Raymond E. Goedert, auxiliary bishop emeritus for the Archdiocese of Chicago and former vicar general between 1996 and 2003, died on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023. Born on Oct. 15, 1927, in Oak Park to Elizabeth A. Wink and John P. Goedert, he attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago, and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 1, 1952, by Cardinal Samuel Stritch and celebrated his first solemn Mass on May 4 of the same year at St. Giles Parish in Oak Park.
He later attended the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome where he obtained a Licentiate in Canon Law in 1956. As he was returning to the United States from his studies in Rome aboard of the SS Andria Doria, a transatlantic ocean liner of the Italian Line, the ship collided with another passenger ship, the Stockholm, and sunk 200 miles from New York.
After ordination, Goedert served as assistant pastor at St. Gabriel Parish and Blessed Sacrament Parish in Chicago, and Mater Christi Parish in North Riverside. He was also appointed as ecclesiastical notary, Vice Officialis and judge of the Tribunal, archdiocesan consultor, vicar for priests, archdiocesan director of a ministry for the widowed called NAIM, and pastor of St. Barnabas Parish in Chicago. He served as president of the Canon Law Society of America and received the Role of Law Award from the Canon Law Society of America in 1975. Among other things, Goedert was president of the Presbyteral Senate of Chicago and chairman of the Association of Chicago Priests.
On July 8, 1991, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago and titular bishop of Tamazeni by Pope John Paul II. He was consecrated by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin on Aug. 29, 1991. He retired on Sept. 1, 2003.
Goedert had seven brothers and three sisters, none of whom survive him. He leaves behind many nieces and nephews.