Fr. Thomas Long, CSV, professed first vows as a Viatorian religious on September 8, 1962, but it was just before he was ordained to the priesthood on May 17, 1969, that the events in the world during his seminary years became searing memories. Fr. Long and his classmates were studying at the Viatorian seminary in 1968 in Washington DC, when fires and riots broke out after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. “We were firsthand witnesses to the deep divide in our country,” Fr. Long says.
Fr. Dan Hall, right, presents Fr. Tom Long with his jubilarian gift.
This cemented what has become a lifelong commitment to social justice. Fr. Long taught at Bishop McNamara and Alleman High Schools before going into parish work. First, he was an associate pastor at St. Viator Parish in Chicago – a placement he left in 1984 to then become the founding pastor of St. Thomas More Catholic Community in Henderson, NV.
In 1994, Fr. Long earned his master’s degree in social work and spent the next nine years in California working with members of the HIV/AIDS community, working with people experiencing homelessness, and administering a recovery program.
When he returned to Illinois in 2003, Fr. Long became involved in the Viatorians’ communications efforts. He has served as the editor of Viatorian publications ever since.
Fr. Tom Long, right, attends the liturgy that celebrated 35 years of Viatorian ministry at St. Thomas More.
Outside of the Province Center, he also serves in several social justice initiatives, mostly dedicated to accompanying immigrants and working toward immigration reform. For example, Fr. Long frequently drives 60 miles from his home in Chicago to Kankakee to pray with detained immigrants at the Jerome Combs Detention Center before they are deported later that day.