Fr. Patrick Baikauskas, O.P., became Chaplain and Director of Campus Ministry at Calvert House on July 1, 2026. A Dominican friar of the Province of Saint Albert the Great, he arrives at the University of Chicago with more than fifteen years in university chaplaincy — and, before that, a career in Illinois and national politics.
He is a South Sider by birth and disposition. Born in Chicago Heights and raised in San Rocco parish, he came to the Order by way of Bradley University, where he studied political science with a minor in English literature, and then by way of Washington. He worked on Capitol Hill and served three governors of Illinois before entering the Dominicans, and he will tell you that the years in politics were not a detour. They taught him how institutions form the people inside them, how to listen to a room, and how much depends on the willingness to make an honest argument — habits that still shape the way he preaches.
Ordained to the priesthood in 2008 in the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana, he served for twelve years as Pastor and Director of Campus Ministry at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center at Purdue University. Under his leadership the parish grew from roughly 250 to 1,100 families, engaged student participation rose from about 200 to 2,500, and the center came to offer more than sixty distinct programs. He sat on the diocesan presbyteral council from 2010 and completed the twenty-month Good Leaders, Good Shepherds formation program.
Those Purdue years also began a commitment to Haiti that continues today. What started as a parish partnership grew into an orphanage sponsorship program, and he still serves on the board of Foundation Saint Dominique. Travel has been impossible for six years because of the country’s turmoil, but he keeps up with the children by FaceTime — including through the evacuation that forced their community into cramped apartments in Port-au-Prince.
Most recently he spent six years in St. Louis: two at the Washington University Catholic Student Center, then four at Aquinas Institute of Theology, the final two while also serving at Saint Margaret of Scotland Parish. He holds an M.Div. from Aquinas Institute.
Since 2018 he has directed New Priory Press, the publishing arm of the Province of Saint Albert the Great, expanding its list and building a working relationship with Éditions du Cerf in Paris. He is a trained spiritual director and hosts the podcast Frank Friar Friday.
He is a cinephile, a cook, a student of Spanish and Italian, a keeper of a Vespa, and — as the twenty-five years in Dominican life have not managed to cure — a White Sox fan.
Fr. Patrick’s office is at Calvert House, 5735 South University Avenue.