The Midwest Augustinian Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel has re-elected incumbent Prior Provincial, Very Rev. Anthony B. Pizzo, O.S.A. for a second four-year term of service. This term will begin during the Provincial Chapter this upcoming June, when Fr. Pizzo will formally be re-installed by the Prior General of the Augustinian Order. Fr. Pizzo was first elected to the position of Prior Provincial during the 2018 Provincial Chapter. According to the Canons of the Augustinian Order, Prior Provincials are chosen by a simple majority through a democratic election in which each solemnly professed friar has an equal vote, with the option to abstain.
As Prior Provincial, Fr. Pizzo will continue to oversee all the activities of the Augustinians in the Midwestern United States, Canada, and Northern Peru, while maintaining his primary offices at the Province headquarters in the Beverly neighborhood on Chicago’s Southwest Side. Prior to his election, Fr. Tony served for over a decade as Pastor of St. Rita Parish in Chicago (and Dean of Vicariate V-A), a predominantly Spanish-speaking parish, where he gained recognition for his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform with organizations such as Priests for Justice for Immigrants and the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Pastoral Migratoria ministry. In collaboration with Southwest Organizing Project and its member institutions, he also participated in affordable housing efforts, neighborhood safety issues, and health care for low-income families. A native of Chicago’s Southwest Side, Fr. Pizzo was educated at St. Rene Goupil Parish elementary school and continued to JFK High School, before discerning a vocation with the Augustinians and attaining his undergraduate degree at Villanova University. He professed his vows to the Order in 1979 and received his Master of Divinity from the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago. In 1984, he was ordained to the priesthood in 29184 by Cardinal Joseph Bernadin, receiving his first assignment as Parochial Vicar for St. Clare of Montefalco Parish in Michigan. A grandson of Italian immigrants, Fr. Pizzo also serves as Chaplain for the Italian America Executives of Transportation.
To learn more about the democratic process of Augustinian leadership, we invite you to watch this video, created on the day of Fr. Pizzo’s first installation in 2018.