The Rev. Kuczynski, ‘gentle soul,’ dies at 92

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Father Kuczynski

Updated: January 23, 2012 12:23AM

The Rev. Edwin R. Kuczynski, a longtime teacher and priest in St. Rita Parish, was a “gentle soul” with a quick wit who was remembered fondly by students long after he had them in class, those who knew him said.

“All his priestly life was in teaching and parish work,” said Br. Jerome Sysko, who knew the Rev. Kuczynski for nearly five decades. “The students loved him. So did those he grew up with in Rockford. I’d meet old-timers in Rockford, where we had an Augustinian parish, and they’d always ask about Father Kuczynski with great fondness.”

The Rev. Kuczynski died Saturday at age 92 at Franciscan Village in Lemont. He was hospitalized with pneumonia earlier this month.

Sysko, who worked with the Rev. Kuczynski at St. Rita in the 1960s, helped care for the priest in his last days.

“He was a gentle soul with a great sense of humor who had a quick mind and wit,” Sysko said. “Toward the end of his life, he couldn’t see or hear very well and he was wheelchair-bound, but I never heard him complain. He was grateful for whatever was done for him.

“In his last days, he kept repeating that he wanted to go home. Saturday, God took him home.”

The Rev. Kuczynski was born in 1918 in Maytown Township, Ill. He graduated from St. Thomas High School in Rockford in 1937 and entered Augustinian Academy on Staten Island, N.Y., in 1938. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Villanova University in 1944, then studied theology at Augustinian College, in Washington, D.C., and earned a master’s degree in religious education from Catholic University of America, in Washington. He because an ordained priest on June 5, 1947.

The Rev. Kuczynski was assistant pastor of St. Rita Parish from 1948 to 1950 and from 1972 to 1984. He taught at St. Rita High School from 1950 to 1951 and again from 1968 to 1972.

He also taught at St. Thomas High School in Rockford, Mendel Catholic High School in Chicago and Augustinian Academy in St. Louis.

The Rev. Kuczynski was named assistant pastor of St. Clare of Montefalco Parish in Chicago in 1984 and retired from full-time ministry in 1989.

He was preceded in death by his parents, five brothers and six sisters. He is survived by several nieces and nephews.

Visitation is from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, with a Mass to be held at noon at Franciscan Village Chapel, 1260 Franciscan Drive, Lemont.

Contributing: John K. Ryan