The Cathedral Parish of St. Raymond Nonnatus 1917-1992
Written by Robert R. Morris

Part 8: A New Pastor for St. Raymond's
On October 10, 1941, as war clouds grew darker over the world and over the nation, the people of St. Raymond Parish received word that Chicago Archbiship Samuel Stritch had appointed Rev. Edwin V. Hoover to be the second pastor of St. Raymond Nonnatus Parish.

Father Hoover's background was about as different as could be from his brusque predecessor with Itish brogue. Born in Chicago in 1901, the young Edwin Hoover behan his studies at Quigley Preparatory Seminary. But his deep intelligence and talent for music won him an appointment to the North American College in Rome, where he was ordained in 1926.

Fahter Hoover's first appointment was to Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, where he held the role of director of the Cardinal's Cathedral Choristers, while serving as a professor of history at Quigley Seminary. In fact, prior to his appointment as pastor of St. Raymond, Father Hoover had no previous parish experience.

But he made up for lost time when he arrived in Joliet.

No sooner had Father Hoover settled into his new routine as pastor, when World War II began for the United States with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7. The grief of war was particularly poignant for the St. Raymond community, as U.S. Navy Ensign Edward Gosselin, a parishioner and graduate of St. Raymond School, was one of the 1,000 men who lost their lives as the USS Arizona exploded and sank in Pearl Harbor, the target of relentless Japanese bombing and torpedo attacks.

When the news of the loss of another St. Raymond graduate, Lt. Robert Smith, reached the parishioners, Father Hoover comforted his flock with these words:

"They [were] not eminent in finance, law or medicine. They were far too young for that -- they gave their golden lives for God -- America, and their school. No wonder St. Raymond School is proud to acknowledge [them] as her children. She leads them happily to God's throne, and gives them to the heavenly Fahter."

When the war years were finally over, and the prosperity of the post-war boom created a better standard of living for everyone, St. Raymond's star began to rise simultaneously.

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