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Casa Jesus
Casa Jesus (English: House of Jesus) was a Roman Catholic house of formation of the Archdiocese of Chicago which opened in 1987. Its primary purpose was to educate Latin-American candidates for priesthood. It was closed in 2016 after a former rector was charged with the possession of child pornography.
Due to the increasing number of Spanish-speaking Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago, Fr. Arturo Perez and Fr. Silviano Filipetto had the idea of creating a house of discernment and formation where Hispanic men could prayerfully consider the priesthood. In 1987, both the archdiocese and Cardinal Joseph Bernardin accepted the proposal. The program, initially based out of the rectory of St. Casmir Church in Little Village began recruiting young Latin-American men from around Chicago.
Men participating in the program lived and prayed in community, learned English, and engaged in catechetical and youth ministry with children in the archdiocese. Once sufficient English proficiency was gained, men in the program transferred either to Mundelein Seminary or St. Joseph College Seminary, usually after a year. In 1990, due to parish mergers, Fr. Perez left the program and Fr. Filipetto continued as the director of Casa Jesus, before being succeeded as director by Fr. David Ford in 1992.
In 1994, Fr. Michael Herman became the director and the program moved to the grounds of Notre Dame de Chicago parish, in part to be closer to the site of the program's English studies at the University of Illinois Chicago. It was also at this time that the program began to recruit internationally, initially in Colombia but then expanding to include Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, and other Latin American countries, drawing both from men who had prior seminary experience and those who had been working in the outside world. Herman continued in pastoral work in Chicago until the mid-2000s, when he left ministry to live as an out gay man.
Robert Casey became the fourth rector in 1998, serving in that role until 2003.
By 2006, after bring based out of Notre Dame du Chicago for over a decade, Francis George moved the program to a former convent at Holy Name Cathedral. Three years later that property also began to house the Polish counterpart of Casa Jesus, Bishop Abramowicz Seminary, which served a similar purpose for Polish-speaking men. Fr. Octavio Muñoz, an alumnus of the program ordained in 2004, was named rector in 2009.
In 2012, both programs housed at the Holy Name convent were moved to facilities at St. Ita's Church to allow for major renovations at the Cathedral convent property. These changes to the building were in part to facilitate Cardinal George to reside in the convent along with the men in formation following his retirement. The renovations were completed in May 2013. By 2012, 42 alumni of the program had been ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Chicago, with 260 men having participated in the program since its founding in 1987.
On July 7, 2015, Fr. Kevin Hays, who was replacing Muñoz as rector, was touring Muñoz's former apartment with an employee. A laptop was discovered that was streaming what appeared to be child pornography. The employee did not initially report the incident as he believed Hays would do so; however, Hays did not and stated he had not seen the images. The Chicago archdiocese contacted private investigators on July 20, 2015, but did not contact the police until ten days after the report.
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Casa Jesus
Casa Jesus (English: House of Jesus) was a Roman Catholic house of formation of the Archdiocese of Chicago which opened in 1987. Its primary purpose was to educate Latin-American candidates for priesthood. It was closed in 2016 after a former rector was charged with the possession of child pornography.
Due to the increasing number of Spanish-speaking Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago, Fr. Arturo Perez and Fr. Silviano Filipetto had the idea of creating a house of discernment and formation where Hispanic men could prayerfully consider the priesthood. In 1987, both the archdiocese and Cardinal Joseph Bernardin accepted the proposal. The program, initially based out of the rectory of St. Casmir Church in Little Village began recruiting young Latin-American men from around Chicago.
Men participating in the program lived and prayed in community, learned English, and engaged in catechetical and youth ministry with children in the archdiocese. Once sufficient English proficiency was gained, men in the program transferred either to Mundelein Seminary or St. Joseph College Seminary, usually after a year. In 1990, due to parish mergers, Fr. Perez left the program and Fr. Filipetto continued as the director of Casa Jesus, before being succeeded as director by Fr. David Ford in 1992.
In 1994, Fr. Michael Herman became the director and the program moved to the grounds of Notre Dame de Chicago parish, in part to be closer to the site of the program's English studies at the University of Illinois Chicago. It was also at this time that the program began to recruit internationally, initially in Colombia but then expanding to include Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, and other Latin American countries, drawing both from men who had prior seminary experience and those who had been working in the outside world. Herman continued in pastoral work in Chicago until the mid-2000s, when he left ministry to live as an out gay man.
Robert Casey became the fourth rector in 1998, serving in that role until 2003.
By 2006, after bring based out of Notre Dame du Chicago for over a decade, Francis George moved the program to a former convent at Holy Name Cathedral. Three years later that property also began to house the Polish counterpart of Casa Jesus, Bishop Abramowicz Seminary, which served a similar purpose for Polish-speaking men. Fr. Octavio Muñoz, an alumnus of the program ordained in 2004, was named rector in 2009.
In 2012, both programs housed at the Holy Name convent were moved to facilities at St. Ita's Church to allow for major renovations at the Cathedral convent property. These changes to the building were in part to facilitate Cardinal George to reside in the convent along with the men in formation following his retirement. The renovations were completed in May 2013. By 2012, 42 alumni of the program had been ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Chicago, with 260 men having participated in the program since its founding in 1987.
On July 7, 2015, Fr. Kevin Hays, who was replacing Muñoz as rector, was touring Muñoz's former apartment with an employee. A laptop was discovered that was streaming what appeared to be child pornography. The employee did not initially report the incident as he believed Hays would do so; however, Hays did not and stated he had not seen the images. The Chicago archdiocese contacted private investigators on July 20, 2015, but did not contact the police until ten days after the report.
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