50 Years

Father Theodore Bracco, OFM

Springfield native Father Theodore Bracco, a Franciscan Friar of the Sacred Heart Province, celebrated 50 years of ordination earlier this year. He attended St. Agnes Grade School and then went to the Franciscan Seminary in Westmont. He was ordained Jan. 9, 1966 at St. Francis Church in Teutopolis by Bishop William A. O’Connor.

Father Theodore has a doctorate degree in Historical Theology from St. Louis University. He retired in 2012 after spending 39 years as a teacher of religion and theology. “I taught high school religion for 31 years and college theology for eight years,” he says.

“As I look back on my 50 years as a priest, I can see the hand of God at work in me as he gave me the desire and the ability to be a priest and a Franciscan. I was first attracted to the priesthood in my grade school days, serving Mass at St. Agnes Church. I knew even in grade school that I wanted to be a priest,” he says. “My ministry for the whole of my priesthood has been to serve the Lord as an educator.

“I also wanted to be a Franciscan because they were and are a joyful group. Although I was not well acquainted with the Franciscans I knew that I wanted to be a follower of St. Francis of Assisi,” he says. “God gave me both gifts; the gift of the priesthood and the vocation to be a Franciscan. And I am truly grateful for those gifts. In a small way I hope I have brought the truth of Christ’s church to the many students that were entrusted to me.”

Father Theodore has one brother and one sister living in Springfield and another brother who is a Jesuit Brother stationed at the University of Santa Clara, California as well as nieces and nephews. He recently celebrated his 78th birthday and currently lives at Holy Cross Friary in Quincy.

Father James Wheeler, OFM

A native of St. Patrick, Mo., Father James Wheeler has been a Franciscan Friar of the Sacred Heart Province for 50 years. On Jan. 9, 1966 he was ordained at St. Francis Church in Teutopolis by Bishop William A. O’Connor. He is 78 years old and has been in ministry in a variety of states and places.

During his early years as a priest Father James served in Ohio as a teacher at Padua High School in Parma, as director of TEC at Our Lady of Angels in Cleveland, and later as parochial vicar at that parish. He also served for a brief time as parochial vicar at San Juan de La Espada in San Antonio. From 1972 to 1975 he was director of education at Our Lady of Angels. He was chaplain at Quincy College from 1975 to 1985 and then spent several years at the Newman Center at the University of Iowa and then from 1988 to 1995 he served at Augustana College in Rock Island.

He returned to Quincy to be pastor of St. Anthony and St. Joseph parishes and then was co-pastor in Calhoun County, serving at four parishes. He spent one year as confessor at St. Peter in Chicago and then, in 1998, he once again moved back to Quincy. He was parochial vicar at St. Francis Solanus Parish from 1998 to 2011and has been a spiritual director of the Quincy area Cursillo for many years. He also served for one year as chaplain to senior friars.

Father James has been semi-retired since 2012 and now serves in supply ministry at Quincy University and often fills in for priests in the Jefferson City Diocese.

Looking back on his years in the priesthood, Father James says, “The priesthood has been a very rewarding experience, especially the sacrament of confession and reconciliation.” Additionally he has celebrated a great number of weddings. “A lot of those couples were students at the colleges or in the parish,” he says. “I really enjoyed working with the couples who were preparing for marriage.”

25 Years

Father Thaddeus “Teddy” Adukus

Father Thaddeus Adukus, known in Springfield as “Father Teddy,” has traveled a long way to end up in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois — and over the years he has served in many capacities.

A native of Afashio-Uzairue in Edo State of Nigeria, he was born in 1962 and was ordained at Holy Cross Cathedral, Benin City by Archbishop Patrick Ebosele Ekpu on Sept. 7, 1991. Growing up he served Mass daily and says “the parish priests — Irish priests then — and the church” were “central” to his upbringing.

“Also I had to live with an uncle who was already a priest (Father Charles Nasamu) and he was instrumental to a large degree to my considering the priesthood.”

He spent many years ministering in Nigerian parishes as an assistant priest and administrator. He attended Nigerian Law School and was solicitor/barrister of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2002. In the early years of this century he was the chancellor of the Diocese of Auchi, Nigeria. “I was able to utilize my law degree in taking care of the temporal goods of the diocese and relating with the state in matters concerning land acquisitions and registration,” he says.

Soon after that, he was named a U.S.A. Mission representative for Nigeria and moved to the United States. “Hence my movement to America first to the New York Archdiocese and now to clinical pastoral ministry to the sick,” he says. At first, he was parochial vicar at two parishes in the Bronx, N.Y. In 2010 he completed Intensive Clinical Pastoral Education at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., and completed his residency at Christiana Care Health Care System in Newark, Del., from 2011-2012. In 2013 “Father Teddy” arrived in Springfield, where he has been in residence at Blessed Sacrament Parish and is chaplain for Memorial Medical Center.

Father Adukus has many siblings which include “six ladies and two men.” “One of them resides in Bloomington with his wife and daughter,” he says.

In summing up the priesthood, he comments, “God’s awesomeness has been abundantly available to me this past 25 years in the Lord’s vineyard. The priesthood is not conferred on angels but on human beings. Mine has been a witness to God’s love and mercy. I have seen it all, the good, the bad and the not-so-good. I have worked and provided ministry to all types of people including the rich and poor alike.

“The most humbling experience of my ministry and life is the confessional,” he says. “Another opportunity I have had over the years is my ministry to the sick. To walk alongside the downtrodden, sick, depressed and hopeless has added a new dimension to my ministry experience these past few years. Indeed I am happy and fulfilled being a priest.”

Although Father Adukus has no specific plans for celebration, since his silver jubilee is still several months away, he looks forward to celebrating both locally and with his family and friends in his home Diocese of Auchi, Nigeria later this year.

Father Allen Kemme

Father Allen Kemme, currently pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Newton and St. Mary of the Assumption in Sainte Marie, is the only priest ordained for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois who is celebrating his silver jubilee this year. He was ordained May 18, 1991 by Bishop Daniel L. Ryan at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield. He was just 25 years old at the time.

Father Kemme’s first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Ambrose in Godfrey. He was later parochial vicar at Our Saviour Parish in Jacksonville and Little Flower Parish in Springfield. He was named pastor of Forty Martyrs in Tuscola (1999 to 2006), St. John the Baptist, Arcola (2002 to 2006) and since 2006 has been pastor of his current parishes.

A native of Effingham, Father Kemme still has family in his home town as his parents Maurice “Moe” and Rita live there, along with his younger brother Tony and his wife and two children. His sister Angie Miller and her husband and two children reside in Florida.

Father Kemme will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving and be the guest of honor at a dinner at St. Thomas Church in Newton on June 12. He also joined some of his seminary classmates at a celebration at Mundelein Seminary in April, with a Mass and luncheon with Archbishop Blase Cupich.

Looking back on the priesthood, Father Kemme says his love of the Eucharist is the most fulfilling part of his life. “The Mass not only shapes the prayer of my day, but keeps me closely connected with Christ,” he says. “The prayer life of any priest, I think, begins and is formed by the Eucharist.”

Of course, parishioners and fellow priests are of great importance, too, he adds. Priests “have the opportunity to be such an important part of the lives of the people and families in the parish. It is truly a humble experience to share in the most intimate moments in the lives of families.

“Looking back over the past 25 years I have been in parishes all over the diocese,” he says. “I feel each parish experience had impacted me in different ways. They have given me a closer connection to living in central Illinois, and being blessed to be a part of our diocese. Lastly, even though we find ourselves more spread out, I have felt the fraternity of the priests of the diocese as a great support.”

Father Kemme thinks it is important for a priest to remain humble and to learn from parishioners, friends and brother priests. “I have learned that this has helped me to become humble, centered and focused on Christ. It is Christ who then can help us reflect upon our ministry in order to make good pastoral decisions for the good of God’s people.”

Father Kemme says he has a few hobbies that help to relax him: vegetable gardening, golfing and watching the St. Louis Cardinals play baseball. “I am a passionate St. Louis Cardinal fan and have been ever since I can remember,” he says and then jokes, “I also am always willing to comfort and support any grieving Cub fan!”

On a more serious note, he feels it is important for young people to consider life as a priest or religious and says the blessings are bountiful. “Do not be afraid of what secular culture says about being Catholic and more specifically a priest or religious,” he says. “The life of a priest is one that is not easy. It is a life that has true value. It is a life that has true challenges. It is a life of leadership in many different ways. It is not for the faint of heart, but gives the kind of joy that only God can give.”

Beginning July 1 Father Kemme will begin a new chapter of his priesthood as he returns to Little Flower, this time as pastor of the parish on the southeast side of Springfield.

Father John-Raymond Lau, OMI

Yorktown, N.Y. native Father John-Raymond Lau of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate was ordained to the priesthood on June 22, 1991 by Oblate Bishop Michael Pfeifer, OMI. Known to his fellow Oblates and friends as “Father Jack,” his priesthood has taken him to various places in the United States and also to India and Canada. His first assignment was at St. Jeanne D’Arc Parish in Lowell, Mass. For five years he divided his time between parish ministry, youth ministry and working with the HIV/AIDS community.

Next, he was pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Miami for several years and then returned to social work in Lowell for two years. From 2001 to 2007 he was in active ministry at the Oblates’ Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo, Minn. He also worked as a fitness director and yoga instructor.

After six years in Minnesota Father Lau was asked to go to South India, where he lived for a year. His ministry involved interfaith dialogue and enculturation. From India he was sent to Canada for three years, working at Galilee Retreat Center.

Before he entered the priesthood, Father Lau earned a degree from the Culinary Institute of America. So, it is fitting that now as associate novice director he is putting that education to use by overseeing the kitchen at Immaculate Heart of Mary Novitiate in Godfrey. He has fond memories of his own time as a young man in the Oblate novitiate with its bluffs, pastures and dense woods. Now 58 years old, he teaches current novices a sense of hospitality and how to care for the environment, always remembering, he says, how Jesus gathered at table.