About Us : Our Mission and Vision : Our History Que es Casa Jesus : Mision y Vision : Historia de CJ

In 1987, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin approved the founding of a house of formation/ discernment to be called Casa Jesús for Hispanic young men interested in diocesan priesthood. 
 
The house was developed at the grassroots level by Fr. Arturo Perez and Fr. Silvano Filipetto who were respectively the pastor and the associate pastor of St. Casmir Parish located on 2226 S. Whipple St. in Little Village (Chicago). They felt there were Spanish-speaking young men interested in priesthood who were not being reached by the traditional seminary system.  The focus of the house from the beginning was to create a prayerful community in which these men would be able to discern their call to the priesthood.

The young men accepted into Casa Jesús lived in the parish house and interacted with the priests and the parish staff on a daily basis.  The aspirants were also involved in pastoral work at St. Casmir or at local Hispanic parishes.  In 1990, St Casmir Parish was merged with St. Ludmila Parish and became Our Lady of Tepeyac Parish.  Fr. Arturo Perez left the parish and Fr. Silvano continued as director of the formation house.  
 In 1992, Fr. Alejandro Garrido was ordained a priest.  He was one of the original aspirants and the first to be ordained from Casa Jesús.  Also in 1992, Fr. David Ford was named director of the house.  Under his direction, the Advisory Board was established in 1993 to help with fund raising and promotion.
 
In 1994, Fr. Michael Herman was named director and the program was moved to the rectory at Notre Dame de Chicago Parish which was closer to the University of Illinois at Chicago where the aspirants studied.

In February of 1995, the "Abre Tu Corazon" (Open Your Heart) discernment program was piloted in St. Procopius Parish.  The program expanded to multiple sites later that year. In May 1996, an outreach for candidates began in Colombia with a visit to interview interested candidates.  
     
In 1999, Fr. Robert Casey began serving as Director after working as Associate Director for one year with Fr. Mike. Fr. Casey and Fr. Herman worked together to form a staff to serve the needs of the ever-growing program.
      
Fr. Alejandro Garrido, who was the first CJ alumnus to be ordained, was appointed the new director at Casa Jesús in July, 2003.

Casa Jesús is hopeful that in the new millennium more young Hispanics will hear God's call to priestly service and find their way to our doorstep.  With eyes of faith, we look to the future, confident that the work done here in the past twenty years will result in the ordination of many more native Spanish speaking priests for the Archdiocese of Chicago.
In 2006 after 12 years of residing at Notre Dame De Chicago Parish, His eminence Francis Cardinal George O.M.I. decided that Casa Jesus should move to a new home.  This new home was the convent occupied by the Sisters of BVM located at 750 N. Wabash, Chicago, IL.