On March 26, Archbishop Robert Casey returned to St. Barbara Church, now part of Holy Guardian Angels Parish, to say farewell to the people of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

“It’s not ‘goodbye.’ It’s ‘see you later,’” Archbishop Casey said in his homily. “Our paths will continue to cross in the Eucharist.”

Archbishop Casey became the leader of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati on April 3.

A native of Evergreen Park, he grew up in Alsip, where he attended public elementary schools.

Archbishop Casey graduated from the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary and was ordained to the priesthood May 21, 1994.

His first assignment was as associate pastor of St. Ita Parish, where he served until 1999. Archbishop Casey, who is fluent in Spanish, was named associate director of Casa Jesús, a house of discernment for men from Latin America in 1998. In 1999, he became its full-time director.

In 2003, he completed a 40-day pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain before becoming pastor of Our Lady of Tepeyac Parish, and in 2008, he co-founded Taller de José, a ministry sponsored by the Congregation of St. Joseph that offers accompaniment to people in need.

He served as pastor of St. Barbara Parish in Brookfield, where he celebrated his farewell Mass, from 2009 to 2016, when he was appointed pastor of St. Bede the Venerable. He was ordained an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2018.

Paul Diamond, a longtime parishioner of St. Barbara, stood in line after Mass to greet Archbishop Casey during the reception in the parish hall.

“He helped me out big-time in my life,” Diamond said. “I was going through a brain injury and a divorce at the same time, and I would go see him. He was just totally awesome.”

All of Irma Britto’s family turned out to say goodbye to Archbishop Casey. He officiated at the wedding of her sister Erica when her sister worked at St. Barbara Church, and the family came to know the archbishop. 

“We’ve felt really close to him, so anywhere he’s going to be, we go,” Britto said. “When we found out he was leaving, we knew we had to come tonight.”

The family hopes to see Archbishop Casey again in Cincinnati, since one of Britto’s nieces is moving there, she said.

“We just feel a special connection to him because my sister knows him and he’s baptized some of my nieces and nephews,” Britto said. “We just feel like he’s part of our family.”

Newly ordained Auxiliary Bishop Tim O’Malley attended the Mass along with fellow new Auxiliary Bishop Larry Sullivan. Bishop Sullivan replaced Archbishop Casey as vicar general.

Even though Archbishop Casey is a little older, they grew up living only about 10 miles apart, Bishop O’Malley said after Mass.

“He was really part of a community that was really close,” Bishop O’Malley said. “Everybody knew each other, and we played baseball on the street growing up with no cars bothering us. And it was the same in his neighborhood.”

Similarities between the men extend to a love for the Latino community.

“We both served in Little Village,” Bishop O’Malley said. “We both really enjoy the Hispanic community. You could hear the Spanish choirs tonight. When we listen to church music, we really do go to the Spanish music.”

Archbishop Casey was also supportive of Bishop O’Malley and the other four new bishops ordained in March.

“I’ll tell you, when we were named bishops, Bob Casey was right there and he was guiding us all of the way,” Bishop O’Malley said.   

Although she attends another parish, Miriam Estrada came to know Archbishop Casey when she was singing in the choir at St. Barbara.

“He’s very humble. He speaks from the heart,” Estrada said. “He always gives me a lot of hope.”

“He’s the best bishop in the whole world,” said Eugenia Callison, who like Estrada, is not a parishioner of St. Barbara but met him singing in the choir.

“He was always a happy priest,” said parishioner Ruth Hroncich. “And when we had a happy priest, we had a lot of young people who were very engaged with the church. He was very good at capturing their interest.”

Archbishop Casey also started bilingual Masses at the parish, Hroncich said.

“Everybody felt included,” she said. “He’s an amazing shepherd and if he can get any of those priests to emulate what he was like as a priest, then the whole church has hope.”