Since early spring (starting with the 50th priestly anniversary of Bishop Emeritus Jenky on April 6), the Catholic Post online has been marking the 25th, 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of this year’s jubilarians adjacent to their original dates of ordination.

2024’s SENIOR JUBILARIANS

Now, we come to the final honorees to be celebrated this year, and fittingly, they are the most senior jubilarians of the 2024 cohort, with 65 years of priesthood.

Father Dennis O’Riley and Father Robert Schladen were ordained on August 2, 1959.

Please note: The following profiles plumb the rich archives of The Catholic Post newspaper, which served the diocese with award-winning distinction from 1934-2023. The content and research borrow heavily from previously printed articles written by Jennifer Willems and published on the occasions of Father O’Riley and Father Schladen’s 50th and 60th anniversaries.

Father Dennis O’Riley

Born in 1931 in Chicago and raised in Danville, Father O’Riley first heard the call to the priesthood in second grade. However, his mother Irma died while he was in high school and that “upset the apple cart.”

A member of Schlarman High School’s’s first graduating class in 1949, he took a “detour” to study mortuary science and became a funeral director.

A SECOND CALL

It was while serving as a funeral director at a Mass for a young priest who had died in a car accident that Father O’Riley perceived a second vocational call. He heard presider Bishop Schlarman say that “somebody is going to have to take his (the young priest’s) part.”

Soon after, Father O’Riley entered St. Bede Junior College in Peru, and later completed his priestly studies at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Most of his ministry has been in the eastern part of the Diocese of Peoria: St. Columba in Ottawa, St. Malachy in Rantoul, Sacred Heart in Farmer City and St. John in Bellflower.

Returning to Danville in 1974 as co-pastor with Father Robert Hoffman at St. Patrick, Father O’Riley worked to help merge the parish with St. Joseph to form the new parish of Holy Family, with a new church building.

He also served at Holy Cross in Champaign, St. Patrick in Tolono and St. Charles Borromeo in Homer before being granted senior status in 2001.

In his 50th anniversary profile in The Catholic Post, Father O’Riley advised anyone considering the priesthood to “consult with someone,” be it their pastor or another priest, bring it to prayer, and then be willing to “take the next step.”

It was a step taken twice in his family, as his older brother, the late Father Jim O’Riley, was a priest of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

SUMMING UP

In July, 2024, on the eve of his 65th anniversary of ordination, Father Dennis O’Riley recapped his vocational journey:

“It all started in second grade at St. Patrick School in Danville when the thought of becoming a priest first entered my mind and heart. After graduating in 1949 with the very first class of Schlarman High School, I started my career in the funeral business. After a couple years, the Holy Spirit started speaking to me again and I entered the seminary.

I am grateful to God for the bishops I have served and the wonderful parishes, people and priests that have been part of my life for these 65 years.”

Father Robert Schladen

Father Schladen was born in 1933 in Cissna Park and raised in Mason City. As with Father O’Riley, Father Schladen emulated the example of an older brother – in his case the late Father Donald Schladen – in answering his call to the priesthood.

As also with Father O’Riley, Father Schladen went to St. Bede Junior College for two years, and studied philosophy and theology at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

IT WAS A DIFFERENT TIME

In his 60th anniversary profile, Schladen mentioned a few items pertaining to his first posting at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Peoria:

–He was there with three other priests at the cathedral;

–Every diocesan office was led by a priest;

–The cathedral rectory’s basement was the nerve center of the diocese, housing the offices of the bishop, his secretary, the chancery, finance, and the marriage tribunal, as well as the diocesan museum and archives (two cardboard boxes in the furnace room);

–A priest’s monthly salary was $60, and for a priest to own a personal vehicle required written permission from the bishop.

Other early roles for Father Schladen included directing the Catholic Youth Center in Peoria, serving as parochial vicar at St. Patrick in Danville, and teaching Latin and religion at Schlarman High School.

YOUNG PASTOR, YOUNG PARISH
An especially exciting time was his first assignment as a pastor to the new parish of St. Maria Goretti in Coal Valley. In his 60th anniversary article he related that in those baby boom years “there were lots of young families.”

Then came an experience of co-pastoring at St. Pius X in Rock Island with the Rock Island-Milan Cooperative Ministry.

Later would come administrative postings such as co-director of the diocesan Communications and Evangelization Office, 13 years of service on the diocesan personnel board, and the position of  coordinator of Ministry to Priests. “I really liked working with the priests,” he was quoted as saying. “They want to do good and they’re dedicated.”

His final full-time position before retiring to senior status in 2003 was as pastor of St. Mark Parish in Peoria.

SUMMING UP

Asked to comment on his 65th anniversary by the Catholic Post Online, Father Schladen encapsulated his priesthood experience in two words – “nunc dimittis.”* He explained that this phrase, which means “Now you may dismiss your servant in peace,” was part of a Latin hymn that monks prayed in the monastery garden after a hard day.

*Additional context on a vocation well-lived: The words “nunc dimittis” come from Luke 2:25-38  when Simeon experiences our Lord through the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem, an event for which he had waited his whole life.