Father Sevy Lopez: 67 Years of Ministry

Father Sevy during Mass in the 1950's.

It’s not every day that one gets to hear the stories of someone who has been alive for nearly a hundred years. Claretian Father Severino Lopez, known affectionately as “Fr. Sevy,” has many engaging stories to tell of his long life, most of which has been devoted to his vocation as a priest.

The young Severino spent his days in and around Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, which is home to the National Shrine of St. Jude. The Chicago neighborhood was at that time “very cosmopolitan,” Fr. Sevy says. “There were Mexican, Polish, Italian, and Irish people, all who came for work in the steel mills.” The Spanish-born Claretian priests were asked to minister there. “They began to develop the Spanish liturgy at the original church on Mackinaw Avenue,” he says, “where I made my first communion in 1926.”

The largely Mexican immigrant community began building a new church in 1926 that would accommodate their growing population. The new Our Lady of Guadalupe Church opened in September 1928.

Fr. Sevy was asked by his parish priest, Claretian Father James Tort, to help distribute information about the novenas to St. Jude that were taking place in the church. Fr. Tort had erected an altar to St. Jude, which became the official National Shrine of St. Jude. Prayer to the patron of hope drew enormous crowds during this depression era, as people prayed for intercession.

“I was an altar boy at the time,” says Fr. Sevy, “when Fr. Tort asked me and my friends to deliver letters about St. Jude prayer to neighboring churches. This was the first of what would become a tradition of the Claretians inviting people from near and far to pray together to St. Jude.”

Fr. Sevy’s recollections of Fr. Tort are deeply meaningful to the Claretians, given that so few of them alive today actually knew this lively priest and founding father of the Shrine. “Fr. Tort was a very active man. You couldn’t sit him down for a minute; he was always running around doing things,” says Fr. Sevy. “I remember I especially admired the way he would always genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament despite his fast-paced life.”

In 1932, Fr. Sevy was just 13 when he set out for the Claretian seminary in California. It was a challenging experience for him on many fronts. “I was not able to see any member of my family for more than 12 years,’’ Father Sevy says of his pre-ordination training. “I was separated from them for an extraordinary length of time.’’

His resilient spirit kept him committed to his path, which required ongoing discernment. Fr. Sevy has written about this and his long, vibrant life in his autobiography, El Poche, which was published in 2004.

Father Sevy (left) with fellow Claretian Father Greg Kenny (right) at Corpus Christi Parish in Stone Mountain, GA. Fr. Sevy began serving as Associate Pastor at Corpus Christi in 1900, before returning to OLG in 2006.

Many Claretian ministries have been shepherded by Fr. Sevy over the years. He served as pastor of his home church Our Lady of Guadalupe and the National Shrine of St. Jude, as well as Claretian parishes of Corpus Christi in Georgia, St. Paul’s and Immaculate Heart of Mary in Chicago, and as treasurer of the Claretian Provincial Council. He recalls how, in the mid-80s, he worked with Fr. Bruce Wellems, C.M.F. in Chicago to found Casa Claret, a center where Mexican American students would come to prepare for college. “Our duty was to encourage them toward a college education,” he says. “Many are now working as professionals, so it’s a good feeling to have taken part in that.”

Fr. Sevy has always found his way back home to his old neighborhood and parish, where he still lives today. Even at 93, he has an energetic presence here, where he keeps an eye on the activity of the parish and school. “I celebrate Mass, administer sacraments—anything I can do to pitch in,” he says. “I like to keep active.”