Geneva Catholic community bids farewell to beloved priest, Rev. Bakkelund

GENEVA – The Rev. Jared Twenty stood before a full church assembly Jan. 31 for the Mass of Christian Burial for the Rev. Jonathan Bakkelund at St. Peter Catholic Church in Geneva.

Bakkelund, 39, died Jan. 25 while in hospice at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Batavia Township.

Noting Bakkelund’s death was at a young age, Twenty, who is pastor at Holy Cross, said the Book of Wisdom teaches that, “The just man, though he die early, shall be at rest.”

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Reverend Jared Twenty, pastor of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Batavia, gives the homily for Reverend Jonathan Bakkelund during the Mass of Christian Burial at St. Peter Catholic Church in Geneva on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024. (Sandy Bressner)

“Two weeks ago, I was with Father Bakkelund in a moment where he began to realize that the end might be soon for him,” Twenty said. “So I asked him, ‘Jon, are you scared?’ And he responded, ‘Not as scared as you should be. You have to preach the funeral.’ ”

The sanctuary momentarily was filled with knowing laughter.

“It’s scary on two levels,” said Twenty, who attended to Bakkelund while he was in hospice and was with him when he died. “Not only is it impossible to fully give a tribute to Father Bakkelund in front of those whom he loved so much, but also Father Bakkelund was my favorite homilist, the best preacher I had ever seen or heard.”

Twenty looked to Bakkelund’s past homilies or notes for inspiration, finding only the outline of the first homily he preached at St. Peter when he was assigned as pastor in 2017.

“The first line: ‘So excited.’ Next: ‘So grateful to be in such a great parish ... ‘ ” Twenty said. “Next line: ‘So, so excited.’ ”

Bakkelund’s outline details that he loved being a priest.

But on a more serious note, he also wrote, “We live in a time when it is not easy to be Catholic. ... Everywhere I go, I meet wonderful, kind people of all faiths and no faith at all. Yet at the same time, it’s pretty easy to see the world needs faithful, joyful, happy Catholics. ‘Excited.’ And the closing line: We are in this together.’ ”

Bakkelund’s humor sometimes got him into trouble, Twenty said.

While at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, the seminarians would do skits and comedy to entertain themselves.

Bakkelund had the idea to get a choir to sing for all the guys in the house.

“But his goal was to find all the worst singers in the house,” Twenty said. “We all knew who the worst guys were. We heard them every morning at morning prayer. Most of them thought it was a pretty funny idea. Until he went to Father Michael Bruno and explained, ‘I want to get all the bad singers in the house to kind of do this choral arrangement. It’ll just be kind of goofy.’ So Father Michael Bruno said, ‘Why are you picking me then?’ ”

Bakkelund, ever quick, responded, “I need someone good that can lead them.”

Bakkelund lived a full life, not only serving his church but always up for an adventure – to see the Boston Pops or to go north to a Green Bay Packers game, Twenty said.

Bakkelund also always found the perfect gifts for his friends.

“He loved to know what made you smile and laugh,” Twenty said. “Humor, for Father Bakkelund, wasn’t just a character trait but a responsibility and a virtue.”

In the last two weeks of Bakkelund’s life, Twenty said he showed how to embrace a holy death with humility, honesty and openness in communicating with his parish about his condition, Twenty said.

“When he started to recognize what was happening, what came to mind to me was the passage in Luke, chapter nine, where it says, ‘Jesus set his face like flint for Jerusalem,’ ” Twenty said.

“Jon became single-minded, preparing to meet the Lord. In one of our final conversations, he said, ‘Make sure to tell my family, my friends and everyone, I’m not scared. As a son of St. Ignatius, I prefer not a long life to a short one, but that all might be for the glory of God. ... What is the true measure of a man that you can think of? His relationships? His successes in life? But for the Christian, ultimately, it is how he dies.”

Bakklund kept his humor to the end, Twenty said, cracking jokes with the priests who visited.

“Father Bakkelund spent his last few days on hospice at the rectory at Holy Cross with Father Orabutt and I,” Twenty said. “And many of you probably know that Father Bakkelund and I had a little bit of a friendly competition between our two parishes. So when we got him moved into the rectory, the first words out of his mouth to me were, ‘Somehow, I always knew Holy Cross would be the death of me.’ ”

The sanctuary again filled with laughter.

Twenty said on Bakkelund’s last day, the nurse woke him and said the priest was struggling.

“I grabbed my oils, anointed him, gave him the apostolic pardon and – instantly – he breathed his last,” Twenty said. “I could not have asked for a better way for the Lord to receive him.”

Burial took place at Calvary Cemetery in Winnebago, Illinois.

Malone Funeral Home in Geneva handled the arrangements.

Memorials can be made to The Rockford Diocesan Priests’ Pension, according to the diocese.