Father Wayne F. Watts has been a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago since 1990.
Father Watts is the sixth of nine children and hails from Oak Park and River Forest. A product of 21 years of Catholic education, and member of Fenwick’s class of 1982, Father Watts graduated from Marquette University and then attended Mundelein Seminary. From 1990-1996, he served as Associate Pastor at Saint Francis Xavier in Wilmette. Since 1995, he has been leading youth and adult service pilgrimages to Lourdes, France.
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.
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. He has since implemented many initiatives to strengthen parish membership and participation as well as increase enrollment at St. John Berchmans School. Today, in his second term, both parish and school are thriving. Mass attendance and school enrollment continue to increase, and Sunday collections have grown. While we have come a long way, we still have a long way to go. Great things are happening at Saint John Berchmans!
Father Watts serves on the Board of Trustees of La Lumiere High School in La Porte Indiana, and Josephinum Academy. He has led parish missions, presented at the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Parish Leadership Day and for the Office of Catholic School’s leadership program.