Doggone friendly and a good listener too

He is: Father William Eddy, pastor of St. Hilary Parish on the North Side. Ordained at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in 1975.

Family life: “My dad owned a gasoline station. One was at Laflin and 87th Street (near the old Melody Lane), and later, one at 87th and Cicero. My mom managed currency exchanges in South Chicago. I have two sisters, one older and one younger.

“I didn’t have time for sports as a kid — I was busy working for my father! I recall at the time gas was 24 cents a gallon and cigarettes a quarter a pack. The station had a repair and towing service. My dad would buy me a junker and tell me to fix it up. Then he’d sell it and get me another. I didn’t have time to get into trouble.”

Schools: He attended St. Kilian Elementary School, staffed by the Adrian Dominican Sisters. He was an altar server. “I remember Sister Marie Patrick, my eighth -grade teacher. She was from Ireland. When I told her I wanted to go to Quigley she did everything to help me struggle through math to make it. We were the second class at Quigley South.”

If he hadn’t answered the call to priesthood he thinks he might have been a policeman, a psychologist or maybe taken over his father’s business.

Priesthood: In his 35 years as a priest he’s served a cross-section of the archdiocese, in Waukegan, Tinley Park, the city’s North Side, in Chicago Heights for 21 years and now at St. Hilary’s. He fits in. “It amazes me how wonderful people are!” The secret may be that he’s known as a good listener and someone who is easy to open up to.

He likes to remind parishioners wherever he goes: “God loves us and he loves the others, too.” A parishioner helped spark his interest in the church’s response to the needs of persons with disabilities. “She made me realize we all, to some extent, have ‘disabilities’ of some sort.”

Pastor’s ‘best friend’: He still has Maggie, his shepherd-retriever-collie, that he calls “My mutt, and source of exercise.”

Prayer life: “A pastor has to pray ALL the time! First thing in the morning before Maggie wakes up is good for me.” He also takes mini-prayer breaks throughout his day. Reading during the Year of the Priest included a work by Blessed Columba Marmion, the 19th century Dublin-born monk. He’s followed “Christ in His Mysteries,” with another Marmion classic, “Christ, the Life of the Soul.”

Leisure: “I’m bad about taking days off. I save them up. My sisters and I have a little place in Indiana. I like to go there for a few days and read or fix things that need fixing, and we have wonderful neighbors.

“Yes, I cook when I have time. When it gets a little cooler I’ll make my sisters their favorite dish, beef stroganoff.”

Favorite Saint: “That would be St. John Vianney, patron of priests. I have a bust of him right here that was waiting for me in the rectory when I came to St. Hilary’s.”

Slogan: “Eddy is an English name. When I was in college I looked up the family tree. The Eddys have a slogan in Latin that translates: ‘The cross gives me welcome rest.’ I like that.”