James Edward Fitzgerald (bishop)

Following ordination to the priesthood by Bishop Cletus O’Donnell at the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet on May 23, 1964, Fitzgerald served at Sacred Heart Parish in Lombard and at Visitation Parish in Elmhurst as an assistant pastor.

He became dean of students at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Romeoville in 1972 and then its rector in 1975.

Ten months later, Fitzgerald was diagnosed with a degenerative neurological disease.

The Pope accepted his resignation as auxiliary bishop on June 5, 2003; Fitzgerald died in his home on September 11, 2003.

The Mass of Christian burial was offered on September 16, 2003, at the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus, and interment took place in the mausoleum in Resurrection Cemetery in Romeoville, Illinois.