The man known to Catholics all over the Archdiocese of Chicago as “Brother Ed” is now “Father Ed,” appointed as pastor at Immaculate Conception Parish in Morris, Ill. Resurrectionist Father Ed Howe was ordained by Cardinal George Aug. 14 at St. Wenceslaus Church in Chicago, with hundreds of relatives, friends and supporters in attendance. After the ordination Mass, he stood out in the sun on a sweltering afternoon, greeting friends and giving blessings as he tried to make his way into the parish hall for a reception. Already, he said, he felt different. “It does feel different,” he said. “It did at the prayer of consecration.” Calling Holy Spirit In his homily, Cardinal George reminded the congregation that the Holy Spirit called down to transform Howe into a priest is the same Holy Spirit who transformed Jesus’ body when he rose from the dead. The cardinal also reflected on Howe’s service to the church and the community in his 24 years as a brother, helping to free those who were “prisoners of ignorance” and “prisoners of loneliness.” At the end of the ordination Mass, Howe thanked those in attendance for helping him find his vocation to the priesthood, and, in particular, Cardinal George. “It took a lot of people a lot of work to get me to this place,” he said, but spending time reflecting on Cardinal George’s talks when he worked for the archdiocese’s Radio and Television Office was a special spark. “I gained a new perspective on the life of the church,” he said. Howe, who grew up on the Northwest Side and graduated from Our Lady of Victory School and Gordon Tech High School, is well-known in the archdiocese, after working for more than 20 years in Chicago. Resurrectionist future After high school, he thought he had a vocation to the priesthood, and entered the seminary. But during his novitiate with the Resurrectionists, he felt a different call, a call to serve the Lord as a brother. So he studied to be a social worker in St. Louis, returned to Chicago and was assigned to St. Hedwig Parish from 1988-91, where he helped start and led a grassroots group called “Drug Free Buck Town” that closed down 22 drug houses over several years. After making perpetual vows as a Resurrectionist brother in 1991, he worked at the now-closed Weber High School as a counselor, religion teacher, student activities coordinator and soccer coach. The next year, he moved to Gordon Tech, where his assignments included social worker, head soccer coach and director of technology. By the end of his 11 years there, he was once again assisting at St. Hedwig. During that time, Gordon Tech named him to its Hall of Fame. He was ready for a change, so in 2003, he joined the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Radio and Television office, part of the Communications Department. For three years, he helped record and edit Cardinal George’s press conferences and other talks, the “Catholic Community of Faith” radio show, “The Church, the Cardinal and You” weekly cable television show and “Sanctuary,” which runs on WLS-TV. “Those were like retreat years for me,” Howe said. “I listened to those talks, especially the talks the cardinal did around the death of John Paul II.” Shortly after that, the Resurrectionist congregation asked Howe to return to Gordon Tech as its president and CEO. During that time, he started spending Saturday afternoons with the Eucharist at St. Peter’s in the Loop, St. Mary of the Angels and other churches. In quiet prayer, he felt the Holy Spirit confirm what he had begun to discern while listening to all those talks in the radio and TV office: He was being called to the priesthood. “It’s not like the last 24 years as a brother were a mistake,” said Howe in an interview shortly before his ordination. “I had a vocation to be a brother. Now I’m being called to the priesthood.” His mother, Carol, said she wasn’t terribly surprised by Howe’s new vocation. “After all those years as a brother, I always thought he might end up as a priest. His new vocation will take him to a new environment. He was appointed pastor at Immaculate Conception Parish in rural Morris, Ill. Before the Mass ended, Howe offered a brief blessing for Resurrectionist Father Richard Grek, who had to be taken to the hospital by paramedics after apparently collapsing during Communion. Afterwards, Resurrectionist Father Eric Wagner, who was ordained in May, said he wouldn’t presume to offer the new Father Howe any advice — just a welcome to the club. “It’s exhausting,” Wagner said of the life of a newly ordained priest. “But it’s wonderful”