Rev. Stephen Kanonik, Chicago priest who'd drench parishioners with holy water during blessings, dead at 68

Parishioners knew when it was coming. They'd take off their glasses and close their hymnals. You'd hear giggles of anticipation from kids who gathered on the floor at the front of the church. Some would even don raincoats.

The Rev. Stephen Kanonik — known as Father Steve at St. Benedict parish on the North Side, where he was pastor — didn't offer your average holy water blessing. The typical priest might offer a light sprinkle on the hands. Father Steve favored a deluge.

"He would just douse people with water, and the kids would be reaching up and trying to get as wet as they could," said Rachel Gemo, who heads St. Benedict Preparatory School.

"He would go back and re-bless people to make sure they got really wet," Gemo said. "That was his signature. Then, he would make a joke and say, 'Oh, I don't know why there's so much water on the church floor. Be careful when you come up for communion.' "

Rev. Kanonik died Tuesday in his room at the St. Benedict rectory from what appeared to be heart failure, according to his family. He was 68.

Rev. Kanonik eschewed the regular device priests use to sprinkle parishioners — a handle with a metal ball at the end — in favor of a heavy-duty device akin to a tiny broom.

"You can never have enough holy water for a blessing," he liked to say.

"He'd just fling it," said Kim McMillan, St. Benedict's director of youth ministry. "You could see an arc of water spray in the air. Just that little bit of fun was a way for kids to recognize that God is joy, God is love. And he just loved revving everyone up with holy water."

He usually would go heavy on the holy water at special masses, like around Easter.

Rev. Kanonik also was known for giving students extra time at the end-of-year school Mass to share the sign of peace — a tradition in which parishioners shake hands or embrace nearby parishioners.

"It would basically be 10 minutes long, and kids could go offer peace to anybody in the church," McMillan said. "It was like a big, holy free for all."

A beloved fixture at the North Side parish since 2017, Rev. Kanonik "was often the guy where, if someone needed an anointing of the sick or last rites but they weren't connected to any particular parish and were just calling around, he'd be the guy that would go do it," McMillan said. "Or, if someone wasn't part of the parish but wanted to have a funeral here, he worked with people who called and did his best to make something happen. He really lived his mission as a priest."

Rev. Kanonik knew generations of Catholic families from around Chicago who sought him out for funerals, baptisms and weddings.

"It was a lot of work, but he found himself in his profession as a parish priest," said Robert Kanonik, his brother.

Prior to becoming pastor at St. Benedict, he served as moderator of the curia — a high ranking administrative role — under Cardinal Blase Cupich.

Rev. Kanonik, who was ordained in 1982, also previously had pastoral roles at St. Bruno parish in Archer Heights, St. Louise de Marillac parish in La Grange Park, St. Ladislaus parish in Portage Park and St. Juliana parish in Edison Park.

He was born Aug. 23, 1956. His father Stephen Kanonik oversaw timekeeping and payroll for a manufacturing company, and his mother Helen Kanonik worked as a credit analyst for a bank.

Rev. Kanonik grew up a Cubs fan in Belmont Cragin on the Northwest Side. As a kid, he once dressed as a priest for Halloween.

He loved to read, stay current on technology and tend a vegetable garden he kept on the roof of the St. Benedict gymnasium. He enjoyed traveling to Mercer, Wis., where, since his mother's retirement, his family vacationed every summer.

He attended St. Ferdinand Catholic School, Quigley North High School, Loyola University Chicago and the University of St. Mary of the Lake.

A visitation is planned from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at St. Benedict Church, 2215 W. Irving Park Road, with a funeral Mass there at 10 am Wednesday.

In additon to his brother Robert, Rev. Kanonik's survivors include his siblings Elaine Osborne, Bernadette Kanonik and Donna Kaatz.