Meet Our Pastor
Reverend Wayne Francis Watts
Father Wayne F. Watts hails from the Oak Park-River Forest neighborhood, where he attended Saint Giles Grade School and Fenwick High School. He is the sixth of nine children and the uncle to 25 nieces and nephews. He has been a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago since 1990.
A member of Marquette University’s class of 1986, Father Watts attended Mundelein Seminary of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake. There he completed the academic and formational requirements to receive a Masters of Divinity.
Father Watts, beginning as a transitional deacon in February 1990, served as Associate Pastor at Saint Francis Xavier in Wilmette. For six years he worked with a competent pastor and mentor. At Saint Francis, his primary duties were pastoral in nature, spending a great deal of time in religious education and youth ministry. Since 1995, he has been leading youth and adult service pilgrimages to Lourdes, France. Over 330 young people and adults have traveled with Father Watts to serve the ill, disabled, and elderly pilgrims who seek the comfort and consolation of that holy place. In 2006, 54 young people and adults joined Father Watts as he traveled Lourdes.
From 1996-2002, Father Watts served as a member of Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary’s faculty. As Vice President of Institutional Advancement and member of the religion and formation faculty for six years, Father Watts convened a group of professionals in the marketing, communications and advertising world to create a PR campaign for the priesthood. The campaign won national and international awards. He also developed fundraising events that produced hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Since July, 2002, Father Watts has been the Associate Administrator of Catholic Charities. At Charities, Father Watts helps to lead the initiative of the Junior Board, involving people in their 20’s, 30’s and early 40’s in the work of Catholic Charities. He also works with the communications and parish outreach committees of Catholic Charities, hoping to make more and more people aware of the services Charities provides and to invite many to join the mission of Catholic Charities. In addition, he assists the development staff as it seeks major gifts and underwriting to help finance the important mission of charity.
In January, 2006, Francis Cardinal George assigned Father Watts to the pastorate of Saint John Berchmans Church in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood.