RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Reverend George Clements has been called to eternal life by the wisdom of God at the age of 87; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been informed of his passing by Alderman Edward M. Burke; and
WHEREAS, Father Clements is survived by his sons, Friday, Stewart, St. Anthony and Joseph; a sister, Ynez Gilmer, 15 grandchildren, and eight grandchildren; and
WHEREAS, George Harold Clements was born to Samuel and Aldonia Clements on January 26, 1932, in Chicago, where his father worked as a city auditor; and
WHEREAS, In 1945, Father Clements became the first African-American to graduate from the Chicago Archdiocese's Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary and completed his bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of St. Mary of the Lake seminary in JVIundelein, IL, north of Chicago, before he was ordained in 1957; and
WHEREAS, Father Clements was devoted to the civil rights movement as well as his faith, and he worked hard to advance black causes; and
WHEREAS, Father Clements marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Chicago, Alabama and Mississippi; and
WHEREAS, Father Clements helped create programs, like the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, to support African-Americans within the Church; and
WHEREAS, Father Clements started programs to help drug addicts and incarcerated people and their families; and
WHEREAS, ln 1980 Father Clements created One Church One Child, a program to help Catholic churches find adoptive parents for orphaned black children, and later that year he adopted a black 13-year-old boy, Joseph and in time adopted an additional three sons; and
WHEREAS, To his beloved family, Reverend George Clements imparts a legacy of faithfulness, service and dignity; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the members ofthe Chicago City Council, assembled this Eighteenth day of December, 2019, do hereby commemorate Reverend George Clements for his grace-filled life and do hereby express our c...
Click here for full text