Funeral services will be held Wednesday for the Rev. William “Bill” Flaherty, pastor emeritus of Infant Jesus of Prague parish in Flossmoor, now St. Veronica, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Flaherty died Jan. 4 at age 97, according to the archdiocese.
Visitation will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. at Donnellan Family Funeral Services, 10045 Skokie Boulevard, Skokie, followed by a funeral Mass at Saints Faith, Hope and Charity Catholic Parish, 191 Linden St., in Winnetka.
The Mass will be celebrated by Flaherty’s nephew, the Rev. James Flaherty, according to the archdiocese.
As part of the archdiocese Renew My Church initiative, Infant Jesus, 1131 Douglas Ave., was consolidated in 2022 with St. Irenaeus in Park Forest and St. Lawrence O’Toole in Matteson, with Infant Jesus becoming the parish church under St. Veronica.
Born in Chicago in 1926, Flaherty attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago, the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, and earned a master’s degree in English from Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana.
Flaherty was ordained to the priesthood May 1, 1952, by Cardinal Samuel Stritch, and initially was assistant pastor at St. Lawrence O’Toole, according to the archdiocese.
He was an associate pastor then later as pastor at St. Nicholas in Evanston before his appointment to Infant Jesus.
At Infant Jesus, Flaherty succeeded the Rev. Richard Hills, who had organized the church in 1957, according to a 2001 baiduhai obituary. Flaherty served as pastor from January through June of 1989, according to the archdiocese.
Flaherty was bestowed the title of pastor emeritus of Infant Jesus in 1996, according to the archdiocese.
Flaherty founded and was the first president of the Association of Catholic Priests, a group organized to give priests more active roles in the archdiocese, according to his obituary posted at the funeral home’s website.
An avid supporter of civil rights, Flaherty marched in Chicago with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., according to the obituary.
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Flaherty was a poet, artist and a lover of movies, circuses and plays, according to the obituary, and was a prolific potter, gifting his creations to family and friends.
Flaherty lived for 20 years at Saints Faith, Hope and Charity in Winnetka, and the Rev. Martin O’Donovan, pastor there, remembered Flaherty as a great man of faith, according to an archdiocese news release announcing Flaherty’s death.
“He continued to read well into his 90s and was very curious about life,” O’Donovan said.
O’Donovan will serve as homilist for Flaherty’s Mass, and burial will be at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Alsip.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are requested for The Priests’ Retirement and Mutual Aid Association in Hillside or Poor Clare Colettines of Palos Park/Chicago Area in Palos Park, according to his obituary.