Community celebrates Father Al’s 100th birthday
The Rev. Albert Adamich celebrated his 100th birthday Sunday by celebrating Mass. He wouldn’t have it any other way. The retired priest, known to many as “Father Al,” has not let Father Time beat him down. Although he is retired and has slowed a bit after a fall last autumn, he still celebrates Masses and worked one on his 100th birthday Sunday morning at Most Holy Redeemer Church Parish in Evergreen Park. Hundreds gathered to celebrate with him at the Mass and a reception afterward. Evergreen Park Mayor Kelly Burke read a whereas-filled proclamation and Cardinal Blasé Cupich gave him a congratulatory call earlier in the morning.
Adamich is the oldest and the longest serving priest in the Archdiocese of
Chicago.
While he was happy with his milestone, there is one more Mass he wants to celebrate and one more milestone to conquer. The target date is May 8, 2023.
“I hope I can make it another year,” he said after Sunday’s Mass. “Then I will have said Mass after 75 years of being a priest.”
His long career, which included 38 years in two terms at Mother of God in Waukegan, said early in his life he wanted to help people. While he was growing up in Joliet, he attended Joliet Catholic as a high school freshman and continued his education at Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago. “I look back and say, ‘I don’t know if I could do it the same way,’’’ Adamich said. “Get up at 5 in the morning, hike over a mile to get to church. Then from there, rush over to catch a bus. Then there was an hour bus ride from Joliet to Chicago. “It dropped us off at the stage door of the Chicago Theater and I walked from there to Quigley North. I did that (three) years, five days a week. I couldn’t do that now with these bones.” Adamich, the seventh of 10 children, has had a life in which he’s witnessed nine popes, including John XXII, whom he shook hands with in 1961 in Rome. He served under guidance of five cardinals and one archbishop in Chicago and four pastors at Most Holy Redeemer. Catholic Masses were said in Latin when he started and priests had their backs to the people.
Aside from his long stints in Waukegan, he has also served at a parish in Hoffman Estates and at St. Symphorosa in Chicago.
As his full-time career was winding down, he found himself at Most Holy Redeemer when then-pastor William Devine urged him to come to Evergreen Park in 1991 to be closer to family.
Adamich was adamant it would be a short-time stay.
“I didn’t even want to put a nail in the wall or unpack my books because I wasn’t staying long,” he said in the parish’s stewardship newsletter in
2015.
Three decades later, he still calls the rectory in Evergreen Park home.
Though officially retired for 30 years, he’s spent a lot of time celebrating Masses, hearing confessions visiting the sick and, when he was able, shoveling snow before masses.
Martin Berry, a longtime parishioner and a former judge, said he appreciates Adamich’s years of service.
“He’s just fantastic, what a great person and a great priest,” Berry said. “He’s a nice guy and he will do anything for you.”
Most Holy Redeemer Pastor Jim Hyland highlighted Adamich’s career during a homily, and after Mass said he has known Adamich since 2009 but had heard of him long before that.
“He has served the people well, and it’s gratifying to see so many people who came out for this,” Hyland said. “He’s hard working and a generous guy. He reads a lot. He tries to stay up to date.”
Hyland jokingly added that Adamich’s secret to hitting triple figures might be his diet.
“He values olive oil, garlic and onions for your health,” Hyland said. “He likes a lot of those.”
Adamich said the real secret to being alive for a century is prayer.
“You can never get enough prayer,” he said. “People have prayed for me over the years and I’m still here because of their prayers.”
In his older years, Adamich also has been the recipient of more earthly honors, as the parish’s Community Room was renamed Adamich Hall in the mid-2010s.
And he has no regrets about those long, complicated trips to high school because it led to a career that he loves.
“There is nothing greater than being a priest, really,” Adamich said.