Fr. Edward Looney Visits More Than 600 Priest Graves, Launches Website to Preserve Their Stories

New website will chronicle the lives, ministries, and burial places of priests from the Diocese of Green Bay.

SHAWANO, WI — What began as a November 2025 social media series has grown into a major research project for Fr. Edward Looney, a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Green Bay. After spending nearly a year traveling to cemeteries, researching priests, and photographing their gravestones, Looney has visited and prayed at more than 600 priest graves. Now, he is launching a website to share his discoveries and preserve the memory of these priests.

“I grew up in Oconto, Wisconsin, and whenever I visited the cemetery there, I was always drawn to the graves of the priests buried there,” Looney said. “I noticed that two of them had large cross monuments, and I wondered if that was common for priest graves.”

As a Catholic priest and content creator, Looney was looking for a unique social media series to share during November, the month when Catholics traditionally remember and pray for the faithful departed. He decided to visit the graves of priests and share their stories.

His initial visits were planned and documented in advance. He began with his predecessors as pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Shawano before featuring other priests who had influenced him throughout his life.

“At the end of November, I started wondering which priests I would feature the following year,” Looney recalled. “That’s when I decided I wanted to visit as many priest graves as I possibly could.”

What followed was an extensive research effort.

Looney began by transcribing the Diocese of Green Bay’s necrology from the Ordo, a liturgical publication that includes the death anniversaries of priests from the ecclesiastical provinces of Wisconsin. He then researched individual priests using In His Vineyard, a biographical book published by the Diocese of Green Bay in 1984. Obituaries, online searches, and the Find a Grave website helped him identify additional burial locations.

His research identified more than 650 priest graves, many located throughout the 16 counties of the Diocese of Green Bay. Others were scattered across Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, and numerous other states.

His travels have taken him to cemeteries large and small, sometimes requiring significant detours. While attending the World Series in Tampa Bay, Florida, Looney even rented a car to locate the grave of a Green Bay priest buried in the area.

To date, he has visited, photographed, and prayed at more than 620 priest graves. Several dozen remain on his list, including priests buried overseas and in states he does not frequently visit.

Now, the project is entering a new phase.

Beginning on the First Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2026, Looney will begin a yearlong series commemorating the death anniversaries of priests of the Diocese of Green Bay. Each day, he plans to feature deceased priests through his social media accounts (@FrEdwardLooney) on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

He has also launched GBPriestGraves.com, a website dedicated to the project. The site will provide a permanent online home for his research, featuring photographs of gravestones, biographical information, dates of ordination and death, and burial locations.

For Looney, one of the most rewarding aspects of the project has been the response from people who recognize the names and faces of the priests he features.

“As I’ve posted pictures of priest graves throughout the year, I’ve been moved by the comments people have shared,” Looney said. “Sometimes the posts reach family members of the priests. Other times, people remember serving Mass for them or share memories of their ministry. I look forward to reading those stories as more priests are featured in the year ahead.”

While the project involves extensive historical research, Looney believes it also serves a spiritual purpose.

“These priests dedicated their lives to serving God and His people. They celebrated Mass, heard confessions, baptized children, witnessed marriages, and buried the dead. Many of them are now buried in those same communities where they once served. I hope this project helps ensure that their lives and ministries are not forgotten.”

Looney hopes the project will also encourage others to visit the graves of priests who served their parishes and to remember them in prayer.

Members of the public are invited to visit GBPriestGraves.com, follow @FrEdwardLooney on social media, and share their own memories of the priests featured throughout the coming year.

“Every gravestone has a story,” Looney said. “My hope is that by telling these stories, we can remember the priests who served us, honor their legacy, and most importantly, continue to pray for them.”