Reverend Roger J. Coughlin

Rev. Roger J. Coughlin, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and an assistant and associate administrator of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago since 1956, died on April 15, 2010 in St. Joseph Hospital, Chicago.

The second son of the late William T. and the late Ruth M. (Corcoran) Coughlin, Father Coughlin was born in Chicago’s Little Flower Parish on June 20, 1925; dear brother of the late William N. (the late Rita), and the late Thomas H. (the late Charlotte).

In addition to numerous friends and colleagues, Father Coughlin is survived by cherished cousins Joan Kelly, Mary Lee Sund, William Stanley and Leo Kennedy. He is survived also by cherished nephews and nieces William N. Coughlin, Lynn Laverik, James Coughlin, Celeste Carrier, Mary Keys, and Norene Filomeo, as well as many grand-nephews and nieces, including Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer Natalie Coughlin.

Ordained a priest in 1951, Father Coughlin served as assistant pastor at Our Lady of the Angels, Chicago, until 1956, when at age 30, he became an assistant director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago. During his first 16 years at Catholic Charities, he also served as Chaplain to the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and the staff and residents at St. Vincent Hospital and Infant Home at 721 N. LaSalle St., Chicago. He “retired” in recent years from full-time duties, but continued as Associate Administrator, with a short “commute” to his office each day from his apartment in the St. Vincent Center on North LaSalle, now the main office of Catholic Charities in Chicago.

Father Coughlin was a graduate of Little Flower Grade School, Quigley Preparatory Seminary, and St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, where he earned baccalaureate and licentiate degrees in Sacred Theology. He studied psychology and counseling at Loyola University graduate school, and earned his master’s degree at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago in 1964.

Over the ensuing decades, Father Coughlin became the founder, organizer or innovator of numerous Catholic Charities social service programs that served people in need throughout Cook and Lake Counties. As the War on Poverty began, he spearheaded the development of parents clubs and organized the Catholic Charities component of the diocesan Head Start program, including a central council for up to 20 Head Start centers; recruited social workers from graduate schools of social work throughout the country; and hired an organizer who developed almost 300 parish Senior Citizen Clubs and their activities.

Father Coughlin worked with the Foster Care and Adoption Services, served as the first Director of Family, Aged and Community Services, and established Catholic Charities Research Services. He initiated and was especially identified with many special programs at Catholic Charities: Adoptive Parent Clubs, the Head Start program, and the Cuban Refugee Children Program in the 1960s. In 1969, Father Coughlin established the South Asian Resettlement program serving Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees, and the Vietnamese Refugee Services in the 1970s.

As Chicago’s neighborhoods changed, the Community Services program worked with parishes and pastors, educating and organizing parishioners to play leadership roles in local community organizations in order to deal with urban unrest and the needs of youth and families. This led to a rehabilitation project of neighborhood housing. During this time, Father Coughlin actively participated in the National Conference of Catholic Charities, organizing annual workshops on community housing issues, such as mortgage redlining and insurance availability; and eventually serving as Vice President. In Chicago, Catholic Charities’ Senior Citizen Services built a Senior Apartment Building on the Northwest Side in conjunction with the National Council of Senior Citizens.

During the 1970s, Father Coughlin secured the former St. Vincent Hospital as a Catholic Charities center, opening the Arts of Living Institute there to serve pregnant teenagers. Today, the St. Vincent Center is a center for Catholic Charities’ administration and numerous programs, including daily suppers for 130 homeless and hungry people in the area. In 1974, he initiated a plan for redeveloping the Angel Guardian Orphanage site as a Catholic Charities center.

Father Coughlin served as Vice President of the National Council of Catholic Charities for two years; organized the National Parent Rights Movement; and founded and served as director of Catholic Charities Research Services from 1978 until 1990.

In 1986, he was appointed the first Director of the Archdiocesan Respect Life Office; and in 1987, he established the Maternity Fund to assist families who were insured, but had no maternity coverage.

In 1993, Father Coughlin retired and became an almost full-time volunteer at Catholic Charities.

In 2006, at the annual meeting of Catholic Charities Board of Advisors, the prestigious Caritas Christi Urget Nos (The Love of Christ Impels Us) Award was presented to Father Coughlin for his dedication to serving the poor and vulnerable, thereby exemplifying those words of St. Paul.

A writer as well as an organizer and administrator, Father Coughlin in recent years wrote “Words for the Spirit,” a monthly column in Catholic Charities’ Keenager News, a free monthly newspaper for seniors. Both spiritual and reminiscent, his columns include family and boyhood memories in his South Side neighborhood, favorite vacation pastimes of golf and fishing, the wisdom of updating your will, and the “angels” in his life who helped him restore “most of (my) legal identity” after he lost his wallet.

Father Coughlin researched and contributed to a major work about the local Catholic Charities titled “Caritas Christi Urget Nos: Institutional History of the Archdiocese of Chicago.” (1981); and he researched and wrote with Catheryn A. Riplinger “The Story of Charitable Care in the Archdiocese of Chicago: 1844 - 1997” (published 1999). He updated the latter history in 2009 with his personal accounting of the time in Catholic Charities from 1950 with “The Story of Charitable Care in the Archdiocese of Chicago: 1950 -2007.”

Since the 1970s, Father Coughlin has celebrated the Mass almost every Christmas Eve with friends and family, from a handful to a roomful, in the St. Vincent Chapel or in the home of an invalid friend, always followed by a midnight meal. Says a friend who has attended most of the Masses: “Father Coughlin’s life has been a continuous celebration.”

Father Coughlin's wake will be held Sunday, April 18, 2010, from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. in the St. Louise de Marillac Chapel on the third floor of Catholic Charities St. Vincent Center at 721 N. LaSalle in Chicago. Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Monday, April 19, 2010, at 10 a.m.

at Holy Name Cathedral, the corner of State and Superior in Chicago, the Most Reverend Timothy J. Lyne, Bishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Chicago, presiding. Visitation will take place prior to Mass at Holy Name Cathedral from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Catholic Charities for the Maternity and Adoption Program and mailed to Catholic Charities, Development Office, 721 North LaSalle Street, 4th floor, Chicago, IL 60654. For more information please call (312) 655-7002.

Arrangements under the direction of Drake & Son Funeral Home, Chicago, IL, 773-561-6874.