Community Corner
St. John Brebeuf welcomes new associate pastor
Fr. Robert Carlton joins Fr. Michael G. Meany, pastor since 2011 and Fr. Przemek Tomczyk, associate pastor since 2017.
Parishioners and families at St. John Brebeuf Church welcomed new a new associate pastor, Fr. Robert Carlton July 1. Fr. Carlton, who grew up in Chicago and Evanston, is a graduate of Loyola Academy and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. where he studied English and classical studies. In the Navy ROTC program, he ran track and did leukemia research at the Lombardi Cancer Center while he was at Georgetown. He also worked on Capitol Hill for Senator Richard Durbin.
After college, he was the electrical officer on the USS Halyburton. Upon completion of his naval service, he taught theology and English at Fordham Preparatory School, a Jesuit high school in New York City where he was also assistant coach for the cross country and track teams. During his time in New York, he spent a summer working at the Ignatianum which is the Jesuit University in Krakow.
In the fall of 2014, Fr. Carlton entered Mundelein Seminary. During his seminary years, he spent a summer working as a chaplain at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, where he was able to meet and work with people from all over the world. He worked closely with families whose children were very sick.
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He also spent several months in Israel visiting the holy sites there. He found that experience was less about visiting places than it was about trying to connect with people who live in a part of the world that is very challenging and trying to learn from them how their faith helps them with their daily lives.
Back in Chicago, he spent a summer working at a parish and legal aid clinic in North Lawndale and also started a track team at a parish on the south side. Last year he worked at Immaculate Conception, just down the road from St. John Brebeuf. Campus minister at Resurrection High School for the last several months of the school year, he enjoyed working with and getting to know the students and staff at the school.
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Fr. Carlton joins Fr. Michael G. Meany, who has been pastor of St. John Brebeuf since 2011 and Fr. Przemek Tomczyk, who has been associate pastor since 2017. A community landmark since construction in 1964, the church at 8307 N. Harlem Avenue has been an integral part of Niles for 65 years. For information, please visit www.sjbrebeuf.org, or call 847-966-8145.
