fr. Folger and his involvement in religious education, particularly with the teens.

Among his many duties, Fr. Folger served as adviser to the teen group, called Christians in Action. Beyond being a valuable resource to the adult moderators, parishioners said he connected with the teens.

"They respected his quietness and appreciated his interest in them," says Bill Shannon, group coordinator.

Teens also were drawn to Fr. Folger's adeptness on the computer. In fact, parishioners recall that he was the first to file church information online, and he even designed a new cover for their weekly bulletin, using computer graphics.

"He was a mentor to so many people," says Linda Colaprete of Elk Grove Village. "He really went above and beyond."

At St. Peter's, Fr. Folger also trained the young altar servers about the parts of the Mass. As a special bonus, any youngsters that served one of Fr. Folger's Masses received candy afterward, Anglim recalls.

"They're going to miss him, and his candy," Anglim said.

A funeral Mass was conducted on Tuesday at St. Peter Church in Antioch.