Fr Joseph Nikodemas Petraitis MIC

Early Life

Joseph Petraitis was only eight when he first felt the strong desire to become a priest. Born on July 16, 1922, the son of a Lithuanian farmer and as a “shepherd boy”, he would walk seven kilometres to the nearest church to attend Mass with his godmother.

Joseph’s schooling was halted in 1936 because his father had no money and for two years he plotted to walk to a monastery 100km away. Fortunately he was able to resume his schooling and by 1941 he had received sufficient education to enter the seminary. After one year he moved to a different seminary in Lithuania but before long he was forced to flee with his mother, sister and two brothers to a refugee camp in northern Germany.

At the time most seminaries had been closed due to the war but on his third day in the camp a man approached him because of his collar and asked him if he was a priest. He told him he was studying to be a priest and so the man gave him directions to a seminary that was still open in Bavaria. 

The family remained at the refugee camp but later were transferred to another camp in Germany run by the Americans and were then sponsored by an aunty living in America to join her in Brooklyn.

A New Direction

After studying philosophy and German at the Bavarian seminary, Joseph and other Lithuanian seminarians were sent to Italy to complete their studies. It was here that Fr Petraitis joined the Marian Immaculate Conception order and in 1945 he took his religious vows and then joined his family in the United States of America.

Fr Petraitis was ordained a priest in Joliet, near Chicago, on May 22 1952, after studying in four different countries. He spent 15 years in the USA, including six as provincial secretary, and in 1963 he was sent to Argentina where he was an assistant parish priest in Rosario, in the province of Santa Fe, and then parish priest for 17 years in Avellaneda.

To Australia

In July 1984 he was transferred to Adelaide and for the next 30 years he was chaplain to the Lithuanian community. During this period he also spent seven years as the Spanish migrant chaplain, having learnt the language in Argentina. While in Chicago, Fr Petraitis was asked to work on the editing of the Lithuanian calendar, a job he did for 31 years until 2008. For 23 years he also edited the Lithuanian fortnightly bulletin for the Adelaide community. 

Even when he was in his 90s, Fr Petraitis deeply committed to his people and would spend hours visiting his compatriots in hospital, aged care and in their own homes.

Fr Petraitis was devoted to the Virgin Mary since he was a child and his mother taught him the Rosary prayer which he would say in five languages – one decade in Lithuanian, the others in Latin, German, Spanish and English. He proudly told people how he was born on the Feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel.

Though a priest of a Religious Order, Fr Petraitis was very much part of the Archdiocese. He was actively involved in all diocesan celebrations: the canonisation of Mary MacKillop, the Marian Procession and Migrant and Refugee Sunday. He also was an active member of the Migrant Chaplains and Pastoral Workers network and kept in touch with the Diocesan Multicultural Office, never missing bi-monthly meetings where he caught up with his priestly and Religious colleagues. He also regularly attended the Regional meeting of priests and took a real interest in the local church.

In September 2014 he was admitted to hospital followed by his transfer to the Labrina Nursing Home and later, suffering with sever dementia he moved to Tappeiner Court. In his 94th year, he died on April 3, 2016, Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast day which held a special place in his heart as demonstrated by his faithful wearing of the Divine Mercy medal.

A vigil Mass was offered in St Casimir’s Lithuanian Catholic Church on April 11 followed by a funeral Mass on April 12, celebrated by Archbishop Philip Wilson in St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral. Concelebrating priests were the Vicar General Fr Philip Marshall, Mgr Edmond Putrimas MIC from Toronto, Fr Dariusz Drzewiecki MIC from the Philippines, Fr Juozas Deveikis MIC (Lithuanian chaplain in SA) from Melbourne and priests of the Adelaide Archdiocese.

He is buried in the Centennial Park Cemetery.

May he rest in peace.