Let us pray in thanksgiving for the life of Fr. James A. Stoeger, SJ, who died on February 22, 2025 at St. Camillus Jesuit Community in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. He was 78 years old. May he rest in peace.
Jim was preceded in death by his parents Mark and Rose Mary (nee Morris) Stoeger. He is survived by his brothers (Greg Stoeger and William Stoeger) his sister (Carol Clay) and many nieces and nephews.
Jim was born in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on August 4, 1946 and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati (1964) before entering the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus at the Novitiate of the Sacred Heart in Milford, Ohio, on August 21, 1964. Jim was ordained on June 9, 1974 at Madonna della Strada Chapel on the campus of Loyola University Chicago and pronounced final vows on May 31, 1984 at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati.
While in the Society, Jim earned a bachelor’s degree in classics from Loyola University Chicago (1970), a master’s of divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology in Chicago (1975), and a master’s degree in education from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1977). In addition, Jim earned a professional diploma in education from Fordham University in the Bronx, New York (1978).
During regency, Jim taught religion at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois (1970-1972). After ordination and graduate studies, he worked in secondary education for many years. He was the headmaster of Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C. (1978-1982), a teacher of religion at his alma mater, St. Xavier High School (1983-1988), and principal at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis, Indiana (1988-1996).
After a well-deserved sabbatical, Jim focused his energies on secondary education both at the province and conference level. He was the Chicago Province provincial assistant for secondary education and pastoral ministries (1996-2006) before being missioned to Washington D.C. to serve the Jesuit Conference as vice-president (2007-2011) and president (2011-2015) of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association (JSEA), the forerunner of the Jesuit Schools Network. Jim then returned to Chicago Province office where he was the provincial assistant for vocations (2015-2018) and the provincial assistant for planning (2018-2020). In 2022, Jim was missioned to pray for the Church and the Society at Colombiere Center and then, in 2023, at St. Camillus Jesuit Community.
Jim was a kind, thoughtful, joyful, and gracious man who loved being a Jesuit and a priest. As evidenced by his words and deeds, his prayer focused on gratitude and consolation and he modeled the Suscipe. Jim cared about and listened to others and people found it easy to be with and talk to him. Jim would go out of his way to be hospitable and welcoming. He loved spending time with Jesuits in community and, especially, at Villa Marquette in Omena, Michigan.
When interviewed for the UMI’s “A Jesuit’s Journey – Reflections”, Jim stated:
Care matters a great deal to me. The sensitivity and attentiveness of caring persons convey aspects of God’s own love. That’s the spiritual idea. Actually receiving [God’s] care is quite practical–for example, sitting at a counter in a diner across from a thoughtful server…[They are] opportunities to act with and for others, and to bond with them.
For Jim, care also included the physical space in which people lived and worked. He appreciated beauty and would add “nice touches” to living and working spaces which helped make the rooms more aesthetically pleasing and easier to relax in.
Jim was thoughtful, creative, and very organized. His penchant for organization and his skill in planning were balanced by his respectful and attentive listening to everyone he met. He had a lasting impact on students, faculty, and trustees at several Jesuit high schools. Some policies and protocols that are commonplace in Jesuit schools today were initiated or promoted by Jim when he was the president of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association. Later in life, Jim’s reach extended beyond secondary and pre-secondary education in his role as a member of the Midwest Province vocations team.
Fr. George Winzenburg, SJ, the superior of the St. Camillus Jesuit Community, offers these reflections:
Jim was a beloved brother and uncle. His sister, Carol, said Jim found joy in living a Christ-filled life and in recognizing and caring for that life in others. Jim accepted the onset of dementia with courage, and he lived gracefully with Alzheimer’s disease. The healthcare staff grew close to him. Jim will be missed.
Fr. Richard (Bau) Baumann, SJ, had these memories of Jim:
Jim served many others and served them well. He had a dedication to the value of education and was influential in leadership positions within a number of our secondary schools both in our UMI Province and others. He served on the UMI province staff in a couple of roles. He was a bright man, a capable planner and organizer, and a facilitator of meetings and conversations. He could talk with a high-schooler and also deal with sophisticated sponsorship agreements. He was strong in academic pursuits and adept at technology. He was an avid reader of periodicals and kept up with current events. He perceived and lived out the blending of the human and the spiritual in true Ignatian and Jesuit fashion. Jim was an educator, yet gave himself to spiritual and pastoral efforts also. He gave himself to priestly supply work on a consistent basis, and cared well for his homilies.
He greeted people happily and with wide-eyes. At times he could say something silly, abrupt, or out of context, but he was fully intent on honoring the other. Fundamentally, he was a good soul and presence. Any one of these words would be fitting for him: kind, gentle, benign, and tender. In a particularly distinctive manner, he clearly and especially appreciated goodness and beauty—in life, in photography, in decorations, in art, in “what nots,” in music, in the world, and in people. He was fascinated with creativity. He valued friendships and expressed appreciation and affection in words and especially through gift-giving.
He loved Our Lord and the Society’s life and mission. He felt our spirituality deeply and shared it with the young men during his years on our UMI vocation team. He found God in the tiniest of things and in the profound thoughts of the brightest. May he now abide in eternal well-being within the glory of God.
Fr. Jeff Loebl, SJ, a member of the St. Camillus Jesuit Community, has this to say about Jim:
I am so grateful for the privilege of having known Jim Stoeger. In the short time he was with us, he became to me a great friend and a very special brother Jesuit. He was truly a blessing to me and I received so much grace and kindness from him. He taught me how to accept ravaging diminishment with a much more profound, much deeper kind of faith, dignity and kindness: a faith, dignity and kindness that was beyond what the rest of us could understand. Our Lord was so vividly present in Jim’s face, in his eyes, in the touch of his hands. I am by far, not the only one he touched; he touched our whole community most profoundly. He was loved dearly by the staff and caregivers. He loved all of us so well.
