Clergy & Staff Directory

Fr. Rex Pillai Associate Pastor

Fr. Rex Pillai is originally from Sri Lanka, an island that is located off the Southern coast of India. He was ordained as a member of a religious order known as the "Redemptorists." After his ordination he was engaged in preaching parish missions, retreats and parish ministry in Sri Lanka.

He arrived in Chicago in 2005 to attend graduate school at Loyola University to obtain a degree in Psychology and Counseling. It was during his time at Loyola University that he began to discern a calling to the diocesan priesthood in the Archdiocese of Chicago. After prayer and guidance he made a decision to transition to the Archdiocese of Chicago, a process known as "Incardination." The Incardination process consists of two phases in two different parishes. He began the first phase of his incardination process in November 2009 at St. Benedict Parish on W. Irving Park Road. The time he spent at St. Benedict Parish gave him an insight into parish ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago. He was able to learn much at St. Benedict Parish and feels blessed to have been part of a vibrant faith community.

While taking classes at Loyola University, Fr. Rex was a resident at St. Michael Parish in Old Town, where he first heard of Saint Clement Parish in Lincoln Park. He joined the pastoral staff of Saint Clement Parish in July 2013. This marks the beginning of the second phase of his Incardination process.

Fr. Rex is honored and humbled to be part of a parish that has served God’s people in Chicago for over a century, and share in the vision of this great parish. His job duties include preaching, celebrating the sacraments, sacramental preparation, pastoral visits to the sick and homebound, counseling and spiritual direction, marriage preparation, married couples group, working with teens/youth group (the God Squad), and Ministry of Care.

Rachel Espinoza Director of Children and Family Catechesis

Rachel Espinoza joined the Saint Clement staff in June 2015. She directs the religious education program for parish children, sacramental preparation, Liturgy of the Word for Children, and family catechesis. She offers training and support for the catechists at Saint Clement and collaborates in providing adult faith formation in the parish. She also guides the Faith Formation Committee called Faith in the Next Generation.

Rachel earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theology and Catechetics from Franciscan University and a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Notre Dame. She has worked professionally in parish ministry for five years and is a certified Pastoral Associate of the Archdiocese of Chicago. She is also an author for Liturgy Training Publications and wrote Sunday Prayer for Catholic School Teachers (2015-2016) and Sunday Prayer for Teens (2016-2017).

“The question of how we are educating in faith is not rhetorical, it is essential. The response calls for courage, creativity and the decision to take paths which are at times yet uncharted. The catechesis, as a component of the process of evangelization, needs to go beyond the simple realm of scholastics, in order to educate believers, beginning with children, to encounter Christ, living and working in his Church. It is the encounter with [Christ] that gives rise to the desire to know him better and thus to follow Him to become his disciples.” ~ Pope Francis, May 29, 2015

Paul Nicholson Director of Music

Named Director of Music at Saint Clement in 2010, Paul is a distinguished Chicago accompanist, vocal coach, composer, conductor and singer. He has served both faculty and staff at Roosevelt University, Lake Forest College, Concordia University, Columbia College, and the School of Music at DePaul University. 

He has sung with the Chicago Symphony and Grant Park Music Festival choruses. His vocal and instrumental compositions have been recorded on the Cedille, Imaginary Road and Polygram labels, and he has appeared both at the keyboard and as a singer on Live from Studio One on WFMT. Currently he serves as accompanist to the Grant Park Music Festival chorus. Paul serves Saint Clement as principal organist and director of three choral ensembles: Schola Clementis, Seraphim, and Cantate Choir. In addition, he auditions and trains all cantors and instrumentalists.

Gael Day Receptionist & Wedding Coordinator

Gael joined Saint Clement in February 2007 as our Parish Receptionist and Wedding Coordinator. In her role as Parish Receptionist, she provides both welcome and hospitality to all who come to the Parish Office. In addition, Gael is the person on staff who assists with facility scheduling and coordination, keeps all the sacramental records, and supports the parish ministry to our homeless guests.

As Wedding Coordinator, Gael works with couples wishing to be married here, beginning with scheduling the wedding and Marriage Information Night through record keeping and recording. Before joining Saint Clement, Gael worked as an executive assistant to key executives for such companies as Pan American World Airways, Washington National Insurance Company, and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. She was born and raised in New York City, is the proud grandmother of two grandchildren, and loves to spend time with them.   

Joanna Krynski Outreach and Adult Formation Assistant

Joanna joined the Saint Clement Parish staff in April 2005, serving as the Communications Specialist until May 2014. Joanna now serves the parish as the Outreach and Adult Formation Assistant, coordinating the Friday Sack Lunch & Hospitality Ministry, the Donate-a-Day program, and Plaza Hospitality, as well as assisting with other service, hospitality, and parish-wide events. She also provides administrative support to our Director of Community Outreach, Maggie, and our Pastoral Associate, Christina, and maintains many of their communication needs.

Joanna graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English/Creative Writing and Women Studies, earning the John Gerrietts Award for Excellence in Creative Writing—awarded to one graduating senior each year. During college, she held internships at the Field Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art (in their marketing and media relations departments, respectively). In June 2013, Joanna graduated (with distinction) from DePaul University, earning a Master of Arts degree in Writing and Publishing.

Geraldine White Director of Operations

Geraldine (“Dine”) joined the Saint Clement staff as Director of Operations in 2018. As Director of Operations Dine is our professional administrator and parish leader, reporting to the pastor, being accountable to him for parish finance, administration, plant management and stewardship. In addition, Dine managers our pastoral and administrative staff compliance with all personnel policies of the Archdiocese and is the staff liaison to the Financial Council and the Building & Grounds Committee.  She also oversees and supervises our Director of Plant Management, the Data Base Manager, Receptionist, and Communications Specialist.

Dine comes to us from Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish and the National Shrine of St. Jude on Chicago’s far south side where she was Business Manager.  In that capacity, Geraldine oversaw all operations at the parish, the school and a religious goods store affiliated with the Shrine. As that parish’s Business Manager, Dine navigated a series of complicated transitional issues, including the sale of obsolete equipment, installation of more up-to-date accounting practices and point-of-sale software and the replacement of a school principal.  

Prior to joining the Archdiocese at Our Lady of Guadalupe, Geraldine worked as a pharmacologic research analyst for the London and Philadelphia offices of The Research Partnership.  She is an alumna of Knox College and of the University of Chicago’s Booth Graduate School of Business and a licensed CPA.  Before devoting full time to raising six children with her attorney husband, Geraldine worked as a small business consultant with Deloitte, Touche (now Deloitte) doing client reviews, and also was involved with bond offerings and with mid-size company mergers. All six of her children are graduates of private colleges and universities, five of them Catholic and the sixth a part of the so-called “new” Ivy League. 

Passionate about college access for high schoolers, Dine is also the founder and principal of CollegeNow Advising, which provides high-level admissions and financial aid counselling to college bound high schoolers.