Former Belleville bishop who served Catholic diocese during challenging time dies at 93
.jpeg "The Most Rev. James P. Keleher is shown as archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, left, and bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Belleville. He died Saturday at age 93.")
Archbishop Emeritus James P. Keleher, who spent nine years as the sixth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Belleville, died on Saturday. He was 93.
Keleher served in Belleville from 1984 to 1993 before he was promoted to archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. He retired in 2005.
Belleville Bishop Michael McGovern acknowledged Keleher’s death in a Facebook post on Monday. A memorial Mass will be held at the Cathedral of St. Peter on a date to be determined.
“Please pray for the repose of his soul and for God’s peace and comfort for his family,” McGovern wrote.
After Keleher retired, he frequently spoke by telephone with Monsignor John T. Myler, rector at Cathedral of St. Peter.
Keleher always wanted to know what was happening in southern Illinois, Myler said, and he often inquired about the welfare of priests.
“He was interested and lucid and had a great memory until just recently, when he became very weak with his age,” Myler said. “He came from good stock.”
Myler noted that Keleher’s mother also lived a long life.
Keleher grew up on the south side of Chicago in a devout Irish-Catholic family, according to a 2018 story in The Leaven, the Kansas City archdiocesan newspaper. He attended Mundelein Seminary and served as a priest in the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago for more than 25 years.
The story covered a 60th anniversary celebration of Keleher’s 1958 ordination. Speakers included Monsignor Thomas Tank, who had recommended him for archbishop.
“He came in and really took the archdiocese by storm because of his love of people, not just some people, but everyone,” Tank said. “If you ever went out to dinner or lunch with (the) archbishop, he’d always say to the waiters and waitresses, ‘What’s your name? What do you do? Where do you go?’
“There was an absolute concern for everyone — that whole sense of hospitality. Believe me, it’s one of the greatest gifts Archbishop (Keleher) has given to our archdiocese — that sense of warm hospitality, of welcome, of trying to reach out to individuals.”
Keleher’s promotion to archbishop in 1993 came at a challenging time in Belleville, as the diocese was immersed in a sexual-abuse scandal that led to the removal of 15 priests and one deacon by 2002.
Keleher was replaced in Belleville by Bishop Wilton Gregory, now a cardinal in the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
Keleher never had a proper farewell in Belleville, Myler said, so he invited him back six years ago.
“He came to the cathedral and celebrated Sunday morning Mass, and he said, ‘This was the farewell I never had,’” Myler recalled.
After Keleher retired, his love of teaching prompted him to occasionally teach courses at Mundelein Seminary. He also volunteered with a prison ministry in Kansas City.
Myler told a short story on Monday to illustrate Keleher’s “Irishman’s charm.” If a priest was seated next to him at an event, he would lean over and whisper, “Who is that couple in the second row?” And he would get an answer such as, “That’s Bill and Mary Jones.”
“Within five minutes, Bishop Keleher would make his way over to them,” Myler said. “With a big smile, he’d call out, ‘Bill and Mary, how good to see you again!’ All smiles … That was his Chicago way.”
Funeral arrangements for Keleher are pending in Kansas City.
