Retired priest remembered as intelligent, joyful

Retired Chicago Archdiocese priest Rev. William Kenneally remembers his classmate from Mundelein Seminary, the Rev. John E. Flavin, as a pastor deeply loved by his parishioners.

"His life was filled with joy," Kenneally said.

Flavin, the former pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Glenview until 2007, died May 30. He was 83.

While leading the Glenview parish, Flavin was "always present to families facing illness and death," said the Rev. Jeremiah Boland, the church's current pastor.

Flavin led various ministries aimed at supporting families most in need and also regularly brought Communion to the homebound and grieved "with families at the funerals of their loved ones," Boland added.

Born in 1936 in Chicago, Flavin attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary and Mundelein Seminary, then completed his theological studies at North American College and Gregorian University in Rome, according to the Chicago Archdiocese. He was ordained in 1960 in Rome and celebrated his first solemn Mass in Rome shortly after. He then led his first Mass in the United States at Little Flower Parish on Wood Street In Chicago.

Once ordained, Flavin served as assistant pastor at Our Lady of Grace in Chicago and St. Catherine of Siena in Oak Park. He then served as pastor at St. Sebastian on Dayton Street in Chicago, where he supported the parish's Dignity and Bilingual masses, as well as the AIDS hospice, before moving on to Glenview until he retired in 2007.

Regarded among his peers as highly intelligent, according to the Archdiocese, Flavin also taught at Quigley Preparatory Seminary North in Chicago and held several leadership positions within the Church.

Due to social distancing guidelines, Bishop Mark Bartosic celebrated a private funeral Mass June 3 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.