A Jesuit's Journey - Reflections

While attending Chicago’s Saint Ignatius College Prep, Fr. Bado recalls being surrounded by wonderful people, and he began to admire the young Jesuits. Soon his interest in the Society of Jesus became more evident.

Fr. Caldwell has been a Jesuit for 73 years. His mission has consistently been to be helpful.

The call to ministry for Fr. Dennis “Denny” Ahern, SJ, can be traced to his days at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati. “I could not help but notice that the Jesuits, who worked very hard, also laughed a lot and enjoyed so much about their lives – like playing basketball on gym nights.”

Father Carmichael is most associated with Xavier University in Cincinnati, where he worked for 36 years in many roles. But two state correctional institutions were the setting where he most dramatically lived out Jesus’ call in Matthew 25.

Ask someone who has benefited from a Jesuit education or ministry about the Society of Jesus’ contribution to the world, and you’ll often hear answers like “Jesuits form men and women for others,” and “they serve God by caring for and seeking justice for people on the margins.” But we don’t always give thought to how the Jesuits themselves benefit from being in the Society.

It was a homecoming fifty years in the making. In 2016, Fr. Casey Bukala, SJ, moved to the Colombiere Center near Detroit, where elder Jesuits live in community, receive the healthcare they need, and pray for the Church and the Society. It was not Fr. Bukala’s first time at Colombiere, however.

Father Bill Burke, SJ, has embodied the Jesuit characteristic of appreciating all creation as a gift from God for more than 50 years – most markedly in his ministry in Alaska and Montana.

Throughout his life as a Jesuit, Fr. Frank Canfield, SJ, has often faced a dilemma: be where he wants to be, or go where God calls him to go. His decision has made all the difference.

For Fr. James (Jim) Creighton, SJ, the desire to know God’s will began in Chicago. “As a teenager at Saint Ignatius College Prep, I viewed the priesthood as a vocation ‘higher’ than any other way of life,” he recalls. “Later, as a novice in the Society of Jesus at Milford, Ohio, it became obvious that there is a higher way of life, regardless of occupation or vocation. And that is seeking the will of God.”

Over the course of two decades of teaching chemistry and math and serving as assistant principal and principal at Campion Jesuit and Creighton Prep, Fr. Eugene (“Dutch”) Dutkiewicz, SJ, influenced many hundreds of students for the better.

Teacher. Campus minister. Parish priest. Author. World traveler. Photographer. Mountain climber. These are just some of the words that describe Fr. Joe Eagan, SJ, during his 75 years as a Jesuit.

While growing up, Fr. Al Fritsch, SJ, knew he wanted to be a scientist. He also thought “it would be nice to be a priest and a scientist at the same time.” Fortunately, while studying at Xavier University, he learned through the Jesuits there that he could do both.

Does aging change your relationship with God? Does it transform your very identity? These are questions many people deal with at various points in their lives; for obvious reasons, more so in the senior years. And Jesuits are no different.

A desire to be a priest and a teacher made joining the Jesuits an ideal option for Fr. Bob Hilbert, SJ.

A WWII veteran, Fr. Larry Jonas, SJ, traveled to Washington, D.C. in April 2012 for the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight. The trip offered a glimpse of what Heaven might be like.

Reflecting on my Jesuit vocation always leads me to the rightness of it. I can’t name a single time where I had some difficulty that frustrated me to the point where I questioned my Jesuit life.There is such wonder to this life, and it has turned out to be unquestionably right for me.