2010 [Portrait By Lyn Strieker] 1962 [Scene from the seminary in Teutopolis, Illinois. The African American friar in the picture is Bennet (Wallace) Spivey, from Corpus Christi parish in Chicago.] Joseph Zimmerman Webpage friarzimm@gmail.com Blog: http://ivyrosary.blogspot.com

JOSEPH Zimmerman, O.F.M. Order of Friars Minor Joseph Zimmerman, ("Father Joe" for the last 38 years) has been at Quincy University since 1970. In the fall of 2009 he resumed teaching sociology as an adjunct faculty member, offering an honors course entitled “The Sociological Imagination.” When, in the summer of 2009, an unexpected vacancy occurred on the provincial council, the group that advises in the leadership of Sacred Heart Province, he was asked to serve on that body. He serves on the board of Cornerstone: Foundations for Families, a Quincy agency devoted to counseling and therapy for people of all ages. He presides at Mass in local parishes as needed, usually at St. Peter's Church on Maine Street, and serves as "vicar" (second-in-command) at Holy Cross Friary. From 1970 to 1998 Father Joe taught sociology here, serving also for some years as chair of the Division of History and Social Science and as president of the Faculty Senate. His favorite courses were courses in racial and ethnic relations, sociological theory, and research methods. His specialty has been the sociology of religion, and he maintains membership in the three major professional organizations in that field, the Association for the Sociology of Religion, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and the Religious Research Association. He still entertains the goal of doing more serious research in that field, and does some writing in other fields. From 1972 to 1978 he served on the staff of Our Lady of Angels Seminary (now North Campus), while continuing to teach full time at Q.U. From 1978 to 1984 he served as guardian (first in command) at Quincy College Friary. Between 1999 and 2007 he filled a number of administrative roles, including interim vice president for academic affairs, dean of professional and continuing education, and assessment research officer. Over the years Father Joe has been involved in various "extracurricular" religious organizations, including Marriage Encounter, Koinonia, and Christian Family Camp. Father Joe was born in 1935 in Decatur, Illinois. At age 14 he left home for St. Joseph's Seminary (high school and two years of college) in Westmont, Illinois. After a year of novitiate in Teutopolis, Illinois, he went to Cleveland, Ohio for three years of philosophy study, and completed his priesthood training after four more years in Teutopolis. He was ordained in 1962, spent the 1963-64 school year as a "pastoral intern" at St. Francis Solanus Parish in Quincy, and then left for Boston for five and a half years of graduate study in sociology. He was awarded a doctorate in sociology from Harvard University in 1973, using a study of St. Peter's Church in the Chicago Loop as his doctoral dissertation. Ten years ago Father Joe's doctor ordered him to get a hobby, "something you can do year-round." He settled on cross-stitch, a craft that is remarkably inexpensive, can be done anywhere, and involves color, which he enjoys. Much of his recreation takes place in the company of a family in Quincy who he has known for 30 years. He can enjoy sporting events, but grew up in a family that had no interest in them, so they are not his favorite activity. He played most sports in the seminary, but was never very good (too fat, bad knees, and no coaching). He loves Scripture, and reads the Bible from cover to cover every three years, following a reading plan he devised.