DETROIT –– Fr. Edward J. Vilkauskas, C.S.Sp., a member of the Congregation of the Holy Spirt who served for 12 years as pastor of Old St. Mary’s Parish, was a gregarious priest who reinvigorated the life and traditions of the Greektown Detroit church.

Fr. Vilkauskas passed away in Bensalem, Pa., on Jan. 8 from COVID-19 complications. He was 74.

“He was a great pastor in that he got to know the parish,” said Randy Bowers, operations manager at Old St. Mary’s, which is known for the Latin Mass and traditional devotions. “He wanted to keep all these traditions and grow them. He knew that the number of Masses (offered) was important because of the number of people who would come. He heard confessions every day, and he kept the sacred traditional music.”

Fr. Vilkauskas served as Old St. Mary’s pastor from 2002 to 2013. 

During that time, he worked to restore the traditions of the parish, including the annual outdoor Eucharistic procession each year on the feast of Corpus Christi. He also helped restore the parish’s dwindling Knights of Columbus Council 305, which is the oldest in the state of Michigan. 

Bowers said Fr. Vilkauskas was a great evangelist and had a heart for young families. 

“He was able to bring people back into the Church. He reinvigorated our RCIA program,” Bowers said. “He was very good at drawing people, and they were dedicated to coming once they go to know him and the parish.” 

Fr. Vilkauskas’ hard work extended beyond the parish and into the Detroit community, where he made efforts to provide tuition assistance as well as a monthly program to feed the poor and the homeless, Bowers said.

Fr. Vilkauskas was born Aug. 6, 1946, in Danville, Pa. He professed vows as a member of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit on Aug. 22, 1965, and was later ordained to the priesthood in June 1973 in Pennsylvania. 

Following his ordination, Fr. Vilkauskas began his first assignment as associate pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Pittsburgh. He later returned to his studies at the Catholic University of America, earning a master’s in liturgical studies in 1975. In 1976, he was appointed as director of vocations and liturgical animation of the eastern province of the congregation, and later as the director of collegiate seminarians at Duquesne University.

Fr. Vilkauskas found his way to the Midwest in 1982, becoming director of theologians at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago while he pursued additional studies at the University of Notre Dame. 

In 1985, he moved across the pond and took a position as a lecturer in liturgy at the Mission Institute of London. In 1988, he returned to the United States and spent the next decade in North Carolina as director of evangelization for the Diocese of Charlotte and pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Monroe, N.C.

After briefly serving as the temporary administrator of St. Mary Magdalene in Chicago in 2001, Fr. Vilkauskas was appointed pastor of Old St. Mary’s in Detroit. 

Following his time at Old St. Mary’s, Fr. Vilkauskas took a brief sabbatical, and in 2013 took a position as chaplain for the Sisters of Christian Charity at the Holy Family Convent in Danville, Pa., until 2018. Fr. Vilkauskas subsequently retired at Libermann Hall in Bethel Park. 

Fr. Vilkauskas is preceded in death by his parents and is survived by his brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew, and several great-nieces and nephews. He was buried in Bensalem, Pa., on Saturday, Jan. 16. 

Donations may be made to the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, 6230 Brush Run Road, Bethel Park, PA 15102.