Fr. Steve Pujdak, SCJ, 82, died November 12. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Fr. Steve professed his first vows with the Priests of the Sacred Heart in 1962. Among those in his novitiate class: Fr. Tom Cassidy, SCJ, Fr. Mark Fortner, SCJ, and Fr. Pat Lloyd, SCJ.
Following seminary studies in the US, Fr. Steve went on to the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, where he earned a Ph.D. and an STD in theology. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1969 by Bishop Joseph DePalma, SCJ, former superior general of the Priests of the Sacred Heart.
Fr. Steve’s first full-time assignments were in academics, initially serving as a professor at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology (1975-77) and at Marquette University in Milwaukee (1977-82). In 1983 he joined provincial administration as planning director and then as provincial secretary.
In 1988 he moved to the Rio Grande Valley, where he ministered at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Raymondville, TX, from 1988-2004. He then moved to Pinellas Park, FL, where he assisted with the province retirement community there and did support ministry in the diocese. In recent years was a fully retired member of the community.
Fr. Steve’s parents were both deaf. In an interview for a project on the personal experiences of immigration, he told Fr. Juan Carlos Castañeda Rojas, SCJ – then a seminarian – that his family members were “immigrants to the hearing world” and that his first language was sign language.
Click here to read more on the province website.
Funeral arrangements
Friday, November 21
Good Shepherd Chapel at Sacred Heart at Monastery Lake
7350 S. Lovers Lane Rd.
Franklin, WI 53132
Vigil: 9:30 a.m.
Mass of Christian Burial: 10:30 a.m.
Interment will follow in the community mausoleum
