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Elk Grove man's calling to priesthood completes 45-year journey

For Elk Grove Village native Daniel Lydon, a 45-year connection to the Viatorians that began as a high school student has culminated in the priesthood.

Lydon was ordained June 13 at St. Viator Church in Chicago and will serve with the Clerics of St. Viator. A former teacher and administrator at the school, he will rejoin the faculty at St. Viator High School in August as a religion teacher and member of the Campus Ministry department.

Many of his teaching colleagues attended the ordination, as did members of the Viatorian Community and parishioners at St. Viator, where he has served as a deacon during his seminarian studies at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

"This is a great celebration of community," Lydon said, "and a reminder for all of us to listen to our own calls, and to carry them out."

Lydon grew up the oldest of four children who all attended Queen of the Rosary School in Elk Grove Village. He remarked that his first-grade teacher, Sr. Margaret Brennan, was on hand to see him celebrate his first Mass on June 14 at St. Viator Church.

"She wouldn't miss it," he quipped.

Lydon first met the Viatorians when he attended St. Viator High School, and 20 years after graduating from the school, he returned as a Spanish teacher. Upon earning a master's in school administration, Lydon became assistant principal.

He served under Principal Patrice Johannes, who later became principal at Buffalo Grove High School. Now retired, she was one of many former faculty members who returned to see Lydon ordained.

Bill Kelley, now a lawyer in Schaumburg, was in Lydon's 1973 class at St. Viator. While the class has produced many successful graduates, Lydon is the first priest.

"It's incredibly inspiring to have someone our age commit his life to the Viatorians," says Kelley, who just completed his term as president of the Northwest Suburban Bar Association.

Lydon, himself, pointed to many important benchmarks along the way, including when he returned to his alma mater to teach.

"Sometimes, you just never know about the turn of events," he reflected later. "If Father (Charles) Bolser had never hired me back in 1994, you never know what would have happened."

His ordination came during a historic year, one in which the Viatorian Community is celebrating its 150th anniversary of arriving in this country from Montreal, as well as the Year of Consecrated Life, as declared by Pope Francis, urging religious communities to "wake up the world" with their witness to the Gospel.

In the weeks leading up to his ordination, Lydon says he attended a five-day retreat and it gave him the opportunity to reflect on all the people who had helped bring him to the moment when he entered the priesthood.

"Think about the people who have shaped your life - and your vocation," he told worshippers at his first Mass. "All of us have a role to play."

The Rev. Bolser, former president of St. Viator now serving as pastor of St. Viator Church, described Lydon's ordination as a "great blessing" he was proud to witness.

Another colleague, the Rev. Thomas von Behren, who was president of the school when Lydon served as assistant principal, and now serves as provincial of the Chicago province, described the ordination as a "joyful moment."

"It's a great day for the Viatorian Community when we're able to celebrate the ordination of one of our men," von Behren said, "and right here, in one of our most significant places in our history, St. Viator Parish in Chicago."

The Rev. Daniel Lydon, center, during his ordination Mass, is with Bishop George Rassas, left, and Bishop Christopher Glancy, behind Lydon. Courtesy of Ryckaert Photographic, Donna Ryckaert
The Rev. Daniel Lydon lies prostrate during a part of the ordination as a sign of his humility and submission. Courtesy of Ryckaert Photographic, Donna Ryckaert
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