Fr. Jerome Joseph Maksvytis died on Monday, May 27, 2024, at the age of 76, at his home in Portage, Wisconsin, succumbing to terminal cancer.
Father Maksvytis fought several bouts of cancer valiantly over the years. He was born on December 8, 1947 .in Chicago, Illinois. Father Maksvytis is predeceased by his parents, Joseph and Helen Anne (Rutkaskas) Maksvytis.
After attending Grade School at Annunciation & St. Michael Parish, Chicago, Illinois, and then Quigley Preparatory Seminary North, Chicago, Illinois, Father Maksvytis attended St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Illinois, and Holy Name Seminary, Madison, for his collegiate studies. Father Maksvytis studied philosophy and theology at St. Francis de Sales Seminary, Milwaukee, earning a Masters in Divinity.
Father Maksvytis was ordained to the sacred priesthood by The Most Reverend Cletus F. O’Donnell, Bishop of Madison, on May 24, 1974 at St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison.
Father Maksvytis began serving in the Diocese of Madison as a transitional deacon, first at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Parish, Sun Prairie, and then at St. William Parish, Janesville. After ordination to the priesthood, Fr. Maksvytis was a parochial vicar at succeeding assignments at St. Aloysius Parish, Sauk City; St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Madison; St. William Parish, Janesville; and St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison. Father Maksvytis then served as pastor at St. Stanislaus Parish, Berlin, and later added St. Michael Parish, Berlin, and St. Joseph Parish, Berlin, to his pastoral care of the people of Berlin, Wisconsin. These parishes in Berlin were later merged into All Saints Parish, Berlin, through the diligent and solicitous work of Father Maksvytis. He retired as Pastor Emeritus from All Saints Parish, Berlin, in 2014.
Father Maksvytis also served the Diocese of Madison on the Diocesan Matrimonial Tribunal, as the Catholic chaplain to Meriter-Methodist Hospital in Madison, as a diocesan notary, and lastly as the Dean of the Marquette-Grenn Lake Deanery, and later the Columbia North Vicariate Forane.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at All Saints Parish Catholic Church, N8566 State Rd., 49, Berlin, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, at 11 a.m. The Most Reverend Donald J. Hying, Bishop of Madison, will celebrate the Holy Mass, with The Reverend Father Gary Krahenbuhl as homilist. Visitation at All Saints Parish Catholic Church will be held on Tuesday, June 4, from 4 to 7 p.m., as well as on Wednesday morning, June 5, from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. just before the Funeral Mass. Interment will take place after Mass at St. Stanislaus Catholic Cemetery, Berlin.
Online condolences may be left for the family at wieckiskipchakfuneralhome.com