Home for retired priests in Palos Park a godsend

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

Pulling pranks on each other and raiding the refrigerator are evidence that the priests who live at the Bishop Lyne Residence in Palos Park feel at home there.

For 10 years, the residence also has given the retired priests a place to stay where they still can feel connected to the Catholic Church and the Archdiocese of Chicago.

To Rev. James Moriarty and others, that means staying involved with the church without feeling they are imposing on local parish priests. Until the residence opened in February 2001, retired priests either stayed in residence at their parish, tried to find room at another parish with housing space or lived independently, Moriarty said.

“When you reach that big moment (of retirement), it’s your choice,” he said. “It was a great decision to move out here.”

The grounds of the Bishop Lyne Residence, 12375 McCarthy Road, are shared by the Holy Family Villa nursing home and the St. Francis of Assisi Residence, an assisted-living facility. Each of the 18 furnished apartments for the priests includes a kitchenette, living room, bedroom and bathroom. Cleaning and laundry services are provided, as are most meals and snacks.

“They go downstairs and raid the refrigerator (between meals),” said Bobbi Magurany, the administrator of the nursing home next door and the self-proclaimed “den mother” for the priests.

The facility, named after Bishop Timothy Lyne, the archdiocese’s longtime vicar for senior priests and an advocate for retired clergy, also has a small private chapel for daily Mass and prayers, and the residents can sign up to preside over the morning Mass. Many of the priests also stay involved with their previous parishes or the nearby Poor Clare Monastery.

The residents also have their hobbies to keep them busy. Rev. George McKenna, who at 92 is the oldest resident, has written four books pulled from his sermons. He also still holds the position as chaplain at Midway Airport, a position he created in 1988.

Moriarty volunteers to lead Mass and also enjoys reading and spends part of every day keeping up with the news.

“I love the news. I read all the newspapers from stem to stern (each morning) and then I go up to my room and read it all on the Internet,” he said.

Rev. Michael Walsh, who has lived at the Bishop Lyne Residence since it opened, said the camaraderie among the men is special.

“Part of it is we are more or less the same age,” Walsh said.

In many cases, the priests’ paths have crossed before, whether it was during their seminary days or during their work at parishes throughout the archdiocese.

“We have those prior connections,” Moriarty said. “We have a lot in common just because we are all priests, Chicago priests.”

Stories pass easily among the men, especially at mealtime.

“Our social life is our meals. We enjoy each other the most at meals,” Moriarty said.

Magurany said the men enjoy welcoming new residents into the fold.

“We always like to get new priests coming in because then we get new stories at dinner,” she said.

They also know how to have a good time, holding several parties and events each year, from an annual Fourth of July picnic to seminary reunions.

And like with many groups, there are good jokes among friends. Walsh, in particular, is a practical joker, Magurany said. She recalled when some of the priests pulled a prank on a new resident by moving all of his just-arrived belongings to an adjoining unit so he arrived to find an empty apartment.

“It’s just pleasant; they are pleasant men to be with. The day I drove in here, I thought, ‘I’m going to die here,’ ” Moriarty said, adding he meant it positively in that he had found peace. “It was contentment.”

McKenna, too, has found what he was looking for at the Bishop Lyne Residence.

“It’s the greatest place,” he said. “The house is full of love for each other. We care for each other. This is the closest place to heaven.”