Msgr. Gerald Kobbeman
Msgr. Gerald Kobbeman hails from Sterling and is a graduate of Newman Central Catholic High School. His higher education included St. Ambrose College in Davenport, Iowa, where he received a bachelor of arts degree, and North American College in Rome, Italy, where he received his Licentiate of Sacred Theology in June 1967.
He was ordained to the priesthood on Dec. 17, 1966, by Bishop Francis Reh at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. His first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Bernadette Parish in Rockford from August 1967 to June 1972.
He served also as a notary from July 1968 to June 1972 and secretary from January 1969 to June 15, 1975, at the Diocesan Tribunal.
From June 1972 to June 1976, he was director of the diocesan Family Life Office, and he became a pro-synodal judge in 1974.
He began two years of service as parochial vicar at St. Patrick Parish in St. Charles in July 1975.
He served as pastor at St. Patrick Parish in Dixon from July 1977 to August 1987, Holy Angels Parish in Aurora from August 1987 to July 2000, and at St. Rita Parish in Rockford from July 2000 to July 2011.
In addition to his parish assignments, Msgr. Kobbeman was a diocesan consultor for four years beginning in January 1995, on the diocesan Finance Council for three years beginning in July 2001, Vicar Forane (dean) of the Rockford Deanery for four years beginning in July 2008, and was part of the diocesan College of Consultors from March 2011 to December 2014.
Msgr. Kobbeman retired on June 30, 2011. He began service as diocesan Coordinator of Pilgrimages in October 2013.
Father Joseph Kulak
Born in Chicago, Father Joseph Kulak attended St. Bonaventure High School in Sturtevant, Wis.; St. Francis College in Burlington, Wis.; and completed his theology studies at Christ the King Seminary in Chicago and St. Maur Seminary in South Union, Ky.
He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Loras T. Lane on May 28, 1966.
Father Kulak served as parochial vicar at St. Rita Parish in Aurora from June 1966 to June 1971. He then was parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish in McHenry from June 1971 to July 1976. That was followed by service as parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish in DeKalb until December 1978.
Father Kulak then became pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Crystal Lake, serving there until June 1995. He then served as pastor of St. Laurence Parish in Elgin until his retirement on June 1, 2010.
Father Richard Kramer
Born in Aurora, Father Richard Kramer attended Marmion Academy there from 1954 to 1956, then the Josephinum high school in Worthington, Ohio, from 1956 to 1958. At the Pontifical College Josephinum, he studied philosophy and theology.
He was ordained to the priesthood on May 28, 1966, by Cardinal Egidio Vagnozzi in the Pontifical Josephinum Chapel.
Father Kramer served as parochial vicar first at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rockford for a year, also teaching at Boylan Central Catholic High School; then at St. Mary Parish in DeKalb for two years, also teaching at Notre Dame High School; and then at St. Mary Parish in Elgin from 1970 to 1973, also directing TV productions for the education office at Notre Dame High School.
Father Kramer served a parochial administrator for St. Mary Parish in Sycamore from October 1973 to September 1974. He pursued graduate studies at Northern Illinois University from 1973 to 1978.
Beginning in 1973 until 1981, he worked for the diocese to promote electronic media — radio, television, film — as a means to communicate the Gospel, including the televised Mass for shut-ins on WREX-TV in Rockford.
Father Kramer served as parochial administrator for a few months and then as pastor at St. Flannen Parish in Harmon and St. Mary Parish in Walton, serving those parishes from October 1978 to September 1992, and teaching at Newman Central Catholic High School in Sterling for most of those years.
For about four months beginning in September 1992, Father Kramer was parochial administrator at St. Mary Parish in Rockford, then in residence there until July 1993. He was parochial administrator for a year and then pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Harvard, serving there from September 1993 to June 2003.
He then was pastor at St. Mary Parish in Oregon until July 2011, when he retired.
Father Kramer also served as spiritual moderator for the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women from 1988 to 1990; as diocesan director of NAIM beginning in 2001; and as spiritual director of the Cursillo Movement from 2014 through the present.
Father Robert Sherry
Father Robert Sherry was born in Hinsdale. He attended St. Meinrad High School and College in St. Meinrad, Ind., and St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minn.
He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Loras T. Lane on May 28, 1966, at St. James Pro-Cathedral in Rockford.
He did post-graduate studies at Loyola University in Chicago in 1975 and received a Doctor of Ministry degree from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary at Mundelein in 1983.
Father Sherry began his service as parochial vicar at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Freeport from June 1966 to June 1970, then served in Sterling Team Ministry at Sacred Heart and St. Mary parishes in Sterling from June 1970 to October 1973. He served those two parishes as parochial vicar for a couple of months before serving as parochial vicar at St. Laurence Parish in Elgin from January 1974 to August 1975, and in campus ministry at Elgin Community College and Judson College for the 1974-1975 school year. The following school year, he served as chaplain at the Notre Dame Provincial House in DeKalb.
Father Sherry was the diocesan vocation director from July 1975 until October 1982, serving also as pastor of St. Therese of Jesus Parish in Aurora from June 1980 to October 1982.
At that time, he began service as the executive director of the National Council of Catholic Bishops Priestly Formation and Vocations, serving there until August 1988. From February to July of 1989, he participated in an internship program with Catholic TV of America.
He became the first pastor of Church of Holy Apostles Parish in McHenry, building and serving that parish community, known for its use of media to spread the Gospel, from July 1989 until June 2012. He also served as spiritual director for the Rockford Cursillo Movement from April 1999 until June 2011.
Father Sherry retired on June 29, 2012.
Father John Slampak
Father John Slampak was born in Evergreen Park and attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary and Loyola University in Chicago.
He continued his priesthood education at St. Mary College in St. Mary, Ky., and Catholic Theological University in Washington, D.C.
He was ordained a priest by Bishop Loras T. Lane on May 28, 1966, at St. James Pro-Cathedral in Rockford.
His post-graduate education includes a master’s degree from Notre Dame University in 1975; a master’s degree in Applied Spirituality from the University of San Francisco in 1982; and a Licentiate of Sacred Theology from Gregorian University in Rome in 1983.
He served as parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish in East Dubuque from June to December 1966, then at St. Patrick Parish in St. Charles to June 1970, and then at St. Monica Parish in Carpentersville to December 1975. In 1969, he was named chaplain of the Newman Apostolate at Elgin Community College.
He was director of the Office of Divine Worship from August 1974 until July 1984 and was in residence at Holy Angels Parish in Aurora from December 1975 until September 1982.
In 1978 he was elected regional representative to the National Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, representing Region 7.
After nearly a year of study in Rome, he became pastor at St. Laurence Parish in Elgin from July 1983 to June 1995. At that time, he became pastor of St. Mary Parish in Byron, serving there until July 1999 when he began service for a year as the director of Continuing Education for Clergy, a position he had earlier held from November 1991 until September 1994.
Father Slampak also served as director of the diocesan Liturgical Commission from October 1994 to July 2004; as diocesan director of Divine Worship for the second time from July 1995 to July 2004; as director of the Department of Pastoral Services from July 2000 to July 2014. He was on the Liturgical Commission from July 2004 to June 2012. He also was a long-time, weekly columnist for The Observer.
Father Slampak was parochial administrator at St. Patrick Parish in McHenry from September 2003 to July 2004. He then became pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in North Aurora, serving there until his retirement on July 1, 2014.