Felician Sister Mary Kathleen (Claudette) La Plume, 84, died June 12 in Mother of Good Counsel Convent.

Born in Chicago, she attended St. Margaret Mary School and Mother of Good Counsel High School. She entered the Felician Sisters in 1956 and professed her final vows in 1964. She ministered in elementary schools as a teacher and librarian in Illinois. She also served as a pastoral minister and liturgist at St. John the Evangelist Parish, Streamwood, and in parishes in the Diocese of Joliet.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she ministered at St. Turibius (1959-1960); Our Lady of Ransom, Niles (1964-1968); St. Stanislaus, Posen (1968-1973); St. Linus, Oak Lawn (1974-1976); and St. Hubert, Hoffman Estates (1976-1985).

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Mary (Mary Ania) Schlehuber, 95, died June 22 in Footville, Wisconsin.

Born in Peoria, Sister Mary made her first religious profession in 1948 and her perpetual profession in 1951. She was a teacher and chaplain who served in Illinois, Wisconsin and California.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Mary taught at St. Jarlath (1952-1953); St. Vincent Ferrer, River Forest (1953-1957); St. Sabina, Chicago (1960-1967); and St. Louis de Montfort, Oak Lawn (1969-1973).

She is survived by a sister, Claire Reilly.

Conventual Franciscan Father Joseph William Bayne, Jr., 66, died June 23 in Chicago.

Father Joe, as he was known, was born in Baltimore and attended Archbishop Curley High School there before joining the Franciscan community in 1975. He professed simple vows in 1976 and solemn vows in 1981 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1985.

He served in parishes in Pennsylvania before beginning a 29-year ministry in Buffalo, New York, at the Franciscan Center, a transitional housing program for runaway and homeless young men from western New York. While there, he served for 13 years as Chaplain of Erie County Emergency Services and the Buffalo Fire Department.

In 2018, Father Joseph was assigned briefly to a parish in Massachusetts before becoming the associate director of formation at the Conventual Franciscans’ postulancy house in Chicago.

He is survived by his mother, Jean Bayne, and his brother, George Bayne.

Providence Sister Mary Roger (Mary Francis) Madden, 102, died June 24 in St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana.

Born in Decatur, she entered the Sisters of Providence in 1940 and professed final vows in 1949. In her 83 years as a Sister of Providence, she ministered as a teacher for 40 years in schools in Indiana, Illinois, California and Washington, D.C. Beginning in 1986, she served as congregation historian, and then as pilgrimage coordinator at Providence Center and coordinator of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. Beginning in 2017, she committed herself totally to the ministry of prayer.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at Our Lady of Mercy (1943-1945); St. Agnes (1950-1952); St. Leo (1958-1961); and Marywood, Evanston (1965-1968).

Divine Word Father William (Gordian) Halvey, 95, died July 4 in Techny. He had served in Papua New Guinea as a brother and as a priest, and took on duties there and in the United States from being a postmaster and office worker to teacher, pastor and retreat center director.

Born in Chicago, he attended St. Mel High School before entering the U.S. Army, serving for a year in Japan with U.S. occupation troops. He then attended Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, for two years begore entering the Divine Word Brothers Candidate School. He professed first vows in 1954 and perpetual vows in 1960.

After an assignment as postmaster in Techny, he was sent to Papua New Guinea. He went to seminary in Australia and was ordained to the priesthood in Techny in 1976, before returning to Papua New Guinea.

In 1985, he returned to the United States and taught high school in Spokane, Washington, before serving as director of the St. Augustine Retreat Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, for 11 years. In 2003, he became chaplain to the cloistered Benedictine Sisters at San Beneto Monastery in Dayton, Wyoming, assisting at the local parish on weekends, before moving to the Divine Word community in Bordentown, N.J., In 2007, he moved to Techny to retire full time.

Providence Sister Carolyn (Ann Carolyn) Kessler, 91, died July 7 in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Born in Indiana, she entered the Sisters of Providence in 1954 and professed final vows in 1962. After teaching in high schools in Illinois and Indiana for 10 years and earning a master’s degree from Georgetown University, she was awarded a Fulbright lectureship at the University of Rome, after which she earned a doctorate in linguistics at Georgetown.

She taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio for 25 years and remained in Texas for another 15 years, consulting in the area of bilingual education.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she taught at Marywood High School, Evanston (1957-1964).

Father Milan Cyril Nemecek, 88, died June 4. He was pastor emeritus of Mater Christi Parish in North Riverside.

Born in Chicago, Father Nemecek attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary before being ordained in 1960.

He served as assistant pastor of St. Denis; Our Lady of Lourdes; Our Lady of the Mount, Cicero; and Mary, Queen of Heaven, Cicero. He was pastor of St. Mary of Celle, Berwyn, from 1979 to 1992, and of Mater Christi from 1992 to 2004.

He also served as assistant director of the archdiocese’s Office of Urban Affairs and assistant secretary of the Commission on Human Relations and Ecumenism, and as a delegate to the Interreligious Council on Urban Affairs, a member of the steering committee of the priests’ senate, a member of the compensation committee for Catholic school personnel, a consultant to Catholic Cemeteries and a member of the pastors’ review board.

Father Patrick Tucker, former pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Palos Hills, had known Nemecek since 1972. “He was very pastoral and empowered the people he worked with,” Tucker said. He recalled that Nemecek would give a note to couples getting married. In the note, he promised to take the engaged couple out for pizza on their first wedding anniversary.

Father John Mulvihill, 83, died June 25. He was a former pastor of St. John Bosco Parish.

Born in Chicago, Father Mulvihill attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago, the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome before being ordained in 1964.

He served as assistant pastor of St. John Bosco Parish before returning to Rome to continue his studies at the Gregorian University.

From 1972 through 1997, Father Mulvihill served as associate pastor and then pastor of St. John Bosco Parish. He also served as vicar for religious, supporting more than 8,000 religious sisters and 2,000 priests as a canonical and spiritual consultant. Before retiring, he served as judge on the Court of Appeals for the Province of Chicago, for 12 years. He retired from ministry in 2018.

Father Thomas Baldonieri, one of Mulvihill’s closest friends and colleagues, remembered Mulvihill as a wonderful priest. “I always saw him being very caring to parishioners and he was always available to them,” Baldonieri said.

Father Martin “Marty” Zielinski, 71, died June 25. He was a retired associate professor in the Department of Church History at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

Born in Denver, Father Zielinski attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary, Niles College and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary before being ordained in 1978.

His first pastoral assignment was at St. Margaret of Scotland Parish. He then attended Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a doctoral degree in American Catholic church history in 1989.

He then was assigned to Mundelein Seminary as an associate professor of church history. He spent more than 30 years at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, where he took on spiritual direction, teaching and administrative responsibilities, including one term as academic dean.

Throughout his time at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, he assisted at St. Patrick Parish in Wadsworth (now St. Brigid Parish-Church of St. Patrick). He wrote many scholarly articles published in the U.S. Catholic Historian, the Encyclopedia of American Catholic History and Chicago Studies.

Zielinski also contributed to the collection “Black and Catholic” published by Marquette University Press. In the past three years, he accomplished a special contribution to American Church History, which was a transcription and annotation of the diary of Bishop William Quarter, who was the first bishop of Chicago. Zielinski also wrote the text for the Litany of American Saints, Blessed and Venerables, which was set to a musical composition. It premiered at the seminary on Dec. 8, 2022, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and was recorded in February  2023, sung by the seminary choir.

Deacon Charles P. O’Donnell, 89, died June 18. He was ordained in 1983 and served at Our Lady of Ransom Parish, Niles, and as co-associate director of the archdiocese’s Diaconate Office.

The son of Irish immigrants, Deacon O’Donnell lost his father when he was 2 years old. He was married to his late wife, Lindy, for 64 years.

As a deacon, he officiated at marriages, baptisms and gravesite services, and mentored many younger deacons.

He is survived by his children Charles Patrick O’Donnell Jr., Stephen Gerard O’Donnell, Kathleen Guzman and Patricia Ann Patke; eight grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and his sister, Patricia Ann Holochwost.