Rev Joseph N Petraitis MIC
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Born 16/7/1922;
Ordained 22/05/1952
Marian Fathers - Congregation of Marian Fathers.
Joseph was only eight when he first felt the strong desire to become a priest. The son of a Lithuanian farmer and a shepherd boy', he would walk seven kilometres to the nearest church to attend Mass with his godmother.
Joseph's schooling was halted in 1936 because his father had no money and for two years he plotted to walk to a monastery 100kms away. Fortunately he was able to resume his schooling and by 1941 he had received sufficient education to enter the seminary. After one year he moved to a different seminary in Lithuania but before long he was forced to flee with his mother, sister and two brothers to a refugee camp in northern Germany.
At the time most seminaries had been closed due to the war but on his third day at the camp a man approached him because of his collar and asked him if he was a priest. He told him he was studying to be a priest and so the man gave him directions to a seminary that was still open in Bavaria.
The family remained at the refugee camp but later were transferred to another camp in Germany run by the Americans and were sponsored by an aunty living in America to join her in Brooklyn.
After studying philosophy and German at the Bavarian seminary, Joseph and other Lithuanian seminarians were sent to Italy to complete their studies. It was here that Joseph joined the Marian Immaculate Conception order and in 1945 he took his religious vows and then joined his family in the United States of America.
Joseph was ordained a priest in Joliet, near Chicago, on 22 May, 1952, after studying in four different countries. He spent 15 years in the USA, including six as provincial secretary, and in 1963 he was sent to Argentina where he was an assistant parish priest in Rosario, in the province of Santa Fe, and then parish priest for 17 years in Avellaneda.
In July 1984 he was transferred to Adelaide and for the next 30 years he was the Lithuanian chaplain. During this period he spent seven years as the Spanish migrant chaplain, having learnt the language in Argentina.
While in Chicago, Fr Petraitis was asked to work on the editing of the Lithuanian calendar, a job he did for 31 years until 2008. For 23 years he also edited the Lithuanian fortnightly bulletin.
Even when he was in his nineties, Joseph would spend hours visiting his compatriots in hospital, aged care and in their own homes.
He was devoted to the Virgin Mary since he was a child and his mother taught him the Rosary prayer which he would say in five languages – one decade in Lithuanian, the others in Latin, German, Spanish and English. He proudly told people how he was born on the Feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel.
Joseph died on Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast day which held a special place in his heart as demonstrated by his faithful wearing of the Divine Mercy medal.
A Vigil Mass was offered in St Casimir's Lithuanian Catholic Church on April 11 followed by a funeral Mass on 12 April, celebrated by Archbishop Philip Wilson in St Francis Xavier's Cathedral. Concelebrating priests were the Vicar General Father Philip Marshall, Mgr Edmond Putrimas MIC from Toronto, Fr Dariusz Drzewiecki MIC from the Philippines, Fr Juozas Deveikis MIC (Lithuanian chaplain in SA) from Melbourne and priests of the Adelaide Archdiocese.
Rest in peace Joseph.