Rev. Peter Rodriguez looked to the Book of Matthew for his favorite Bible passage, the one in which Jesus said that whatever one does to the least of his brothers, he does to him.
He embraced that ideal for nearly five decades by fighting for the spiritual and social needs of Chicago’s Hispanic community, which he considered the city’s most powerless.
For the last four years, Father Rodriguez, one of the city’s most prominent and pioneering Hispanic clergymen, served as pastor of St. Paul Catholic Church.
Father Rodriguez, 72, died of a heart attack Wednesday, March 17, in the St. Paul rectory.
“This was a man who put his work where his words were,” said Rev. Esequiel Sanchez, director of the office for Hispanic Catholics at the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Born in Spain, Father Rodriguez joined the Claretian Missionaries at age 19 and came to the United States four years later. He was ordained a priest in Chicago in 1957.
Almost immediately, he plunged himself into social causes, including protests in the early 1960s against discrimination at Zenith Corp.
Rev. Richard Todd, associate pastor at St. Paul, said many parishioners before the Second Vatican Council did not consider it the priest’s job to get involved in social justice.
Father Rodriguez disagreed, and now many local priests follow his example, Todd said.
“Now they expect us to help them in those kinds of fights,” said Todd, who knew Father Rodriguez for more than four decades.
Father Rodriguez also expanded his work beyond mere pastoral responsibilities at his previous posts, Holy Cross-Immaculate Heart of Mary Church and St. Francis of Assisi Church.
Father Rodriguez was vicar for the Hispanic Apostolate for the Archdiocese of Chicago from 1979 to 1987. He also served as programming director of Chicago’s Catholic Television Network.
Sanchez said Father Rodriguez was a pioneer in reaching out to Hispanics.
Survivors include three sisters, Maria Dolores, Marie de Los Angeles and Milargrus.
Mass was said.
