Auxiliary Bishop Kevin Birmingham was laid to rest on what would have been his 52nd birthday after two days of funeral services, beginning with visitation at his home church of Our Lady of the Ridge in Chicago Ridge Oct. 6 and ending with a funeral Mass at Holy Name Cathedral Oct. 7.

Cardinal Cupich returned from Rome, where he was participating in the Synod of Bishops, to preside at an Oct. 6 evening vigil at the cathedral and to be the main celebrant of the funeral Mass.

Bishop Birmingham had served for nearly six years as Cardinal Cupich’s priest-secretary before being appointed an auxiliary bishop in 2020. He served as episcopal vicar of Vicariate IV until September, when he was appointed episcopal vicar of Vicariate VI.

“This is a loss that I feel personally and intensely,” Cardinal Cupich said at the end of the funeral Mass, while offering his condolences to Bishop Birmingham’s mother, Jeanette, his eight surviving siblings, other family members and friends and coworkers, as well more than 100 priests and more than a dozen bishops.

Bishop Birmingham died unexpectedly Oct. 2.

Like many over the two days of services, Cardinal Cupich recalled Bishop Birmingham’s kindness, his faith and his gift for bringing people together.

“He made unity in the church and in the human family a priority, unafraid to step into the fray and call for calm,” Cardinal Cupich said. “And so it is, even in death, he brings us together this day, his parting gift to us, to remind us how fragile we all are, how much we need each other, how much we need to pay attention to what really counts, lest we overcomplicate our lives.”

Cardinal Cupich cited his predecessor, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who wrote before he died that suffering teaches one to focus on the essentials, which leads to a simplicity of focus on love.

“Kevin lived that kind of uncomplicated life, focusing on the essentials, keeping close family and friends, giving priority to other’s needs, serving those at the margins, recognizing the gifts of others, showing gratitude, seeking reconciliation and loving Christ,” the cardinal said. “With that same focus, Kevin lived his uncomplicated faith, never showy, but always real, and deeply woven into the routines of everyday life.”

Auxiliary Bishop Robert Lombardo, who was ordained a bishop with Bishop Birmingham and Auxiliary Bishop Jeffrey Grob, was the homilist at the funeral Mass.

Bishop Lombardo, a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, recalled learning of Bishop Birmingham’s death the morning of Oct. 2. He was standing in the cathedral, preparing to celebrate the Mass to be broadcast on Oct. 15. Auxiliary Bishop Robert Casey, the vicar general, had just finished celebrating the Mass for Oct. 8 when he got a phone call, and sank down to sit on a kneeler. He called Bishop Lombardo over just before Bishop Lombardo began the next Mass and shared the news.

“It was a gut punch,” Bishop Lombardo said. “Within a minute of getting the news, I was at the altar, because they were ready to film. I was numb and stunned.”

But once the Mass began, Bishop Lombardo said, and he said, “Peace be with you,” he was filled with a sense of the peace of Christ.

“I can’t tell you how powerfully I was in the presence of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Lombardo said. “I was not able to reach out to Jesus before he reached out to me.”

Jesus, Bishop Lombardo said, told his disciples he would be with them until the end of time. “At the Mass, we’re able to receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist,” he went on, adding that Bishop Birmingham put the Eucharist and his faith in Jesus at the center of his life.

Bishop Grob, who preached at the Oct. 6 vigil service, shared his memories of Bishop Birmingham’s faith as well.

“What shone forth through Bishop Kevin’s life was his belief in and love of the Lord Jesus, who is the alpha and the omega,” Bishop Grob said. “That resulting relationship between those two spilled into everything Bishop Kevin did and who he was. … Bishop Kevin genuinely, genuinely, genuinely cared about people.”

Auxiliary Bishops Casey, Grob, Lombardo and Mark Bartosic received the casket containing Bishop Birmingham’s remains at Holy Name Cathedral in the afternoon of Oct. 6.

During the Rite of Reception, Bishop Casey gave the homily, recalling an occasion over the summer when he advised Bishop Birmingham — never one for ostentation — to dress in his black cassock and red sash for a walk to church and Mass with migrants. When a photo of Bishop Birmingham walking among the migrants appeared on the cover of Chicago Catholic, Bishop Casey teased him, saying that wearing the cassock had done it.

“What put him on the front page, what gives him primacy of place in our hearts, was not the cassock,” Bishop Casey said. “It was that this man was clothed in Christ.”

Andy Santos, Bishop Birmingham’s best friend from the age of 14, said that the thing he would first tell someone about his friend is that he was genuine.

“He was the real deal,” said Santos, who traveled with his wife from Omaha, Nebraska, for the services. “He was kind. Not fake kind. He was really kind. It didn’t matter who you were. He treated everyone the same.”

The two met when they attended Quigley South high school seminary together, riding the bus from the far South Side. Santos was from St. Linus, which has now been united with Our Lady of the Ridge Parish. They were roommates in college and never lost touch; less than two weeks begore he died, Bishop Birmingham went to Indianapolis to celebrate Santos’ oldest child’s wedding Mass.

“I think he was the most loved priest in the archdiocese,” Santos said. “Everybody loved him, because he loved everybody.”

Members of the former St. Anne Parish in Hazel Crest, now part of St. John Neumann Parish, where Bishop Birmingham was a pastor, attended the visitation at Our Lady of the Ridge Church. They recall him shoveling snow; playing with his dog, Lady; and even painting the church ceiling, according to Bob Blanda.

“He wouldn’t ask anyone to do something he wouldn’t do,” said Elaine Blanda, who worked there as pastoral assistant.

Elizabeth Wakefield used to volunteer in a number of ministries, including Monday Night Suppers organized by Catholic Charities.

“He used to do the shopping, and I’d come in and see what I was going to cook,” Wakefield said. He was good at feeding a crowd, she said. “He had to be, coming from such a big family.”

“Grandma Jane” Hanlon and her daughter Rosemary, parishioners at the former St. Benedict Parish in Blue Island, remember him cooking at the parish fish fry. St. Benedict, now part of St. Mary Magdalen Parish, was Bishop Birmingham’s first assignment as a priest.

He still came every St. Patrick’s Day for corned beef with Grandma Jane and her family, they said at the visitation at Our Lady of the Ridge.

School Sister of Notre Dame Miriam Patrick Cummings first met Bishop Birmingham at St. Benedict. Later, she worked in the office of the vicar for priests while Bishop Birmingham was Cardinal Cupich’s priest-secretary.

Just before he died, she sent a birthday card to Bishop Birmingham at St. Barnabas Parish, where he intended to move after becoming episcopal vicar for Vicariate VI, she said. At the bottom, she wrote a note wishing him well in another year of doing the good work of God.

“He’s still doing it,” said Sister Miriam Patrick. “Just from a different place.”